Hi Everyone.
I missed our group’s presentation earlier this month due to work constraints, and today’s video builds upon the wonderful presentation my colleagues shared on May 5th, 2022.
Our team includes Sharmila, Alisha, Melissa, and myself. We all work in the world of education in virtual settings.
Since we are all interested in making eLearning as effective as possible, we explored Todd Poddle’s eLearning resource, Teaching Online or Hoarding Frogs in a wheelbarrow.
It can be difficult to help students engage and complete eLearning resources. We found it interesting that Mr. Pottle, a representative of the Ontario eLearning Consortium, used an articulate360 design to share numerous tips and tricks for teachers working in online spaces.
To help us examine Pottle’s resource, we decided to use Veletsianos’s 4 E’s, exploring how this resource efficiently and effectively shares information, is engaging, and invites participation from a wide array of perspectives.
With an appreciation for efficiency, effectiveness, and engagement, I assessed the eLearning resource on its use of behaviourism and constructivism.
Behaviourism is a learning theory that stems from the empirical view that knowledge develops from experience (Shunk, 1991, Ertmer & Newby, 2013).
To help people learn, teachers can use a stimulus to teach the desired response, and continued exposure to this stimulus can develop and maintain the patterning of the behaviour (Schunk, 1991).
When applying behaviourism, focus on controlling the variables and then re-introducing variables as learners build confidence. Use simple language, matching learner needs, and reinforce and celebrate the patterning of powerful routines and habits.
In the spirit of keeping it simple, Pottle provides recommendations in easy-to-use language, focuses on habits that you can develop as a teacher online, and presents this material in Articulate360, creating a user-friendly experience that controls variables like usability.
Although there are no quizzes or activities to help pattern these new recommendations, the lack thereof allows users to navigate between chapters unincumbered and find information about topics of interest efficiently.
Switching gears, Constructivism is a learning theory that stems from the rationalist view that knowledge is created when learners use reasoning and associate meaning with their experiences (Ertmer & Newby, 2013).
To help people learn, teachers can establish realistic environments that help students experience challenges, think critically, and solve problems. Depending on the learners’ ability, teachers may need to model the process of HOW to construct knowledge.
There is a debate in the academic literature regarding when constructivist learning theories are most helpful; for example, intermediate and advanced learners who are preparing to perform in a multi-variable environment can learn best using constructivist techniques (Jonassen, 1991, Ertmer & Newby, 1993, 2013).
We can help our students by focusing their attention on developing the ability to filter, elaborate, and extrapolate.
Pottle’s eLearning resource does this pretty well for an eLearning.
He begins with a question, helping us, as a reader and teacher-in-training, understand that the author recognizes our challenge. By being realistic about the difficulties we face teaching online, the reader immediately feels that this may be an effective use of time.
The author continues establishing this realism by admitting there is more than one answer and invites us to contribute our ideas to the ongoing discussion. This invitation helps challenge us as readers to think critically, propose solutions, and contribute to a community of inquiry.
In each of the eight chapters, the author highlights previous readers who have made those contributions, linking to their external posts. The ability of past readers to elaborate and extrapolate, adding to the discussion, is seen throughout all 8 chapters, with up to 13 external resources included in chapter 5 alone.
Each chapter also concludes with a quote from an educational expert, celebrating the viewpoints of a wide array of speakers.
Although these quotes could have been cited more clearly, in the age of the internet and LinkedIn, it is easy enough to discover these speakers online if a reader is so inclined.
So, is Pottle’s learning resource efficient? Effective? And engaging?
Well, it uses simple language, is easy to use and invites collaboration.
However, it could explore the use of questions or quizzes to help us pattern learning, improve recognition of collaborators, and engage the reader in EACH chapter by uniting us with a question or challenge.
However, I believe that author made these design choices deliberately.
Why? And what choices?
Well, the author, like most people in education, is most likely very busy and unable to provide ongoing mentorship or facilitate future discussions. Therefore, an on-demand resource with an invitation to collaborate is an efficient use of everyone’s time.
The content is written clearly and for an already trained audience in the field. Therefore, the author makes assumptions that readers will be able to filter and apply concepts that are helpful in their context.
So… if readers can already think critically, extrapolate, and test new ideas in this context, the only thing missing is the specific eLearning tips and tricks. Plus, readers get a little validation by cross-checking their existing practices with the recommendations on the list.
And this makes sense if we investigate this resource not only from a behaviourist and constructivist viewpoint but also with an appreciation for inquiry-based learning.
Inquiry-based learning is a student-centred approach that helps learners orient themselves in the environment, ask questions, create a hypothesis, and select an investigative procedure to reach a viable conclusion.
Although we may assume a constructivist approach would be most helpful because our learners are experienced, can extrapolate, and test new ideas on their own, Pottle does not have the capacity to facilitate and guide the more learner-centred approaches; therefore, the author correctly selects a more teacher-centred approach.
The author’s eLearning resource associates more closely with the confirmation or structured stages of inquiry by providing lists, activities, questions, and role models on how to initiate these concepts in the classroom.
And I think that is okay. After all, it is an efficient way to share new ideas, and the author invites readers to pursue the guided and open inquiry stages on their own time, reporting back by sharing their reflections via email.
Our team’s next activity is to summarize our work in an infographic and a short paper.
Compiling our different viewpoints will provide an opportunity to celebrate our perspectives, honour the intention of the author, and adopt a spirit of curiosity and humility as we summarize ways this resource works and where it can be improved.
What do you think? Are there elements of Pottle’s eLearning resource that can be clearly improved? What elements of the resource were helpful to you and why? Please use the comment section below.
References
Banchi, H. & Bell, R. (2008). The Many Levels of Inquiry. Science and Children, 46(2), 26-29.
Dron, J. (2014). Chapter 9: Innovation and Change: Changing how we Change. In Zawacki-Richter, O. & T. Anderson (Eds.), Online distance education: Towards a research agenda. AU Press.
Ertmer, P., & Newby, T. (2013). Behaviourism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 26(2), 43-71.
Jonassen, D.H. (1991). Evaluating constructivist learning. Educational Technology, 31(9), 28–33.
Pottle, T. (2022). Teaching online or hoarding frogs in a wheelbarrow. OELC.
Veletsianos, G. (2021, May 31). Effectiveness, Efficiency, Engagement and Equity in Online and Blended Learning settings. Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences – Open/Technology in Education, Society, and Scholarship Association(OTESSA) [Online Keynote Session], University of Alberta, AB. https://www.veletsianos.com/2021/05/31/otessa-2021-congress-keynote-effectiveness-efficiency-engagement-wheres-equity/