Hi Cecil,
Yes, in a dynamic learning environment there is much more selection for students and opportunities for instructors. With conventional delivery, there can be dynamic aspects if, as you say, technology such as screen capture or interactive white boards are used. However, these would be used in conjunction with "back end" technology that provides on going discussion and interaction through synchronous or asynchronous connections.
To me, conventional environments mean stand-up classrooms, perhaps augmented by various audio-visual tools such as overhead projections, videos, audio presentations, etc. In the dynamic learning environments students are not limited to a fixed clock time in which interactions between the student and instructor and among his/her classmates occur. With recorded chat sessions and other materials, the student can review these as often as he/she would like. Unless there is some "fancy equipment" for the instructor to record classroom activities, reviewing classroom activities does not happen in a conventional environment, and the student must rely on having taken good notes.
With asynchronous discussion boards, asynchronous group projects, and course materials available at any time for the student, he/she can learn whenever and however it suits him/her. With email and IM, students can get questions answered in a reasonable amount of time and, I have found, that often students will ask questions by email that they probably would not ask in a classroom setting because of fear of embarrassment in front of their classmates.
In a dynamic learning environment, the student has more control over his/her learning pace and modality. A wider variety of modes of learning can be presented in a dynamic learning environment. These include asynchronous audio, video, text, hypertext, interactive chats (which can be more informal than lectures), blogs and discussion boards, group projects, and other resources. The student is limited only by his/her interest in learning.
I think this is very interesting, Jolly, and provides the instructors with a great opportunity to engage the students in the learning process rather than focusing mainly on the content...
In AIU's online course structure, there is less opportunity for dynamic instructional design since the courses are linear very structured. With that said, in AIU's online environment, the primary mode of delivery of instructional content is the Binded Object Oriented Knowledge System (BOOKS) that arrive on the students door step every 5 weeks via the mail. However, an online facilitator can utilize alternate content delivery that can provide context and clarity to the course material. Specifically, the use of asynchronous learning modules, designed in PPT or other instructional content authoring tools, can allow for additional exposure to the material to be learned.
Hi Richard,
Yes, I agree that a certain amount of the change we're experiencing is a kind of "fall out" of increased uses of certain types of technology in various social and educational situations. However, those changes are affecting communictaion and information flow considerably and as such, have strong relevance to education. New technology is flexible, so different disciplines will use technology differently, however, the basic systems will still change. About Math...regardless of new technology...there are so many students who feel marginalized by current Math teaching strategies. Perhpas an increased use of new technology might include more students in the process and encourage more students to feel "successful" in Math.
Good discussion...
Ruth, that's an interesting question. I see dynamic learning as going beyond the classroom, specifically past what was called the "linear" flow of knowledge so that an endless series of learning connections can be made. The technology is part of it, but good heavens, a good steady use of a large encyclopedia could be dynamic.
Thinking more generally, I am not certain that every field lends itself to this--for example, math for most students, needs a lot of step-by-step interaction to get the fundamentals across (although beyond that computer-based learning could be excellent if the learner is disciplined). I wonder how your use of language teaching worked in Canada--again, discipline is necessary.
But in the long run I see education changing. Perhaps the undergraduate college (or even high school) instructor standing in front of a class will become as rare as a butler. My wife's field of accounting radically changed with computers and emails. Perhaps that is the future for better or, sometimes, worse. Thanks for listening to my rather rambling answer, but this simple question raised many issues that we as educators have to work through.
