By Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.Thanks to advances in technology and a
better understanding of how people learn in a distributed or virtual
environment, online courses can be better than face-to-face instruction
in some situations.
When online courses were a new thing, the
notion of “no significant difference” emerged. In essence, this
concept held that online courses should be not be significantly
different than face-to-face courses; presumably traditional lecture
courses. In practical terms, this was considered to mean that the
course content would be the same (or not significantly different), the
readings and course materials the same, and the ways assessing student
work would be equivalent. The only variation would be in the
delivery method.
In very general and broad terms, it has always
been fairly simple to conform to content guidelines. However,
anyone who has any experience at all in online and face-to-face
instruction quickly comes to realize that “no significant difference”
is a complete misnomer. The differences are profound, because of
the nature of the delivery methods and the way individual minds make
meaning. Further, the goals and desired course outcomes
will almost always heavily favor one delivery method or another.
Many
educators are now finding that there are many situations when online
delivery of content, and an eLearning space for students are actually
better than face-to-face instruction. The following are examples
of attributes of online courses that can make the e-learning
environment more dynamic, personal, flexible, and relevant than a
traditional face-to-face lecture class:
- Online courses can provide increased and more effective
one-on-one access to the professor, which results in better mentoring
and guidance.
- An asynchronous discussion board gives you a chance to read,
contemplate, and respond to fellow students in a relevant, meaningful
way, without the anxiety and social tension often found in the
face-to-face environment.
- Instant access to outside resources. For example, a recent
course that involved studying ideas about utopia contained a link to
the New York Public Library’s digital collection of utopian texts.
- On-demand quizzes allow review any time, anywhere. For
example, one course included grammar exercises from Grammar Bytes
(http://www.grammarbytes.com)
- Share personal stories, make meaningful connections.
Dynamic, well-structured discussion boards can give you a chance to
connect with each other. You can post pictures of yourself, your
pets, the places you visited on vacation. This allows a deeper
level of understanding of the topics.
- You can share social networks, and thus participate in others’
weblogs, podcasts, and vodcasts. You can also utilize some of the
social networking services such as furl and del.icio.us to give each
other the opportunity to see what others have to say on the same
topic. For example, a recent course involved analyzing views on
stem cell research. By subscribing to each others’ lists of blog
and incorporating their blogrolls or tag clouds in their own list of
tagged links, students were able to gain an idea of the depth and
breadth of ideas in stem cell research. They were able to look at
ethical sides of the issue as well as being able to examine the latest
breakthroughs and ideas from the scientific community.
There are
other attributes of online courses that create a more effective
learning experience than the traditional online course. However,
these are just a few of the more common ones. Most important of
all, however, is your enthusiasm for learning in a new, dynamic,
ever-evolving manner. Certainly there can be a few technical
hurdles, but they are far outweighed by the overall efficacy of the
experience. As you take more courses, you will find yourself
adapting the elements listed above to suit your own needs. You
may be surprised at how much you enjoy the experience.