|
Article Excerpt
Abstract
A system of social, self-direction was implemented to address best-practices in online learning to allow students to "lead" in the teaching and learning dance, while also gaining course knowledge. The purpose of this study was to determine the self-perceived learning gains that occurred as a result of the model implementation. A self-rated pre-test/post-test design was utilized with 112 subjects, with other qualitative data source triangulation. The model was found to facilitate significant learning gains, while attending to university guidelines and course requirements.
Introduction
Online learning can be overwhelming and discombobulating for learners due to uncertainty and lack of clearly expressed expectation. However, in response to student requests for clarity in online environments, structure has been created by assuming a more rigid classroom approach that eliminates many of the benefits of virtual instruction. Rather than assuming new and innovative ways to respond to demands of online education, the trend is to assign quotas, dates, and accountability measures that minimize choice and encourage students to become the type of students that Ponticell and Zapeda (2004) term "compliant learners".
Traditional approaches of lecture, readings, and testing do not successfully accommodate the best practices of higher education/adult education, which encourage active, engaged, self-regulated, and authentic learning experiences. Knowles' work provides a definition of adragogy and self-direction that can be used as a theoretical basis for incorporating adult learning principles into higher educational teaching practice (Knowles, 1975; Knowles, 1986; Knowles, Holton , & Swanson, 1998). While adult learning best-practices are important regardless of educational delivery, the advent of online mediums has provided a platform for the exploration of innovative teaching models and an adaptation of "instructor" and/or "student" roles (Harvey, 2002; Jonassen, 2002; Moller, 2002).
Aligning instructional approaches so that online experiences provide both clearly expressed structure and a means for personal learning that incorporates self-direction, metacognition, and learning communities is not an easy linear task. Instead, learning in this framework must be viewed as a complex system where students are granted responsibility for planning, searching, finding and producing learning objectives, while instructors provide the scaffolds, resources, feedback, and expertise that is essential to connect system components. Within this framework, learning becomes an instructional dance, where students lead movements, direction, and pace while instructors follow in step, provide assistance, and enhance the experience. This swirling dance of learning is complex and demands exploration of whether breadth and depth of learning is achieved.
Model of Social, Self-Direction
A model has been designed that provides both instructional technique and cognitive theory to accommodate the difficulties of structure provision and personal/group direction of learning. (Sec Figure 1). The systems model of social, self-directed learning considers input, process, and output, which result in outcome variables and is represented by the formula (I+P+O=Ou) (Boyer, 2003). In this model, it is hypothesized that a student enters a learning situation with a given set of input variables which include learning patterns, previous experience, content knowledge, personal interests, and a host of other characteristics. These input variables serve to mediate the instructional process that is designed for students in the online environment. See issue website http://rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/win2005.htm
The process portion of the model is centered on individual and group metacognition, which is surrounded by the course learning communities. The instructional design and components then enclose the learning communities. These instructional design components include: a self-directed learning framework (acts as a scaffold for students), online learning tasks, reflection, interaction and engagement, continuous feedback, and integrated authentic learning. The establishment of...
|
