XplanaZine

I was having breakfast with an associate on Friday and was intrigued by the following question. “What is the best combination of content and technology for teaching online?”

Whether it was the early hour or the fact that I didn’t have an adequate response, I didn’t give much of a satisfying answer. Having thought about it a bit more over the weekend, I’d like to take another shot at it here.

To begin with, there are two parts to the question and both are of equal importance. I think the logical place to start is the “teaching online effectively” piece.

Effective online instruction, now and in the future, is built on four primary principles — ease of use, integration, mobility, and flexibility.

• Ease of use: Effective online content and instruction is accessible and intuitive, both in terms of pedagogy and usability. Content should be framed in familiar pedagogical contexts (for teachers and students) so that learning online seems comfortable yet takes advantage of the differences associated with the medium. In addition, all aspects of the technology should adhere to rigid usability standards and comply with Web standards for the disabled.
• Integration: Online content must be compatible with traditional LMS platforms and yet should also be self-contained and able to exist in a stand-alone format. Increasingly, over the next several years, traditional LMS platforms will play a diminished role in online education. Our content and teaching must anticipate this shift.
• Mobility: Effective online content and instruction must anticipate multiple delivery formats and devices.
• Flexibility: Online content should be constructed in a modular fashion that anticipates reuse in the same and different contexts.

These elements necessarily call for shifts in the technology we use to teach online. Traditional LMS platforms, what we use mostly these days for online teaching, were conceived of and constructed before we had any opportunity to collect valuable experience data or to develop any best practices for teaching online. They were designed to conform to classroom learning dynamics — teacher-centric, linear, local, static, and information-based — rather than embrace the potential of a Web-based learning environment — learner-centric, organic, distributed, dynamic, and learning-based.

Moving forward, LMS platforms will not vanish but their importance will be redefined. Rather than existing as all encompassing teaching constructs, they will more appropriately serve as central, flexible technology “hubs” for developing discipline-specific learning modules. It might be best to think of them as giant sound stages or studios that can be morphed into many different scenarios. Content, pedagogy, and much teaching technology will actually exit independently of these platforms as items that can be “plugged in” or added to the stage.

If we take much of the pedagogy out of the technology, we will need to adopt a common content or teaching structure that is technology-independent yet which also anticipates some of the limits of technology for teaching. I prefer to use the following model when constructing sound learning modules for my online courses.

• Presentation: Effective online instruction presents and maintains a constant learning context. It is important to begin every module with an overview or presentation of the core content being covered in the module. This can be a textbook reading, a slide overview, audio, or video. Most commonly it involves a reading task.
• Instruction: Once a learner has been exposed to the information or learning context for the module, the instructor can provide a more detailed explication of that context. This can be in the form of a mini-lecture, slide presentation, text notes, etc. The purpose is to touch on subtleties or nuances of the content as well as to help learners with more complex issues or problems.
• Simulation: After learners understand the context for a lesson, and after that have had the content reinforced by instruction, they are ready to practice and internalize. This portion of the learning module should focus on individual or personal practice so that the learner can make sure that he/she has a personal grasp of the content.
• Collaboration: Once individual mastery is developed, the lesson should move to group discussion and collaboration so that necessary perspective can be added to the learner’s experience.
• Elaboration: Finally, the lesson should end with an activity designed to allow the learner to synthesize the lesson information and internalize its use through practical application. This last phase of the lesson can focus on the individual or on a collaborative experience.

Content and teaching technology that follow our four primary principles and the pedagogical pattern above can be constructed from common, existing materials. The chart below shows how different technologies could be incorporated into a lesson module. I have deliberately chosen technologies that are independent of an LMS platform in order to address the core principles stated at the beginning of this article.

As most will likely notice, any of the technologies in the chart above can be used in most of the learning module phases. This flexibility is created by separating our technology from pedagogy. Unlike LMS platforms that “prescribe” pedagogy through technology, the convention promoted here focuses first on pedagogy and then adopts any technology, simple or complex, that can be used to effect the desired outcome. This is particularly useful because it asks teachers to think less about technology and more about teaching and learning.

The bottom line is that teaching online is most effective and efficient when we adopt fundamental content development principles and embrace clear pedagogical models. Beginning with content and pedagogy helps define the technologies we use and creates a context for using them more effectively.