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(This is a text summary of the He Said She Said podcast from September 6, 2005. This is a bi-weekly podcast that deals with a wide range of topic on Education and Educational Technology. The show’s host is Rob Reynolds and he is joined by Susan Smith Nash. The He Said She Said podcast is available every Tuesday and Thursday on Xplana Radio.)

Briefly…

This podcast addresses the concept of the “utopian” teacher. We define this as the teacher who marches to the beat of a different, yet very creative drum — a teacher who does not fit into petty and structured places. The utopian teacher is an innovator and has an approach to teaching that cannot be easily replicated or taught. You may be a utopian teacher. We’ve all known and been influenced by them. Our primary question to day is this: “How does the online learning environment affect utopian teachers?”

She Said:

How does the new online learning environment affect “utopian teachers”? Rob makes a number of good points about how some students like to be liberated from structure, while others crave it, because it helps define what is expected of them.

To me, the key is to place the content into context.

In addition, there must be meaningful interaction between instructor / student, and student — students.

What I mean by that is that the instructor should be working within a system with sufficient flexibility to allow one to get to know the class, and to suggest ways for them to make the content “real” — that is, to connect it to their experience, or a real-life situation.

This works quite well in problem-based approaches, and experience-based learning. It’s not quite as easy in abstract settings, but an effective instructional strategy will provide structure, content, and scaffolding for the activities, and will also give the instructor the chance to help the students make the connections.

The podcast is much more dynamic than this flat presentation of ideas. Rob and I agree, disagree, and the fur flies!

He Said

The more things change the more they stay the same. Over time, the online learning environment may prove even more difficult for the utopian teacher than the traditional classroom. Successful online environments are structured and somewhat linear. Utopian teachers defy such boundaries. In online learning environments information is highly contextualized. Utopian teachers often achieve their best results by de-contextualizing information.

The Web is a haven and heaven for utopian teachers. I’m just not certain that our online learning environments inside of LMS platforms have much to offer them.

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