“So you want to offer a web based, distance education course?” As soon as I saw that in Article #1 of our class, I knew I was in the right place. This is what we do on a daily basis at NCSSM (The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics) in our Distance Education and Extended Programs department! Reading through the three articles, I now look at the Keller Plan and the Audio-Tutorial system as guidelines or models that can be applied to the creation of a distance education course so as to enhance the quality of instruction for the student. They also seem to address two concerns that come to my mind when I think about how to best create an effective distance learning course: 1) the challenge to cater to students with different learning styles, and 2) how to have the structure of a synchronous class but in an asynchronous environment.
I cannot help but wonder if these two models were at the heart of the design for our current IVC (interactive video conference) classes and online classes. The elements of Keller and A-T read almost like a check-list to me of what components my classes. Starting with Keller, any sound course should have clearly stated objectives, regardless of the method of delivery. Inclusion of the small learning modules is exactly how our online courses are laid out and this is modeled even in our face-to-face IVC classes. Assessments, prompt feedback, and lots of positive reinforcement are a part of each.
While “student self-pacing” is difficult to achieve in our IVC classes, it very much can be done in our online courses. As preparations for this year began, I actually re-structured the online AP Calculus (BC) course pacing guide to make it more “self-paced”. The previous pacing guide set forth by my predecessor had students doing task #1 on Monday, task #2 on Tuesday, task #3 on Wednesday, etc. In my mind, that defeated the supposed-to-be flexible nature of the course. So I “loosened up the schedule” and now students complete the work in two-week time frames. I would like to just have the students work entirely at their own pace but we are confined to some restrictions ... primary one being an AP Exam to be taken in May, progress reports and grade reports due throughout the year, etc. These are only high school students after all and they do require a little bit of structure.
Turning to the Audio-Tutorial system, the elemental sessions of that are very much a part of our online courses. The ISS (Independent Study Session) is what the students are set off to do on their own. We have all the course materials housed in our learning management system (Brain Honey) and from there the students access everything they need for the course. The GAS (General Assembly Session) is held in July at the “Summer Symposium” for all of NCSSM’s online students. Our online students come from all across North Carolina and they all come to campus for five days to meet their online teacher(s), interact with the students with whom they are taking the online class(es), learn how to navigate Brain Honey and Adobe Connect, and engage in enrichment field-trips, small projects, etc. The SASs (Small Assembly Sessions) are comparable to the “residential weekends” we have for each online class, either two, three, or four times during the school year. For example, I have three weekends this school year with my AP Calculus students. The one in November will be spent doing some enrichment activities related to the topics we studied in the course to that point. I see it as a “check-point” to make sure everyone is up to speed on the material, the graphing calculator skills they should have, etc. The two that I have in the Spring semester will be spent doing something similar to the one in November but then also in concentrated practice for the May AP Examination.
I found the statistical analysis of the data related to the success of the A-T system very interesting. The data did not seem to be clearly in favor of this system but some of the individual statistics cause you to think the system would be supported. For example, it was noted that in the one study, 30% of students in a conventional class earned less than a C in the course whereas only 15% in an audio-tutorial style course. From a teacher point-of-view, that’s pretty significant! It was also found in this same study that while the mean grades were comparable, there were more “A”s earned in the audio-tutorial class and more “D”s earned in the conventional class. (“The Audio-Tutorial System”, page 5).
One sentence that particularly caught my attention was in the Davis article: “The professor ... must be prepared to help students where they are in the material, when they need the help.” I think that is something that is typically not done in a traditional classroom. Teachers, I’m sure would agree it is needed, but the realities of a traditional classroom often make this difficult. I am about to face this one in my online course as some students will be farther ahead of others in the material as we meet for our weekly online tutorial sessions (via Adobe Connect ... we used to use Elluminate, actually). How I can best meet the needs of each individual student when they are perhaps “in all different” places is a question I still have to answer for myself.
I was intrigued by these articles as they seemed to put “names” and theory to exactly how the courses in which I am involved teaching are structured. These theories now give me a little perspective as I work to continue to improve upon the courses as they are.
I agree with you--sometimes a traditional lecture approach that presents a topic uniformly, may not allow students to be helped when and where they need help. This is something we struggle with as well--how do you make sure everyone 'gets it' when little assessment is offered with traditional lecture. As I become more experienced in teaching--I am finding that I am using more guided discussion and problem based learning to allow students to explore multiple right answers and come up with their best solution.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comments on the amount of data provided by the Kulik article. I suppose that the data also supported the other studies because they did state in the other studies that there was some statistical significance. Because the PSI is self pacing the statement you said above about the instructor must be prepared to meet the need at the level they are on. Only thing that I though of in this passage is that this instuctor has got to be sharpe on his/her toes to meet the needs of all their students,without a face to face personal relationship.
ReplyDeleteYou make some interesting points about the methods and how they apply to your situation. I too, "loosened" up on my distance ed Spanish course for the same reasons you listed. I was torn between wanting to provide structure and guidance and wanting to give them flexibility. I was also interested by the A-T stats because I have found that my online students generally struggle with the material more so than I feel like they would in a traditional class. That's purely anecdotal,since I don't teach the course F2F.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very thought-provoking post. For several years I have taught an online composition class with several other instructors. Though we each have our own sections of students, we share a Moodle site and content. I have often said we are providing too much instruction, exercises, and assessment (wishing we would "de-clutter" our site and allow for a deeper understanding of less content). However, the other instructors are insistent on delivering the most content to meet established learning objectives. Therefore, "loosening up" has been difficult, even though I see the benefits of a more flexible online course. After reading your post, I am committed to finding a way to compromise! Thank you for that...Terri Scalf
ReplyDeleteTo me it is always interesting to learn that you are doing something right and at the same time be able to add to what you already know.
ReplyDeleteWe are planning on setting up online training courses for internal employees and both of these methods will be of added value.
Hi Linda, how great to be able to draw direct correspondences between the courses you teach and the models we've looked at. I have been trying to find some more up-to-date accounts of the A-T approach in action and have not been able to. To that end, I think it might be interesting (if you were interested and had the time) to write a case study article about how this approach is used at NCSSM, how it is working out and what updates have been made to accommodate today's day and age. It could be a publication for you! :)
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