Online+Learning

=Designing, Developing, and Facilitating Effective Online Learning = ====To design effective online learning, the designer needs to take into consideration their philosophy of education, apply a matching theory of learning, and incorporate an appropriate instructional design theory. The instructional design process is more than just planning; it is a way of matching the learner with a way of learning that is appropriate for them. ====

Educational Philosophies

 * Relativism
 * Knowledge is constructed by the learner.
 *  Learner negotiates meaning in an effort to achieve personal understanding. (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007)
 * Constructivism
 * "Knowledge is not transmitted; it is constructed"- (Piaget as cited in Smith & Ragan, 2005).
 * Learners develop meaning from experiences or from pure thought.
 * Described as rationalism (Smith & Ragan, 2005).
 * Student centered; learning goals and activities are created for the individual; __differentiated instruction__.
 * Teacher facilitation (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007).
 * Empiricism
 * Learning is only acquired by experience.
 * Sometimes called __objectivism__ (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007).
 * Knowledge exists independently of the learner (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Knowledge does not come "wired" in an individual- (Locke as cited in Smith & Ragan, 2005).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Teacher centered; goals and objectives predetermined (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"Banking" model where teachers make deposits into students and withdraw at a later time (Freire, 1970).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Pragmatism
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Knowledge acquired through experience may be interpreted and be tentative to be revised at a later time- (Dewey as cited in Smith & Ragan, 2005).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Scientific approach
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Testing hypotheses to find a truth.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Can be referred to as positivism (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007).

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Learning Theories

 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Behaviorism
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Based on empiricism.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Observable phenomenon are the only things worth learning.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Leading behaviorists include Pavlov, Thorndike, Skinner, and Watson (Smith & Ragan, 2005; Reiser & Dempsey, 2007).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Cognitive Learning Theory
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Places more emphasis on factors within the learner, not the learner's environment.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Learner is not a recipient, but constructs meaning.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">__Prior knowledge__ can play a role in the development of meaning.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Learner makes personal connection to learning (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Information-Processing Theory
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Information in the environment becomes processed in the brain (Gagne as cited in Smith & Ragan, 2005).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The brain processes new information with long-term memory and prior knowledge.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Transformed information is applied back to the environment.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Situated Learning Theory
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Relies on social and cultural influences over an individual.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Learner participates in practices of a community (Resier & Dempsey, 2007).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"Piaget perceived development preceding learning, Vygotsky perceived development following learning, and Case and Siegler perceive learning and development having a concurrent relationship" (Smith & Ragan, 2005, p. 31).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Treat the learner as a co-creator of knowledge (Freire, 1970).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Learning needs to be helical where teacher switches from lecturer to facilitator of knowledge; this improves critical and creative thinking (Carlson, 2004).

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Instructional Theories

 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Gagne developed an instructional learning theory because learning outcomes are based on different conditions; learning goes from the outside in.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction:
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Gaining attention
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Informing learning of objective
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Stimulating recall or prior learning
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Presenting the stimulus
 * 5) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Provide scaffolding
 * 6) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Elicit performance
 * 7) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Provide feedback
 * 8) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Assessment
 * 9) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Enhance retention (Cavanaugh & Blomeyer, 2007, p.23)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Although some authors consider constructivism to be a philosophy of learning, others consider it to be an instructional theory; in constructivism, learning goes from the inside out (Smith & Ragan, 2005; Reiser & Dempsey, 2007).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Bloom's theory proposes that the "normal curve" should not be the expected outcome of instruction; instead, instruction should foster learning where most students can master what we teach (Smith & Ragan, 2005, p. 32).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Application
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Analysis
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Synthesis
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Evaluation (Cavanaugh & Blomeyer, 2007, p. 23)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Bruner's theory focuses on instructional scaffolding where an instructor can give minor support for a learner to complete a task; the scaffolds do not change the task (Smith & Ragan, 2005).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Understanding by Design (UBD)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Stage 1- Desired Results: understandings, essential questions, course goals, student knowledge and abilities.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Stage 2- Evidence of Assessment: performance tasks
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Stage 3- The Learning Plan (Wiggins & McTighe as cited in Cavanaugh & Blomeyer, 2007)

