Instruction
From ElateWiki
What exactly is online instruction? Most agree that it is more than uploading videos of lectures and relevant course materials in digital format. It is more than an attempt at a direct transference from face-to-face (F2F) courses to an online format.
Contents |
Some Possibilities
Is it one-on-one tutorials and direct hand-holding? Is it responding to student work? Is it the facilitation of small student groups? Is it the connecting of learners with professional learning opportunities and apprenticeships? Is it the writing of letters of recommendation for deserving students, in order to open the way for new opportunities for them? Is online instruction live interactivity? Is it the hosting of guest speakers who are professionals in the field? Is it simulations of hands-on practices in certain professions?
Online instruction may be all the above and more. Usually, there is a “right” mix of the above for a particular learning situation and group of learners. Many faculty arrive at this mix through trial and error after teaching an online course a few times.
Some Core Elements
Online instruction involves an important preparatory phase. This involves the setting up of the electronic learning environment to facilitate the learning. This may mean a branded environment for the profession—that exposes learners to the ethics of the profession, the practices, the rules, and the learning within the field. Then, this environment is also created by the instructor’s actions within it and his / her facilitation of learner interactions and activities for a challenging and safe learning environment.
As subject matter experts, instructors help evolve the “mental models” of learners about the particular learners—so enhance their understandings. They bring in the latest research and thinking in a field. They also offer a theoretical basis for understanding a field. They work to train protégés who are informed, pro-social, and contributory to the larger good.
Instructors may encourage constructive relationships between the various learners to create a “zone of proximal development” (to use Vygotsky’s concepts) where novices and experts may interact and enhance each other’s learning.
Instructors ensure that critical information and skills are acquired during the learning period for the online students. They try to offer hands-on practice in the field to help learners acclimate.
Some instructors even enhance the progression of their learners into the professional realm—through the student participation in publishing, professional contests and competitions, public shows, and apprenticeships.