It has been recognized that learning of new information is most effective when this one is connected to previous experiences. According to Horton, W. (2006), when students are asked to bring upon discussions their own life experiences, they feel safe and it becomes easier for them to find things in common. Furthermore, working in groups becomes easier because learners can identify with classmates who have more things in common than not.
To prepare for this assignment, read the article provided below and then reflect on the following questions:
Article: Online Learning: Interaction is Not Enough
- If in every class we face situation which we can connect to our life experiences, how do you think discussions may be focused on the content being facilitated rather than on the life experiences of all the learners?
- How effective is real collaborative learning in an online class when specific guidelines are given for learners to engage?
By Sunday, read your classmates’ posts, and comment on the contributions of at least two of them.
Note: Your contribution will be assessed based on the use of this rubric. You are able to download it if you would like to use it as a reference to your responses by clicking "Download File" on the window from wikisend.com.
Resources
Garrison, D. R., & Cleveland-innes, M. (2005). in Online Learning : Interaction Is Not Enough. Sciences-New York, 19(3), 133-148.
Horton, W., Designing for the Virtual Classroom, E-Learning by Design). Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons Inc. Used with permission from John Wiley & Sons Inc. via the Copyright Clearance Center.
5 comments:
Very good and informative thanks for the post.
The article, “Facilitating Cognitive Presence in Online Learning: Interaction is Not Enough” brought up many interesting points regarding the quality of online interactions and the approaches to learning these interactions can lead to, namely surface, deep, and achievement approaches (Garrison and Cleveland-Innes, 2005). Certainly at the master’s level, the goal is for deep learning to take place. It has been found that while social presence is an important factor in creating a community of learners, the primary focus should be on perpetuating cognitive connections between learners and the content. This can be brought about by structure, or design of the interaction, as well as leadership (Garrison and Cleveland-Innes, 2005). Quantity of interaction is clearly not a direct indicator of deep learning and students who merely engage in a string of personal experiences are not engaging in deep learning. At Walden, we are required to connect our experiences to the weekly or prior resources (design) and instructors provide presence and guidance to keep the discourse focused (leadership). In terms of the effectiveness of collaborative learning in an online setting, the authors of the article you shared point out that from a design perspective, a deep approach to learning is encouraged when an interaction is created that has clear expectations, manageable content, appropriate activities that are collaborative as well as individual, and has a corresponding assessment that is in line with the goals of the interaction (Garrison and Cleveland-Innes, 2005).
Reference
Garrison, R. & Cleveland-Innes, M. (2005). Facilitating cognitive presence in online learning: Interaction is not enough. The American Journal of Distance Education, 19(3), pp. 133-148.
Leslie Mallare
Hi Leslie
I read the article as well and I do agree that both structure and leadership are critical elements in making online learners take an involved approach to online learning. Online class should really be structured and it is by doing so that the learning outcome, goals and objectives of the course will be met. I believe that the same way that students in the face2face classroom learning styles are taken into account, that we must find ways in the online environment to do the same.
The article you suggested will serve well for us as IDs and it provides a good background to course design. I agree with Garrison and Anderson (2003) comments in this article. Interaction should be seen as the central focus for online educational experiences. As they also suggested, there should be use of the new technologies to support and sustain educational communication especially through “asynchronous interaction design options”.
As stated in the article, the design feature of a successful online course demonstrates structure e.g. clear discussion threads, avoidance of “disjointed monologues” and the movement of the discussion through the various levels of thinking. This offers a challenge for us as IDs to design activities such as discussion forums that ensure that students not only construct meaning but be able to confirm it as well.
Our next challenge in this course is how we design a blended learning course that ensures that students not only construct but confirm meaning.
Reference
Garrison, R. & Cleveland-Innes, M. (2005). Facilitating cognitive presence in online learning: Interaction is not enough. The American Journal of Distance Education, 19(3), pp. 133-148.
Hi Madga
In response to your discussion questions they have given the student a lot to think about.
You asked “how effective is real collaborative learning in an online class when specific guidelines are given for learners to engage?” I think it is possible to attempt to create a true collaborative environment in an online classroom simply based on the methods of instruction, the teaching aids and resources, the assignment and projects and the discussion and chats facilities which are provided. However, I think the problem lies in getting most (if not each and every one) of your students to participate freely enough to ensure that a social environment is indeed created. I also believe that if we must “connect to our life experiences” to each discussion or activity in order to facilitate interaction to the level of creating communities online, we will have to create the teaching strategies, not for individuals but for interchangeable groups.
In an Office Administration course that I am teaching online, I wrote the first semester based on individual effort with the hope that the employed and experienced students will on their own work with the unemployed and newly high school graduate students. Big mistake! No effort was made to assist us other and no one was willing to share information – even worse – only the students who were employed at the same organization replied to each other discussions and cliques which were formed participated with each other in the chats.
This semester, there is a drastic improvement with interaction among the students as I have strategically grouped members, created group projects and assignments. As well, there are various different topics for chat discussions which everyone can participate in. I have also rewritten the course to include what the cognitive constructivist theory emphasizes - learning through exploration and discovery. More importantly, I have applied a lot of the social constructivist theory which emphasizes learning through collaboration between groups of learners.
I do believe that according to the social constructivist theory learning can be achieved through collaboration between groups of learners. ‘Social constructivist approaches can include reciprocal teaching, peer collaboration, cognitive apprenticeships, problem-based instruction, webquests, anchored instruction and other methods that involve learning with others (Shunk, 2000).
Wang et al. (2001) concluded that when a group of students work together in a collaborative learning environment, new knowledge is constructed through the social and intellectual interaction between the peers and experts. Teachers should try to meet the needs of their students by encompassing much different intelligence as possible in their lesson plans. Different types of technology applications and activities can be planned to help meet students varying needs and to enhance individual strengths and weaknesses.
References
Schunk, D. (2000). Learning theories: An educational perspective (3rd Ed) Upper Saddle river, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Post a 1–2 paragraph reflection on the dialogue your Discussion Question blog post generated. Was the thread lively and showed evidence that your assignment prompted an engaging conversation? Why or why not? Conclude your reflection with any thoughts on what you might do differently in the future to ensure your Discussion Question assignments are a worthwhile experience for your students.
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Discussion Question Reflection
There is a lot to be said about collaborative learning in an online learning environment. The discussion questions I posted on this blog certainly generated the type of answers expected from my classmates. Their posts maintained the focus on the questions presented but we all have the same viewpoint in reference to the content. Because we are all agreeing with the content, there is little conflicting information which may create further discussion of the same thing. However, there was contribution of new information! Further references always enhance discussions and provides for deeper and more detailed discussions on certain topics.
Stating whether my own discussion questions prompted an engaging conversation or not is like asking me to provide a self assessment. This in itself is inconsistent considering that this assignment was to put in practice group discussions. I would have asked my classmates to assess my questions instead. Having the participants (or learners) evaluate the activity would give me further insight as to ways to have them engage in further discussions question assignments and make it a valuable experience for them.
PS. Thanks to my classmates for providing their comments!
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