Quality Online Teaching and Learning - Is it really different than campus-based education?

Terry Anderson, PhDProfessor Emeritus

Athabasca University, Canada

Conferencia Red MECDL (UNAM, UADY, UABC)Tijauna, Mexico

Sept 27, 2016

Who is Quality For??

Slide Credit – Int. Conf. on Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Africa, Windhoek, 2016Enhancing quality and combating corruption in higher education: A global perspectiveUvalić-Trumbić s. & Daniel J. http://sirjohn.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/SUTJSD1_Windhoek_Red1.pdf

Three types of Quality Control

Slide Credit – Int. Conf. on Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Africa, Windhoek, 2016Enhancing quality and combating corruption in higher education: A global perspectiveUvalić-Trumbić s. & Daniel J. http://sirjohn.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/SUTJSD1_Windhoek_Red1.pdf

John Daniel’s Iron Triangle

http://www.slideshare.net/ODLAA/education-across-space-and-time-sir-john-daniel

Quality Dilemma

Innovation

Innovation

ExampleQuality Depends on Learning Design

Quality Depends on Pedagogy

Three Generations of Flexible Learning Pedagogies

1. Behaviourist/Cognitive – Self Paced, Individual study

2. Social Constructivist – Groups

3. Connectivist – Networks and Collectives

“To name things is to recognize them: It is the way we learn about our environment” H. Gossage 1967

Anderson, T., & Dron, J. (2011). Three generations of distance education pedagogy IRRODL 12(3), 80-97. http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/890/1826.

1. Behavioural/Cognitive Pedagogies

• “tell ‘em what you’re gonna tell ‘em,

• tell ‘em • then tell ‘em what you

told ‘em”

Direct Instruction

Gagne’s Events of Instruction (1965)

1. Gain learners' attention2. Inform learner of objectives3. Stimulate recall of previous information4. Present stimulus material5. Provide learner guidance6. Elicit performance7. Provide Feedback8. Assess performance9. Enhance transfer opportunities

Enhanced by the “cognitive revolution”

• Chunking • Cognitive Load• Working Memory• Multiple Representations• Split-attention effect• Variability Effect• Multi-media effect

– (Sorden, 2005)

“learning as acquiring and using conceptual and cognitive structures” Greeno, Collins and Resnick, 1996

Focus is on the Content and the Individual Learner

Nature of Knowledge

• Knowledge is logically coherent, existing independent of perspective

• Context free• Capable of being transmitted• Assumes closed systems with discoverable

relationships between inputs and outputs

Behaviourist/Cognitive Technologies

Content is king

• What are quality indicators for cognitive- behavioral generation e-learning?

Quality is

• Clearness of presentation• Logical sequence of events• Timely and accurate feedback• Clear instructions and activities• Rubrics and transparent assessment

1st Generation, Cognitive Behavioural Pedagogy

Summary

• Scalable• Few requirements, or opportunities, for social

learning• Works most efficiently with individual learning

models• Effective and efficient for some types of learning• Have we really taught learners to succeed with

this type of learning?

18

2nd Generation Social Constructivist Pedagogy

• Group Orientated• Membership and exclusion, closed • Not scalable - max 50 students/course• Classrooms - at a distance or on campus• Hierarchies of control• Focus on collaboration and shared purpose

group

Constructivist Knowledge is:

• Knowledge is constructed, not transmitted• Arrived at through dialogic encounters

(Bakhtin,) - the presence of others adds motivation, conflicting ideas, social validation

• Teacher as group facilitator

“Dialogic as an epistemological framework supports an account of education as the discursive construction of shared knowledge”

Wegerif, R.

Constructivist Learning in Groups• Long history of research

and study• Established sets of tools

– Classrooms– Learning Management

Systems (LMS)– Synchronous (chat, video

& net conferencing)– Email, wikis, blogs

• Need to develop face to face, mediated and blended group learning skills

Garrison, R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical thinking in text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2), 87-105.

• What is quality in social constructivist pedagogy based courses?

Quality is

• Large and messy problems• Authentic tasks and assessment• Self, peer and teacher assessment• Group work and opportunities to develop

leadership skills• Social presence

2nd Generation Social Constructivist Pedagogy

Summary

• Not scalable, Expensive in terms of time and money

• New group tools enhance efficiency• Helps teachers and learners transition to

online learning

Generation 3 Connective pedagogies

• Stephen Downes

Connectivist Knowledge

• Is created by linking to appropriate people and objects

• May be created and stored in non human devices• Is as much about capacity as current competence• Assumes the ubiquitous Internet• Is emergent

George Siemens

Connectivism

• “connectivism is the thesis that knowledge is distributed across a network of connections, and therefore that learning consists of the ability to construct and traverse those networks.” Stephen Downes 2007

See special issue of IRRODL.org

Connectivist Learning

PersistenceAccessibilityNetwork Effects

“Connectivying” your course http://terrya.edublogs.org/2012/12/18/connectivy-your-course/

NOT Learning in a Bubble

Disruptions of Connectivism

• Demands net literacy and net presence of students and teachers

• Openness is scary• New roles for teachers and

students• Artifact ownership,

persistence and privacy• Too manic for some

Connectivity Quality is

• Building and sharing of artifacts• Developing and assessing new networks• Critically evaluating resources• Global activities and challenges

Quality Control needs to align with:

• State Authority expectation• Pedagogical consistency• Teacher time• Need for innovation• Community of educators, parents and

students within which it is imposed.

Three types of Quality Control

Slide Credit – Int. Conf. on Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Africa, Windhoek, 2016Enhancing quality and combating corruption in higher education: A global perspectiveUvalić-Trumbić s. & Daniel J. http://sirjohn.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/SUTJSD1_Windhoek_Red1.pdf

Quality Systems

Quality Online Teaching and Learning – Is it really different than campus based education?

Terry Anderson terrya@athabascau.ca

Blog: terrya.edublogs.org

Your comments & questions

most welcomed!

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