My Thoughts on Online Learning

My Thoughts on Online Learning – January 27, 2012 by D. Corbin

Reflections: Current perceptions of online learning and teaching…

Like many individuals, I have developed a misconception that online instruction is simply a series of assignments which have been posted to an electronic bulletin board by the instructor or proctor of a course. Students visit the site (an electronic blackboard), read the assignment, complete a series of questions, write a short paper each week on another assignment and e-mail the assignment to the instructor. The course is easy; there is little interaction or high level learning. Online instruction can be like living in a desert, very desolate.
Since 2001, I have taught several “on ground” courses for a local university. Many of my students were enrolled in the Educational Administration program or the Teaching and Learning program in the Department of Continuing Education. I enjoyed the interaction in the traditional classroom. The research review and connection to the “real world” gave everyone involved a sense of satisfaction and a rich learning experience.

I also agreed to teach an online course. The curriculum had been developed and the textbook selected. I thought, how hard can it be to teach an online course? I would post the assignments and readings, the students would complete the assignments and e-mail them to me and I would (using a rubric) grade the assignments. Words that described the experience were “isolated”, “incomplete”, and “sterile” for the instructor and the students. We completed the semester, however it seemed as though something was missing. There were no opportunities for cooperative learning, project or problem based learning. The missing piece of the puzzle was the “community”, the exchange of ideas – student to student and student to teacher.

Expectations of what I hope to learn in this online course…
As an undergraduate student at Eastern Illinois, I recall, Dr. Thomas Elliott professor of an Educational Foundations course, ask his students, "do we believe that teachers are made or are they born." As a seasoned or veteran educator of thirty three years, I continue to ask the question, is teacher born or can an individual be taught to be an effective instructor? I hope to continue my exploration of the question posed at the beginning of my career. This research question could be one of many for an online Educational Foundations course, which I might develop and teach in the future.

After reviewing the course objectives or goals and student expectations, listed on the first two pages of the syllabus, I would like to explore methods which would encourage the development of an online learning community. The online learning community would demonstrate the positive impact of student to student and student to teacher connected interaction to achieve the outcomes of futures, which I hope to develop. I would like to learn how to use blogging and discussion boards to create a sense of community in my courses. Also, I would like to develop a high level of expertise using technology and online instructional strategies and finally, I would like to investigate the “best practices” of online teaching and learning.