In discussions of pedagogy, I tend to be a relativist. To answer the questions…” Does it depend upon
the content? the objectives? The professor? The students?” I say all of the
above. Sometimes, I think also, the most
effective way to learn may not involve a trendy technology or an en vogue
model. Reading Sean Morris’ depiction of
true pedagogues blindfolding students, or having them hopscotch to stir
memories to write, in contrast to pulling essays out like pulling teeth (2013) made me
laugh a little inside. In my high school
there were two freshman English teachers.
One pulled essays out like teeth, the other tried lots of fluffy feel
good assignments. As a student in the
former class, I loathed every minute of it.
Each class was spent grinding out essays in a ridiculously rigidly
defined format and sentence structure, then critiquing our classmates’
essays. As an adult writer I can
honestly say that all writing I have produced since that course has been built
upon the skills learned, and with much success.
In contrast, it became obviously apparent as we progressed into AP
English and then on to college, the students in the other section were woefully
unprepared to write...maybe too much hopscotch and blindfolds, and not enough actual writing?
While I may not always agree with Morris on what good
pedagogy “is”, I do agree with his and Strommel’s (2013) assessment that good
pedagogy is not dependent on small class size, and can occur even in MOOC
environments. We’ve all had courses with
small, intimate environments where the instructor squandered the opportunity
for true learning with poor teaching. Being
conscious of the content and the student motivation in the course can drive
instructors to develop courses, whether they be online or offline, that truly
maximize the learning experience for the student.
Despite my example to the contrary, I don’t believe that rote,
behavioristic course experiences generally contribute to the most optimal
learning. Both in face to face courses,
and in the MOOC environment, it is “easy” for an instructor to fall back on a
good ole lecture format. Incorporating social
constructivist elements into courses allows for learners to collaborate and
push the boundaries of their learning beyond what may be possible alone. While online learning is just beginning to
incorporate more constructivist elements, I believe that as the field
progresses, we will learn from other’s successes and move virtual courses out
of the LMS/video lecture/discussion board paradigm and begin to utilize
technology in less one directional way.
With regards to my MOOC, I believe it will be a challenge to
develop these types of elements into the course. So
much of my content is driven from independent study, yet I know from personal
experience, that interacting with others and bouncing personal finance ideas
off each other, sharing successes and failures, all leads to more commitment
and increased awareness. Overall, I hope to create a positive experience for the learner where they believe their time spent in the course was a valuable learning experience.
Micro MOOC Slideshare
Micro MOOC Slideshare
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