Distanced Learning from CartoonStock

When hearing the phrase "online learning" many educators will consider their experience during the Covid-19 pandemic. DURING COVID-19, nearly all teachers were forced to take their teaching practices and transfer them onto a virtual platform. For many this transfer included similar components and concepts as an in-person lecture hall or classroom. A physical textbook became virtual, as did all assignments and assessments. The teacher continues to lecture to the students with little engagement from the onlooking students. This is typically what most educators consider online learning to consist of today. The issue is many educators and students have found these strategies to be ineffective forms of learning.

This typical method of online learning follows didactic-mimetic pedagogical practices. This practice includes, “the teacher initiates a question, one student responds as a proxy for others while the rest silently, listen, and teacher evaluates— “yes, that’s right,” or “no, try again.” With only one student responding at a time, there are few opportunities to be an active meaning maker, and in any event, it is generally the precious and arrogant who tend to speak. (Cope and Kalantzis 2017: 16-21) This pedagogical practice is a traditional form of classroom culture throughout in person and online learning.

“It is not enough to know the issues and critique the field if one does not attempt to test solutions.” (Cope et al., 2020; Haniya et al.. 2018; McMichael et al., 2020; Montebello et al., 2018).To begin to enter a new era of online learning, educators will have to adapt new practices through trial and error. A few examples of these new practices include, incorporating less teacher centric models and include the students as co-designers of the content. According to Cope and Kalantzis, “We’ve learned from Massive Open Online Course that between 6-9 minutes is an optimum length for a video lecture.” After these brief instructional videos the instructor will include a type of call to action for the students. This requirement may include creating a post, comment, or other form of content related to the course to showcase their key takeaways. Integrating this type of practice shifts the central focus of the course away from the teacher and lends the students to become more actively engaged in their learning. “Instead of knowledge spectators, they become knowledge co-creators” (Cope & Kalantzis, 2015a, 2019b; Montebello et al., 2018; Smith, McCarthy, & Magnifico, 2017; van Haren & Harroun, 2019). Online learning is an innovative form of learning for students who are unable to access in person learning. However, for distant learning to be most effective the format must become student centered to support the learner’s needs.

References:

Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2022). The Digital Learner: Towards a Reflexive Pedagogy. Introduction: The Digital Learner – Towards a Reflexive Pedagogy. Retrieved August 26, 2022, from https://cgscholar.com/community/community_profiles/new-learning/community_updates/123471

Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2021). The Changing Dynamics of Online Education. Foreign Language Learning in the Digital Age, 9–33. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003032083-3