Seven Principles in Practice

Here are some ideas about ways in which the Internet facilitates each of the seven principles, as well as some challenges that they presents:

Encourages contacts between students and faculty

The Internet provides several means of communication between faculty and student--email, discussion, and text and audio chat. Frequent communication not only enables faculty to deliver or clarify content, but communication is thought to reduce feelings of isolation and increase motivation in distance learners.

Challenges: Teachers and learners alike often find that online communication increases the workload in distance courses significantly.

Can you suggest ways in which this workload can be managed or reduced?

Develops reciprocity and cooperation among students

Before the advent of the communication functionality provided by the Internet, communication and collaboration among distance learners was inpracticable. Today, not only is synchronous and asynchronous communication commonplace, but application sharing programs and immersive environments, make group work and group projects possible. And the group members don't even have to be human. In the River City Project, learners interacted. not only with each other, but also with the electronic residents of a virtual city.

Challenges: There are many challenges to the effective use of the Internet for group work and group proejects. Among them are:

• Delays in communication can extend the time-frame required for typical group dynamics to occur.
• Design of effective case studies or problem solving exercises that take into account transactional distance requires creativity and a clear understanding of the technologies involved.
• Design and development of projects such as River City are expensive and technically complex.

What is your favourite communication tool/strategy for cooperation and collaboration online?

Uses active learning techniques

The Internet promotes active learning because it enables learners to engage with each other and with the content. Learners can use the Internet to discuss and debate content helping them to understand content and to apply it in other contexts. However, interaction with content can also be facilitated online. This could be something as simple as embedded questions or as complex as online simulations. Coloured and 3-D illustrations that can be manipulated by the learners can help to clarify concepts in ways that print-based materials cannot.

As in the River City example cited above, learners can engage with content in real-life contexts.

Challenges:

Gives prompt feedback

Timely feedback and remediation is an important component of effective teaching. On the Internet, the teacher can provide prompt feedback by means online communications functions. But feedback can also be programmed right into the content. It can be as simple as embedded questions or online assessments that are electronically graded. Or, it can be as complex as multi-layered simulations in which learner decisions determine what happens next. In group discussions either with other humans or with avatars, learners can correct, clarify and amplify learning information.

Challenges: It is easy to cheat on online quizzes and tests. Multiple choice questions, which are the defacto standard for many university exams, are especially vulnerable. The challenge for many online course developers and subject matter experts is to develop assessment instruments that do not lend themselves to cheating.

Do you have any ideas about online assessment strategies that making cheating more difficult or less appealing?

Emphasizes time on task

Most educators dream of finding ways to motivate learners to spend time on their learning tasks, whether in online or face-to-face courses. The Internet provides many ways to make instructional materials more interesting and engaging.

• Coloured illustrations and photographs make even text-based content more interesting.
• Embedded progress-check questions with immediate feedback can be used to encourage learners to review concepts that they have not understood.
• Participation in group discussions or group work not only provides time on task, but also provides opportunities for group participants to help each other clarify and synthesize information.

Challenges: As mentioned above, the workload in online courses can be great. It is important that that time be productive and profitable. That means that online courses need to be carefully designed to provide rich learning experiences. It is also important that the technology be an aid to learning, not a barrier.

 

Communicates high expectations

Research has shown that learners are motivated to reach high expectations. One expectation that is almost a "buzzword" in today's training and education circles is that of "learner centred learning." One aspect of learner centred learning is that of giving learners responsibility for their own learning. The Internet makes it possible for learners to expand their learning experiences beyond the confines of any single textbook or even a single library to libraries, schools, companies and museums throughout the
world.

Giving learners more control and responsibility for their own learning is one way in which educators can communicate high expectations to learners. However, if the learners are expected to meet high expectations then they should be given tools that make success possible. Some of the ways in which the Internet can help do this include:

• The ability to develop vibrant engaging content
• The provision of communication and collaboration opportunities
• The availability of vast resources for in-depth study and research

Challenges: The development of engaging content and interesting collaborative activities for online study requires skill and creativity. It may also require skilled resources.

Have you had an online learning experience that was exceptionally good or exceptionally bad that you would like to share? If so, click on "View or leave feedback" to tell us about it.

Respects diverse talents and ways of learning

The Internet has vast potential to enable learners to study in ways that make use of their talents and accomodate their learning style. Audio and video can be used to accomodate visual and auditory learners. Even tactile learners can benefit from interactivity with the computer.

The Seven Principles of Good Practice is only one of many models for examining the benefits that the Internet brings to the practice and pedagogy of learning on the Internet. But it is easy to see that while the potential is there, a great deal of work is required of those of us engaged in the art, science or profession of learning. In addition, there is a whole new theory of learning, connectivism, which may require other ways to approach the design of learning activities. Some thoughts on connectivism are in the Evolution section of this web site.

 

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