Reliable technology is essential for online courses. Instructors should be aware of any barriers that can impact student's success.
With the new ways of technology you should always have a back up plan if you encounter any issues.
Limitations of active learning:
1: Technical challenges.
2: Lack of physical interactions.
3: Time constraints.
4: Technology dependency.
Misconceptions:
1: Equating active learning with technology.
2: Believing passive learning is Inevitable.
I feel that instructors can use video technology to increase students’ motivation to learn. There are multiple things that an instructor can do to teach their students and to keep them engaged so they don't feel overwhelmed.
I have learned that I need to break up video instruction into short 15-minutes segments so as not to overwhelm students.
Communication is very important in online learning. Stating the expectations at the beginning of the semester and class could help to reduce potential problems. Reliable technology could facilitate the online learning process, while unreliable technology could ruin that.
I think the information on having a backup plan for technological issues was a key thing that we should consider.
The thing I learned from this module is that students may be against active learning techniques. It will take an explanation from the instructor and active outreach to the students to keep the students involved in the class.
Keeping online videos short to 15 minutes helps keep attention span
course flexibility is important to the students.
I think lecturing has worse limitations than active learning. Students may think they want lectures, but this forces them to also do much of the learning at home. In the active learning environment students may feel some reservations, but it helps them to find out what they don't know they don't know. Sometimes, that can be a little frustrating to be staring at something one does not know the answer to, but I feel this is much better to experience with community. This is instead of being stuck at home, alone, frustrated. As a facilitator, I feel that is one of my main jobs: to help students deal with frustrating time before the material "clicks." I always try to encourage them to keep working till it "clicks."
I believe in the importance of active learning; however, I have always thought it depends on the subject matter and end goal. Although it takes extra time to prepare for active learning on the instructor's part, it is worth it when I'm teaching my Ethics course.
I have more fear trying to make it work for my more scientific courses in our accelerated program. My students take boards at the end of our program where part of their score comes from factual, rote information. The other half is filled with case studies and critical thinking where active learning has benefited.
I have implemented Jeopardy, Scavenger Hunts, Videos, etc., but at the end of the day there is large part of information that simply has had to be memorized. This is what I struggle with.
Comment on Samuel Beaumont's post:
Agreed. It is up to the instructor to relay what the expectations are for their students. This may be the first time the students are taught how to critically think and problem solve. This will set the tone for the students college career and they will have these skills to build upon.
I would like to use role play in my classes. Another thought, divide the class into teams and race to write on the board things/concepts they learned from the last classtime. This will engage the student and they will be able to critically think about the concepts taught.
Comment on Samuel Beaumont's post: Insightful entry. Getting students to redefine their approach to course work seems to be a crucial component as an instructor in the active learning model.
Breaking the lecture into 15 minute segment, then having the class identify the highlights of the segment would be a good way to see if they identify the key topics. Perhaps a short video case-study that covers the relevant material would be good. I worry about the time aspect; I could see classes extending beyond the class end time and this might frustrate students.
There could be some pushback when incorporating active learning into your teaching. Setting expectations early and revisiting them may help with the adjustment to this new style of learning.
I love the idea of self-reflection and would love to incorporate this into my online learning class. This will really give online students the opportunity to think about what they learned and how they can apply what they learned.
Technology plays a big role into motivating students to learn. It engages to students more, makes them want to be in class, especially the new generation, they are all about tech. Its a new way of teaching
To utilize different methods of keeping the students engaged in the online environment. Also technology issues can be a problem so always have a back-up plan for technical difficulties.