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Instructional Design

 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">An activity or a process that can be related to planning; when planning becomes too complex, it is commonly referred to as design (Smith & Ragan, 2005).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Needs to be creative, a way of problem solving, and a goal-orientated process (Rowland, 2003).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">During the process, designers need to:
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Analyze
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Learner
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Learning environment
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Learning tasks
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Strategize
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Develop content
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Select activities
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Determine the sequence of instruction
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Create instructional support
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Determine possible groupings
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Evaluate design
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Revise (Smith & Ragan, 2005)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Does not have to be a linear process.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Effective Online Learning
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Requires the application of Smith & Ragan's (2005) cyclical model of design:
 * ===<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">**Needs Assesment** ===
 * ===<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">**Strategy Design** ===
 * ===<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">**Development** ===
 * ===<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Facilitation ===
 * ===<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Assessment ===

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Needs Assessment

 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">It is important for instructors to analyze the learner's abilities not only in the content area but also their ability to use technology since this will be the basis of the learning environment in an online course (Simonson et al., 2009).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Characteristics of learners such as: age, cultural background, interest, and educational level can play an integral role in the initial stages of design (Simonson et al., 2009).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Course designers may also want to know how knowledge gained from this course will be applied; will this course be sequenced with others? (Simonson et al., 2009).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Learning styles play a role in the success of online students (Cavanaugh & Blomeyer, 2007).

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Strategy Design

 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Students may benefit from having the essential questions for each unit posted online before the unit begins and for the duration of the course (Ainsworth & Viegut, 2006).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Designers should create learning objectives with embedded technology standards. The National Education Technology Standards for Students (NETS-S) need to be embedded into the core curriculum to help students be 21st century learners (Boss & Krauss, 2007; ISTE, 2008).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The NETS-S are that students need to (a) be creative and innovative, (b) be communicate and collaborate, (c) research and build information fluency, (d) develop critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making, (e) improve digital citizenship, and (f) be familiar with technology operations and concepts.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">A better understanding of the learners will enable the design process to develop scaffolding in courses to support all learners (Cavanaugh & Blomeyer, 2007).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Design needs to afford the development of different pathways in the virtual environment for students with different learning preferences (Cavanaugh & Blomeyer, 2007).

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Development

 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Apply emergent technology such as Learning Management Systems (LMS) in order to organize course resources and provide a secure place for instruction.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">LMS such as WebCT, Blackboard, or Moodle are very popular to manage courses.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Moodle was developed by an educator using open source software (Dougiamas & Taylor, 2000).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">A good institution and LMS will use authentication protocols that will increase the security of the user and the learning environment; to increase security, users may be asked to go through the authentication process more than once during a session if a certain amount of time has elapsed (Lehtinen, Russel, and Gangemi, 2006).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Utilize Open Course Ware (OCW) such as the program that the Massachusetts Institution of Technology created (Kurzweil, 2005).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">When loading content onto LMS, make sure to use a Web-based font such as Georgia. Learners will be using different operating systems and browsers to view content so using a Web-based font will cut down on viewing discrepancies (Carlson, 2004).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Online materials must be visual, dynamic, downloadable, printer-friendly, and randomly accessible (Cavanaugh & Blomeyer, 2007).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Virtual learning environments (VLE) are emergent but not yet in the mainstream for K-12 or higher educational purposes. Most VLE are 3-dimensional which provides the learners with many more "learning affordances" than their ubiquitous 2-D counterparts (Gibson, 1979). These affordances include the "facilitation of tasks that lead to enhanced spatial knowledge, greater opportunity for experiential learning, increased motivation and engagement, improved contextualisation of learning, and a more effective way of collaborating" (Dalgarno & Lee, 2009, p. 10).

