winding down

so as we are winding down the summer session I have had the chance to reflect a little on online courses. Though some people lament that you don't always have the human connection in online course that you do in face-to-face courses, I think it all depends on how you structure the course. I took a lot of pains to center the course on student-student interaction, and to have students construct their knowledge through their own effort and interactions with fellow students to the extent possible. Of course teachers are involved in online courses, and this course was no exception, but I tried to be careful to not insert myself into discussions too soon for fear that students would see my contribution as the final arbiter, as if there is nothing else to discuss. Though of course I have a phd in curriculum and instruction, I don't know everything there is to know about learning theories, and my students this semester have such a wealth of teaching experience that it would be a crime for them to not be encouraged to share with each other the insights they have developed. Theory should inform practice just as practice should inform theory. Just as good businessmen learn as much or more from their customers and business partners, professors learn from their students. Not that students and customers are the same thing. I think my students felt a personal connection. I know I feel like I know my students well even though i have only met in person two of them. But I suppose I will see most of them in person for graduation next year.
Of course online courses bring some other benefits....students can be anywhere there is an internet connection, so they can get an education and not have to quit their jobs. Or they can go on vacation during the semester. But face-to face courses are good too. Our department is likely going to have an online MS program starting in 2010, but we are still going to have campus MS and phd programs. For a phd program, it seems to be better to have an on-campus program due to the extensive one to one research mentoring. And many potential MS students just want to have the option of a campus program. And lets face it, Cache valley is beautiful:
http://www.tourcachevalley.com/
So with the online ms and med programs we can reach more people.

one size does not fit all

As I have stressed to my students, learning theories are not a one-size-fits-all kind of thing. That is, there is no one learning theory that predicts all learning equally well. Rather learning theories provide different tools that all can be put in a teacher's toolbox. So this week we are talking about case-based learning. It is a very interesting theory, and true enough many students can learn many subjects very well through cases. Sometime they can help you learn content that you cannot learn very well without cases. For example, AECT's professional ethics committee presents cases illustrating the application of ethics principles to realistic situations. It helps show how principles can be applied to real situations. And because readers can relate to the situations, they can see how the principle applies to their lives. But what is important in case-based learning is not the cases themselves, but what students do with the cases. Students need to debate the cases, apply principles to them, and so forth to gain the full potential benefits of case-based learning.