Web based learning and teaching

I have stumbled into some interesting links and portals during my learning journey.  Some of my thoughts of virtual learning can be found here, with a link to sources for tips how to teach online courses.

Universities of Applied Sciences offer many virtual courses, the open Universities and probably the Universities have some courses online as well. The content of the courses is however a big question. How well are these courses designed? Are they interactive? Are they interesting for the students? Do students really learn something? A lecture cannot just be taped, there has to be interaction.

My personal experience from online teaching is a handful of virtual sessions with some teaching and interaction in synchronous. I have participated in one virtual course where the tasks and the interaction were asynchronous. The difference between these modes is that in synchronous teaching and learning, there can be instant communication and discussions because it happens right then. In asynchronous teaching and learning the learning takes place whenever the student wants, within a set time limit.

Both in synchronous and asynchronous teaching and learning is important. I however prefer that there is some element of in synchronous teaching and learning because it offers an opportunity to interact with peers. This gives structure to the studies and a face to the teacher and peers. In a course with only asynchronous tasks, there might be problems with students not taking ownership of the task and there might be problems with deadlines.

Gender sensitive teaching is very important to me. I will apply that in teaching Social studies, Latin American studies and International Organizations in the future. I like to provoke my students a bit in order to get conversation. I showed the video below to a class of business students this winter which was a real discussion opener for diversity management and equal opportunities discussion and problem solving. Check it out!

Learning views and student centered approach to learning

Web based learning enables a more individualistic way of learning. It could also be called student centered learning. However, there also needs to be communication in order to maintain the student’s motivation. 

I think online learning works best when there is contact or encounters between students and teachers. This could happen either online e.g. in adobe connect pro, weekly or daily e-mail responds, chat hour, FB group etc. A start-up session in the same physical room is not a bad start either. 

Online teaching does not mean that students want to learn on their own. It means that they want to study wherever (and often whenever) but they need peer and teacher support even more in order to maintain their interest and motivation. In online teaching the teacher is present in a completely different way. The teacher is an instructor that supports the students learning and has to be available online for encounters.  

Flipped classroom is an interesting change to traditional teaching where the “lecture” and “homework” changes place. The idea is that the teacher produces/finds suitable online material about the issue that is to be learnt. Then, the students watch the material on their own time and the classroom time is used for individual support, discussions, problem solving etc. It is not only about watching videos, it is about flipping the way of learning and making it more student centered. Students learn the material on their own at home and come to class to apply what they have learnt. Here is a link to the flipped classroom network in the US. And here is a blog about ipads in high school education in Finland.

Flipped classroom is definitely an interesting approach. From a teacher’s point of view, producing good online material is not the easiest bit. But from the student’s point of view, it gives the student the possibility to learn the material in their own preffered way and they can address their questions to the teacher in the classroom. It does sound efficient and it gives excellent variation to learning. 

Read also my previous posts about my way of learning, ways of learning and virtual learning.

learning styles

When I started my vocational teacher journey, I took the VARK test. You can find my result 2012 here. After one year of online studies, I had to test what has happened – so the result for July 2013 is here! VAK – multimodal, still, with very even distribution of visual, aural and kinesthetic preference.

• Visual: 9
• Aural: 10
• Read/Write: 4
• Kinesthetic: 11

I have become less read/write during the last 12 months. My visual preference has flourished and I have realized I have a strong kinesthetic preference.

Student’s preferred learning styles are something that is good to know and teaching should take all learning styles into consideration. I however believe that it is important to use all styles in order to learn and one should try to strengthen weak learning styles in order to strengthen one’s ability to learn new things. To only differentiate based on learning styles is not something I will implement in my own teaching.

You may read more about learning styles from my virtual session one post.

networks in learning tasks and teaching methods

I have studied vocational pedagogy 1 and 2 in two different study groups. The first one was called Jupiter, as the planet, and we studied vocational pedagogy together during fall 2012. Our learning goals and tasks were in Optima and we prepared for 4 virtual session. The sessions were nerve wrecking for most of us because it was new for us to teach online. The learning outcome was often something completely different than I thought in advance. What I learnt from these sessions was that it is really important to plan learning content in virtual teaching. It has to be very clear, and presence and interaction is vital. You can read about our four sessions in the following posts: 1, 2, 3 and 4 here.

The virtual sessions were important, but the real learning happened elsewhere. The learning happened during our preparations for these sessions, in our planet teams. We learnt from each other, got hints from others where to look, had to explain what we meant, why we think something is important. It was difficult to find time for common chats, difficult to have time to do the tasks but that is what teachers' meet in the classroom all the time. It was good to experience the joy of learning together and to also experience the downsides.

I embrace learning together nowadays. Something I used to hate, has become something I va,lue deeply. I have learnt to listen to others, I have realized that one ok idea becomes one great idea after it is shared with others and elaborated further. The sooner this happens, the better is the end result.

Networks can be created for different purposes. For example a blog or facebook group for a single course. The most important factor is that information is shared and that there is room for exchange of ideas and discussions.

There are many networks available out there. They are often meant for a particular group of people - only teachers, only students, only political scientists etc. The challenge is to create a group for a wide range of people; say teachers, students, entrepreneurs, experts, NGOs where there is real activity and sharing of ideas. I think the lievästi outoa liiketoimintaa (LOL) is an excellent approach to include students, entrepreneurs and teachers into real problem solving and learning of new skills. I would love to create something similar in Kokkola.

If I create such a network, will you join?