Rod Corbett
University of Calgary, Calgary, Aberta, CANADA

Abstract

Distance learning programs typically provide accessibility and flexibility to learners who wouldn’t otherwise be able to access a program of study. However, being separated from their peer learners and instructor normally means that distance learner does not have the same opportunities for collaborative activity-based learning experiences and to be assessed using authentic assessment strategies. This paper will discuss how the Faculty of Continuing Education of the University of Calgary has implemented an activity-based e-learning model that is providing online distance learners with opportunities to effectively engage in active learning experiences.

Activity-Based Learning

Learning from being told content, whether through listening to lectures, viewing presentations or reading documents, will rarely help learners learn much more than a shallow awareness of the content. In order to help learners achieve deeper levels of learning, they need to be able to have learning experiences that will allow them to learn by practicing the application of principles and concepts in real-world contexts. These deeper levels of learning will help students effectively transfer the learning to new contexts they are likely to encounter in their current or future workplaces.

This is supported by the statement Astin (1985) made: "Students learn not by attending lectures and taking notes, but by becoming involved with the content to be learned. Continued reliance upon teaching strategies that encourage only passive attention to the content is a practice that warrants further attention.The nature of student involvement in the learning process is especially pertinent to the practice of distance education, for involvement is all too often only an elusive opportunity for the student separated by physical and temporal distance."

Marc Prensky formulated a useful list of different kinds of things to be learned and some suggested activities that will facilitate the learning.

• "We learn facts through questions, memorization, association, and drill.
• We learn skills (physical or mental) through imitation, feedback, continuous practice, and increasing challenge.
• We learn judgment through hearing stories, asking questions, making choices, and getting feedback and coaching.
• We learn behaviors through imitation, feedback and practice.
• We learn processes through explanation and practice.
• We learn about existing theories through logical explanation and questioning.
• We learn to create and test theories through experimentation and questioning.
• We learn reasoning through puzzles and examples.
• We learn procedures through imitation and practice.
• We learn creativity through playing.
• We learn language through imitation, practice and immersion.
• We learn programming and other systems through principles and graduated tasks.
• We learn observation through examples, doing and feedback.
• We learn speeches or performance roles by memorization, practice, and coaching.
• We learn the behavior of dynamic systems by observation and experimentation.
• We learn grammar through–how do we learn grammar?" (Marc Prensky, 2001, p. 81)

In order to design effective learning activities to teach to the list of learning objectives listed above, a fair amount of creativity is required on the part of the instructor and/or course designer. This may also require taking some risks as Brookfield stated:

Once designed; however, a huge benefit to having documented learning activities is that the learning resources that contain the content of the course become more variable. For example, if the textbook changes, the learning activities should be able to remain the same with a few adjustments.

Instructor vs. Learner Centered

If learning is the primary objective of instructing then instructors need to engage the learner and keep them engaged in order for learning to take place. This is a challenge in all types of classrooms but especially challenging when the instructor is separated from their learners in online distance education courses. The sure sign of failing to engage learners is to bore them to death. Dr. Seymoure Paper (1998) stated: "The reason most kids don’t like school is not that the work is too hard, but that it is utterly boring!"

The only way that asynchronous learning online can be successfully facilitated is through using a student-centered approach instead of an instructor-centered approach. Dave Knowlton (2000) argues that instructor-centered approaches work sufficiently in face-to-face courses where the instructor is present to direct the activities of the teaching/learning process. In an online distance education course, the instructor is separated from the learners both physically and temporally. As a result the instructor is typically not present when the learners are engaged in the learning activities. The instructor can still provide the necessary guidance to help the learners be successful if s/he records and documents the guidance elements into a study guide document that the learners can access at any time.

Another way to look at this is that the instructor needs to focus the planning and teaching on what the learners are doing rather then what content will be presented. Albert Einstein said: "I never try to teach my students anything. I only try to create an environment in which they can learn." (Prensky 2001, p 71).

