The role of proximity in the learning process comes to mind when thinking about some of the differences between online and face to face learning. I took a calculus for the social sciences class (face to face) a few years back. The class was challenging to say the least and I spent many hours in the math lab taking advantage of the ‘free’ tutorial services, also face to face. The class met three times a week for 50 minutes and the instructional strategy aligned with what McLaren describes as “Information Transfer”. He writes, “during information transfer, learners are usually passive participants in the learning process” (p.230). Basically, the students watched the chalk board and listened to the professor. You might say that this is not a very progressive or exciting learning paradigm, but there was one activity that occurred in this class that I cannot imagine being replicated in the online environment. Every class we turned in problem sets from the text related to the lectures and the professor began each class painstaking working through several of the assigned problems, answering questions along the way. The way this relates to proximity is in the give and take interaction between the students and teacher in real time. Moreover, a question from one student encouraged other questions which solidified the learning exchange. As an aside, I also had the opportunity to participate in a study group, an event not likely to happen online because of issues of proximity.
On the other hand, online learning is more conducive to learning outcomes related to reflection, self-regulation and self-monitoring because you have to take responsibility for your own learning. And because online learning is more self-directed, for example, I can spend more time on the concepts that are unfamiliar and less on concepts that I can pick up quickly. This may be self evident and commonsensical, but it is a level of control not apparent in a face to face setting.
Orellana, A., Hudgins, T.L., Simonson, M. (2009). The Perfect online course: Best practices for designing and teaching, (Ed.). Charlotte, North Carolina: Information Age Publishing.
The self-directed aspect of distance learning really appeals to me for exactly the reasons you mentioned. Furthermore, when I'm in a face-to-face class and the teacher is covering something I believe I already understand, I totally check out and my mind wanders. Sometimes I won't even notice if the teacher moves onto a new subject, one that I don't fully understand, because I am already disengaged from what is going on. I find that the tools used in distance education--typically readings and recorded lectures--keep my attention much better, or at least allow me to self-check and say to myself "wait, do I actually know what I read on this page?" Then I can review as needed if I've glossed over something. Being able to do this is really important to me because I DO want to learn, it's just I have a hard time forcing my brain to be "on" consistently and continuously, multiple times a week at a very specific time.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about how there are options for online verbal collaboration, but they certainly don't work as well. For example, I'm sure there's some kind of application that would allow students to watch a professor work out a problem in real time. But there is something about the flow that just feels off. When I'm in Elluminate sessions for my classes, I feel way more self-conscious about raising my hand, since I don't want to take up any unnecessary class time with a question. There's something that just works about being in the same room together, with an understanding that the professor really is engaging with students.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I really do enjoy online learning (see my post)! I wonder if it works better in graduate courses, since the students really need to be bright and self-motivated, as both of you pointed out.
Interesting--as Casandria mentioned, it probably would be possible through an on-line course to have a professor work through math problems and have students ask questions. (Couldn't this happen through Elluminate?) But I do think there's less of a flow with something like an Elluminate session that is probably prohibitive for many students. However, it's also possible that that level of inhibition that a few of us have referred to has something to do with our being graduate level students who have never met each other. The high school students who I spoke with and observed participating in a hybrid on-line class at my high school site seemed pretty comfortable with a more casual back and forth in their sessions.
ReplyDeleteI think the feeling of flow has to do with picking up on nonverbal cues from everyone around you--something that's entirely absent in an online environment. In a traditional classroom, you can look around and kind of tell if other people are confused, engaged, bored, frustrated, or what have you. You can get a sense of whether a question would be welcome or be an interruption. A question in an online environment is more of a risk because you have no idea how you'll be perceived, and you can't modify your behavior later based on people's reactions, because you have no idea whether the reaction was, "Thank GOD someone asked that question" or "Ugh, I wish that person would stop asking stupid questions so we could just GO already."
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