The Reflection of the Week:
This week was the week of online and blending learning, which we discussed a number of studies conducted regarding online and blending learning. Especially, the consecutive studies of Allen and Seaman provide us essential points and details indicating how online and blending learning have been continuing to expand in the US. The studies show the demand on online learning has been growing in passing year. I recognized that money is one of the key factors to use online education in their schools for large institutions. Small institutions felt the most negative about online education and they have less student and money. It made me thought the more money, the more positive reaction about that.
Although we use different types of learning in our education such as traditional, web facilitated, blended and even online learning, teachers are still central in various learning. I think even if the role of teachers change in time, the importance of teachers will not change in education and they will be always a vital part of any kind of education.
Actually, I have learning experience in traditional, web facilitated, blended and online learning and I can say I am a person of blended learning. Let me explain why I am a blending learning person. Traditional learning makes me bored because I am in passive role and there is no technology to use. It is really boring. Web facilitated learning is similar to traditional learning but technology I used was for only syllabus and other basic process. I was still in passive role. Now, I have taken an online course for 2 months and I realized I am not an online learner even though the studies of this week state the outcomes of online learning are better than face to face courses. The reason why I am not an online learner is that I face some technical problems during the online course and need face to face meetings in order to explain my ideas very well. Finally, I love blended learning because I have opportunities not only to talk and get help through face to face communication but also use technology to discuss topics, ideas or share videos, pictures, etc… I can benefit from advantages of both face to face course and technology in blended learning. For me, our course, R685, is a blended course because we use Oncourse, breeze, blog, internet effectively. In addition, we have face to face meetings, debate, role playing, and many other activities during the class time in the school.
The example of the Week:
I would like to talk about Oncourse we use at Indiana University as an example. I think Oncourse is a nice system in order to use for both online and blended learning. Oncourse includes many features and offers collaboration, sharing files, chat each other and more.
The quote of the Week:
“Blended learning is a workable solution that allows trainers and staff developers to integrate online learning with a broad range of more traditional learning techniques.” (Kaya Thorne, How to integrate online& traditional learning, 2003). Blended learning enables and uses both traditional and new innovative techniques in workplace or school settings.
The Picture of the Week:
This picture illustrates the approach of e-TQM College about blended learning. The picture clearly represents what blended learning is and includes the components.
Hello Cesur,
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to read about your experience with different forms of learning. Just like you, I had my share of online and blended learning. I also prefer blended learning for the same reasons you mentioned in your blog.
As for the similar and central role of teachers in the different forms of learning, I think online and blended learning requires more efforts from the teacher's part to be competent with the tools and technologies used for teaching online classes. Based on my experience, the failure to utilize technology effectively could cause worse learning experience than traditional learning.
Finally, I have a different opinion about OnCourse. I think the system is very limited and difficult to use for online courses. I prefer other web-based tools, such as wikis and Google docs, for communication and collaborations with others.