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Facilitation

 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">During the first week of instruction, it is important for the facilitator to inform students of security issues while taking an online course because the largest threat to a system is the user (Schneier, 2000).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">It is critical for facilitators to provide feedback during the instructional process, "dialogue with the teacher provides the opportunity for the teacher to respond to and reorient a [student's] thinking (Black & Wiliam, 1998, p. 143).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Facilitators should create a culture of collaboration (Boss & Krauss, 2007) in the virtual community.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Interaction is at the heart of online learning; increasing the frequency of interaction between the learner and online materials generally increases the student's engagement and retention of content (Cavanaugh & Blomeyer, 2007).

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Assessment

 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Instructional designers who have an empirical philosophy of learning may choose norm-referenced, criterion-referenced, or selected response assessments (Ainsworth & Viegut, 2006)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Designers with a constructivist approach will choose assessments that are context driven such as constructed response or performance based assessments (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007; Ainsworth & Viegut, 2006).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Formative assessment is an essential component of the learning process (Black & Wiliam, 1998).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Students need to be encouraged to self-assess themselves to encourage reflection (Black & Wiliam, 1998).

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Why K-12 Online Learning?

 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">NOT just a measure for saving taxpayers money.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Education for global citizenship (Friedman, 2005; Richey, 2007).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Gives context to learning (Papert, 1980).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Possible to give students a way of experimental learning through immersion (Dalgarno & Lee, 2009).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Encourage self-reflection for the learner (Black & Wiliam, 1998).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Prepare high school student for college and workforce.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Where is K-12 Online Learning Emerging?

 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Currently the following places in the United States require at least one online course in order to graduate from high school:
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Memphis, TN (Harris, 2011) http://rightsidewire.com/online-course-requirements-for-high-school-graduation
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Sugar City, ID (Bodnar, 2011) http://www.localnews8.com/news/27045782/detail.html
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">State of Michigan (Fisher, 2006) http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2006/04/6657.ars
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">State of Florida (LabSim Experience, 2011) http://www.thelabsimexperience.com/
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Right here in NEPA!
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Lackawanna County Intermediate Unit provide online classes to high school students.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Local high schools are counting these courses towards electives towards graduation.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">References
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Ainsworth, L. & Viegut, D. (2006). //Common formative assessments//. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Black, P. & Wiliam, D. (1998). "Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment". //Phi Delta Kappan, 80//(2), 139-148. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Boss, S. & Krauss, J. (2007). //Reinventing project-based learning//. Washington, D.C: ISTE. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Carlson, G. (2004). //Digital media in the classroom//. San Francisco, CA: CMP Books. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Cavanaugh, C. & Blomeyer, R. (2007). //What works in K-12 online learning//. ISTE. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Dalgarno, B. & Lee, M. (2009). What are the learning affordances of 3-D virtual environments? //British Journal of Educational Technology, 41//(1), 10-32. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Dougiamas, M. & Taylor, P.C. (2000). "Improving the effectiveness of tools for Internet-based education", Teaching and Learning Forum 2000, Curtin University. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Freire, P. (1970). //Pedagogy of the oppressed.// New York: Continuum. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Gibson, J. (1979), //The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception.// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Jonassen, D., Howland, J., Marra, R., & Crismond, D. (2008). //Meaningful learning with technology//. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Kurzweil, R. (2005). //The singularity in near//. New York, New York: Penguin Books. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Lehtinen, R., Russel, D., & Gangemi, G.T. (2006). //Computer security basics//. Cambridge, MA: O'Reilly. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Reiser, R. & Dempsey. (2007). //Trends and issues in instructional design and technology//. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Rowland, G. (1993). Designing and instructional design. //Educational Technology Research and Development, 41//(1), 79-91. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Schneier, B. (2000). //Secret & lies//. John Wiley & Sons. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). //Teaching and learning at a distance.// New York: Pearson. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Smith, P. & Ragan, T. (2005). //Instructional design.// John Wiley & Sons.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Page created by Susan Thackara. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Last update 5/6/11