VirtualLearning: Risks and Rewards -Charting a Course Towards a More Efficient Education System

 

Dr. Donna Dyer, Deputy Dean-Faculty of Science and Technology,

 

 

 

 

 

The Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) of The University of the West Indies facilitated a virtual panel discussion to commemorate WORLD SCIENCE DAY 2020(for Peace and Development) on Thursday 12^th November 2020. The theme of the discussion was ‘VirtualLearning: Risks and Rewards -Charting a course towards a more efficient Education System”. Click the link for a recording of the session:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=392197138641386&ref=watch_permalink

 

 

Speakers included Professor Brian Copeland, Pro Vice Chancellor and Campus Principal, Dr. Phaedra Mohammed–Lecturer, Department of Computing & Information Technology, FSTMs. Diana Ragbir-Shripat, PhD Candidate, Department of Computing and Information Technology, FST, Mr. Kerry Brooms–Industrial Relations Officer, Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association(TTUTA)Ms. Zena Ramatali –Interim President, National Parent Teacher Association (NPTA), Dr. Christine Descartes–Developmental Psychologist;Lecturer–Psychology,&Former Board Member of The Children’s Authority of Trinidad and Tobago and Dr. Dianne Thurab-Nkhosi–Senior Programme Officer, and Head, Quality Assurance Unit, St Augustine Campus, UWI.

 

 

 

 

From Face to Face to Online Teaching: Developing a "Road Map"

 

 

 The link below is to a recording of a presentation intended to encourage participants in a webinar to consider the assumptions we make about students in the context of online teaching and assess a possible “road map” for moving from face to face to online teaching and learning.

The presentation was part of The Caribbean Area Network for Quality Assurance in Tertiary Education (CANQATE) WEBINAR SERIES 2020 on November 26, 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUu7tZDJ6bw

 

 

Building Online Communities

One of the most difficult things to do in an online environment is to create and maintain student engagement. In a previous post I talked about humanizing the environment. This post reinforces that idea that we need to build online communities in order to promote learning in the online environment. Christopher Pappas in his blog talks about 10 activities that can be employed to build stronger online communities. I don't agree with all his suggestions, particularly in our context but it makes for a good discussion so take a read and let me know your thoughts on the suggestions.
http://elearningindustry.com/top-10-elearning-activities-can-employ-build-strong-online-learning-communities

Humanize the learning Environment!!!!

Facilitating an online or blended course and facilitating a face to face course IS different. Yes, principles of good teaching apply in both cases but we have to admit that engaging our learners in an online environment requires a different kind of skill. We can all tell when students are bored, de-motivated or just plain confused- face-to-face that is. Can we tell when our online students are lost? It’s very difficult especially if we are using asynchronous methods and teaching at a distance. One of the big issues in facilitation of online and blended learning is preventing feelings of isolation. I know some of you will say that there can be isolation in the face to face environment and this is true, however it is more prevalent in the online environment. We have to admit too that we are social beings and an online environment can be very mechanical or impersonal. As facilitators we therefore need to find ways to humanize the environment, create a social space that is relevant, comfortable and safe for the student. Where they feel they are being heard and where participation becomes almost an addiction. The following have been useful as I have charted the course of facilitating online learning.

• Boettcher, J.V.2011. Ten Best Practices for Teaching Online: Quick Guide for New Online Faculty  http://bit.ly/1GpnCQ7
• Berge, Z. (n.d.) The Role of the Online Instructor/Facilitator ( downloaded from Research Gate)
• Assessing Online Facilitation Instrument  http://www2.humboldt.edu/aof/aof.htm

A higher education revolution

At the recent regional conference Institutionalising Best Practice in Higher Education one of the speakers, Dr Claudia Harvey, called for a revolution in higher education. Her point was that we need to develop a culture of best practice and embed this in everything we do. Another keynote speaker Dan Butin, talked about flipping the university as opposed to flipping the class. What these speakers are suggesting is by no means anything new since we can go back to the work of Paulo Friere whose educational theory is underpinned by a philosophy that the student should be the focus and should be recognised as having the capability to think critically. ."our relationship with the learners demands that we respect them and demands equally that we be aware of the concrete conditions of their world, the conditions that shape them. To try to know the reality that our students live is a task that the educational practice imposes on us: Without this, we have no access ' to the way they think, so only with great difficulty can we perceive what and how they know.

... there are no themes or values of which one cannot speak, no areas in which one must be silent. We can talk about everything, and we can give testimony about everything. "  (page 58)

Freire, P. 1998. Teachers as Cultural Workers - Letters to Those Who Dare Teach, Translated by Donoldo Macedo, Dale Koike, and Alexandre Oliveira, Westview Press, Boulder, CO, 1998.
http://www.newfoundations.com/GALLERY/Freire.html

I think we need to review the work of Friere as we reflect on what is required for this revolution in education.

How Can I Get them to Read Before Class???

I notice that many of you responding to the post on the Flipped Classroom have pointed out the difficulty in getting students to do pre-class work. Many students need some kind of incentive in order to invest in pre-class activity. We have seen this time and again. I wanted to share with you a strategy used by one professor to get his students engaged. Professor Ives Araujo from UFRGS-Brasil, about how he motivated his students to do Reading Assignments before class and how he measured this out-of-class engagement. Find out what he learned after the flipped his classroom
http://blog.peerinstruction.net/2012/09/04/how-one-professor-motivated-students-to-read-before-a-flipped-class-and-measured-their-effort/

This Flipping Thing!

Its been a long time since my last post and I realise that while there is always so much I can talk about in a blog, there are times when I really don't feel like talking. I guess that's a downside of doing a blog. You always have to have something to say and have the inclination to say it. A great place for extroverted introverts! Anyway enough about me. This post is about  the flipped classroom and how to encourage student engagement in your flipped  classroom. I know some of you may in fact be flipping your classroom without realising that you were doing it since the strategy of active learning during class sessions and having students prepare beforehand is not new and is in fact good teaching practice. The question is usually how do you get your students to prepare beforehand. The article The Flipped Classroom: Tips for Integrating Moments of Reflection By Barbi Honeycutt, PhD and Sarah Egan Warren gives an interesting perspective on flipped classrooms and student engagement. Also note that The Flipped Learning Network is a professional learning community focused particularly on the use of screencasting in education.Please read and share your views.