This week’s readings focus on Teaching Presence and Knowledge-Building. Two weeks ago, we had already started a little bit of discussion on how to build social presence and the importance of facilitation (as mentioned in a previous journal entry) . This week seems to be focussed entirely on that and it gives everyone a chance to analyze online environments more thoroughly.
With regards to the topic being discussed this week, I found it very interesting to compare Asynchronous/online learning environments and Face-to-face learning environments on the basis of a structured framework. The facilitators referenced another article on online teaching effectiveness, which I thought was an excellent idea as it touched up on the topic of discussion very clearly and referenced some ‘teacher traits’ that need to be present in both face to face and online environments.
With regards to the topic being discussed this week, I found it very interesting to compare Asynchronous/online learning environments and Face-to-face learning environments on the basis of a structured framework. The facilitators referenced another article on online teaching effectiveness, which I thought was an excellent idea as it touched up on the topic of discussion very clearly and referenced some ‘teacher traits’ that need to be present in both face to face and online environments.
I know some people who opt for online courses because they think they are ‘quick and easy’. Others (including myself) like them more because they give them time to chew and process the information and work the way they want to. It is so interesting to see contrasting viewpoints about the same issue.
Based on the reading on ‘Collective Cognitive Responsibility for the Advancement of Knowledge’, the moderators have posted a question about our learning goals from this course, steps towards achieving them and foreseen obstacles. I found that activity very helpful as it gave me a checkpoint to see how well I was progressing and what else I needed to do. There are times when there is so much to do and online courses become so overwhelming with the amount of information that one resorts to quick responses to discussions. I was made aware of this through one of the readings in this course (A content analytic comparison of learning processes in online and face-to-face case study discussions) which suggested that in online environments students rushed into posting as they had control over that aspect, sometimes even before exploring concrete details about the subject. This leads to a lack of analysis and integration. I hope to be able to avoid this hasty disposition throughout the course.
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