Robin ,
That should be the foundation for course redesign. It should be driven from the objectives of the course; not what the technology can do.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Dale,
Agreed. There are courses that lend themselves easily to the online environment where others do not. Although I am seeing lab courses beginning to come online with a lab aspect. Technology is making it possible.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
David,
It is but this is a challenge in both environments, the tools to combat it are different. I started using my online tools for my f2f courses and it improved the course and interaction!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Alfred,
Agreed! This is where course design is so important. The LMS is so important, and lastly, the instructor is always importnat!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Agreed. It is important to not just take what you might be doing face to face and try to force it into the online environment. It is important to understand the importance of modification and thereafter of continued updates and changes as technology etc changes.
Some course content from a F2F class can be modified for an online course. But it takes careful consideration and some redesign. We need to focus on what we want the student to learn and we need to consider how we will evaluate whether the material was successful in helping to achieve the learning objectives.
Dr. Wilkinson,
I think some of it really depends on the type of course it is. For example teaching a business law class could be pretty standard for online and face to face. Much of it involves reading case law and relating it to a specific topic. I don't think it would matter much. However if you are teaching a chemistry class that requires a lot of hands on, it would be a bit more of a challenge to try and do that in an online setting.
The method of communication is significantly different and the methods of delivery cannot be the same. Keeping student's attention in the online environment is significantly different than keeping their attention in the face to face environment.
David Pittman
I think the content may be appropriate. The difference is in delivery. When can cover the same topics and material, but we have to do it differently.
James,
I agree. There are many ways online to engage a students. I will also say for the record, just because you have a f2f course doesn't mean your students are engaged.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
James,
You make a great point. It is the student/student relationship and the student/teacher relationship that really is the difference ins the modalities. Both can be good and bad. It is the the instructor that determines the quality.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
YEs, I think this is true. There are many ways in which the work can be done and in which it seems different than just an office hour. But, when you are not really face to face, the dynamics are different. They can still be very useful, of course, and that is the intent of online learning...to make them useful.
F2F environments, such as the traditional classroom, have a completely different dynamic relationship between student and instructor. Online, there might be some synchronous conversation, and that would be ideal. But in reality, there are also many times when the work will be done without that kind of "real time" element. The result is that the conversation is very different than it would be in the classroom.
Lori,
Great point about learning pace. This is something that students must learn and often don't. As instructors we can guide them to do certain things but we can't determine when or even where.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
The dynamic is different from F2F than online and course content needs to be created accordingly. There is more flexibility in the learning progress and students can set their own pace and choose the most convenient time and place to study. Learning is at the pace of the student and interaction is different causing most traditional forms to not work for the online environment.
Anne,
Agreed. This is were design really plays a large role. You have to provide design to provide the navigation.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
David,
I agree with you. Whenever I find new strategies for teaching and learning for my online course it always improves my f2f course. Good learning and good teaching transcends delivery.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Face-to-face content can be modified to be appropriate for online but it really can't be plugged into the online format without modification. A couple of examples include that lectures can be used but due to their stagnate format they must be modified in length and format delivery. On the fly questions and answers must be reformatted to allow asynchronous contributions.
"Can't" begs the question "is there ever an exception"? Posting specific websites to read PRIOR TO class (i.e. when teaching accounting, post a set of financial statements) c/be used F2F and online. One respondent's "office hours" idea is a good one because (as stated elsewhere) online courses have SOME amount of blended time.
Now to leave the exception and address the rule: we can do things online that cannot be done F2F (unless there is the "wowser" technology found at University of Phoenix "classroom without boundaries" where one can have 3 different media going at the same time and students interacting with them real-time both in person and at distant campus'). So, online techniques/opportunities are being co-opted for the F2F.
Russell,
Great insight! It isn't the content it is the design and the teaching. Great post.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
