Lesson 9 - Quality Teaching in a Digital Age

The emphasis in this series of steps is on getting the fundamentals of teaching right. The nine steps are based on two foundations:

• Effective strategies resulting from learning theories tested in both classroom and online environments
• Experience of successfully teaching both in classrooms and online (best practices)

The discerning reader will have noted that there isn’t much in this lesson about exciting new tools, MOOCs, the Khan Academy, MIT’s edX, mobile learning, artificial intelligence, and many other new developments. These tools and new programs offer great potential and these have been discussed extensively in other lessons. However, it doesn’t matter what revolutionary tools or teaching approaches are being used, what we know of how people learn does not change a great deal over time, and we do know that learning is a process, and you ignore the factors that influence that process at your peril.

A subsidiary aim is to encourage you to work with other professionals, such as instructional and web designers and media producers, and preferably in a team with other online instructors.

I have focused mainly on using learning management systems, because that is what most institutions currently have, and LMSs provide an adequate ‘framework’ within which the key processes of teaching and learning can be managed, whatever the mode of delivery. I have more difficulty with integrating lecture capture or web conferencing within the nine steps, because the pedagogy they require is not suitable for developing the skills needed in a digital age.

But if you get the fundamentals of the nine steps right, they will transfer well to the use of new tools, and the design of new courses and new programs; if they don’t transfer well, such tools are likely to be a passing fad and will eventually fade away in education, because they don’t enable the key processes that support learning for a digital age. For example, MOOCs may reach hundreds of thousands of students, but if there is no suitable communication with or ‘online presence’ from an instructor, then most students will fail or lose interest (as is the case at the moment), unless there is significant support from other, more experienced, co-learners, as in cMOOCs. However, this support needs to be structured and organised for effective learning to take place.

The approach I have suggested is quite conservative, and some may wish to jump straight into what I would call second generation flexible learning, based on social media such as mobile learning, blogs and wikis, and so on. These do offer intriguing new possibilities and are worth exploring. Nevertheless, whether or not an LMS is used, for learning leading to qualifications, it is important to remember that most students need:

• Well-defined learning goals
• A clear timetable of work, based on a well-structured organization of the curriculum
• Manageable study workloads appropriate for their conditions of learning
• Regular instructor communication and presence
• A social environment that draws on, and contributes to, the knowledge and experience of other students
• A skilled teacher or instructor
• Other motivated learners to provide mutual support and encouragement

There are many different ways these criteria can be met, with many different tools.