Interactive Learning Resources

Even reading a chapter in a textbook is a learning activity, even though it is fairly passive and potentially boring. In order to have a more active learning experience learners need to have access to learning resources that they can interact with. These resources can be the instructor and/or other members of the class. Well designed interactive digital learning resources can really be helpful to learners because these resources can be accessed at any time and as many times as the learner chooses. Imagine the different learning experience a student would have in either reading, watching or listening to a presentation about the principles that predict the behavior of gases or interacting with the computer simulation of the behavior of gases. Click here to access it. (Hosted by the Department of Chemistry at the University of California Berkeley.)

Below is a list of other examples of well designed interactive digital learning resources that are freely available on the Internet. Click on a few and try them out.

• Simulation of a Frog Dissection
• Canon Firing Range - hosted by the University of Oregon Department of Physics.
• Lemonade Stand- hosted by AE4RV.com
• Cameron Balloon Factory Virtual Tour- hosted by biz/ed
• How Big is a...?- from the Cells alive! Web site.
• Nuclear Power Plant Simulation- hosted by AE4RV.com
• First Aid Exercise
• The Human Skeleton
• American Sign Language Browser - hosted by Michigan State University Communication Technology Laboratory.
• Business Simulation
• 6 Billion Human Beings- hosted by the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris - France
• Rare Rocks
• Business Theories Matching Interactivity - From the University of Calgary's online Business Management course
• Forms of Business Self-Quiz - From the University of Calgary's online Business Management course
• Learning Online Crossword Puzzle - From the University of Calgary's Learning Oline course

Facilitating Learning

Once the course, study guides, and learning resources are prepared the instructor can then focus on monitoring and supporting the learners to be successful. This is best accomplished in online courses through learning-centered approaches instead of the traditional lecture approach. "Midwife-teachers are the opposite of banker-teachers. While the bankers deposit knowledge in the learner's head, the midwives draw it out. They assist the students in giving birth to their own ideas, in making their own tacit knowledge explicit and elaborating it...Midwife-teachers focus not on their own knowledge (as the lecturer does) but on the students' knowledge. They contribute when needed, but it is always clear that the baby is not theirs but the student's." (Belenky, et.al. 1986)

Authentic Assessments

Activity-based learning assessments can be much more effective in assessing the learning at deeper levels and in ways that are more meaningful to the real-world context of the desired learning outcomes. Unless the learning outcome is to score well on multiple choice examinations it is difficult to use a multiple-choice examination to accurately assess if the learning outcome was achieved.

Implementation

The methods the Faculty of Continuing Education is using to successfully implement an activity-based learning model in e-learning courses in their online programs include rethinking about how the faculty goes about delivering online courses and programs. Click here for more information about the Faculty of Continuing Education’s online programming.

The WebCT e-Learning Environment is being used to alleviate the burden of creating and maintaining generic infrastructures from the instructors so they can focus more energy designing better courses and facilitating the learning in the courses. WebCT also provides an array of synchronous and asynchronous communication tools that provide learners and instructors plenty of opportunities to participate in discussions and collaborative learning.

Redesigning Courses

The key components of the online study guides are:

The Learning Outcome Statements

The learning outcome statements describe the desired results of the learning that is meant to take place while completing the course.

Examples:

• Upon successful completion of this course you will be able increase your organization’s efficiency and effectiveness using the Internet.
• Upon successful completion of this course you will be able to collaboratively apply business concepts within a case format.

The Assessment Guides

The assessment guides lead the learners through the successful completion of the assessments, which are designed to assess if the learner has achieved the learning outcomes.

Examples:

• e-Learning Strategy Assignment - From the University of Calgary's online E-Training: Training Over the Internet course.
• Online Course Syllabus Assignment From the University of Calgary's onlineE-Training: Building Online Courses course.

The Learning Activity Guides

The learning activity guides guide the learners through the successful completion of the learning activities, which are designed to give the learner the necessary learning experiences to achieved the learning outcomes, and successfully complete the assessments.

Examples:

• Retailing Online Learning Activity - From the University of Calgary's online Using the Internet for Business course.
• Assessing the Appropriateness of Web-Based Training Learning Activity - From the University of Calgary's online E-Training: Building Online Courses course.

Module Page

Module pages guide the learners through the successful completion of the learning activities and assessments to compose the module. Modules are clusters of the learning activities, learning resources and assessments related to one or two learning outcomes in the course.

Examples:

• Completing Assignments Module- From the University of Calgary's online E-Training: Building Online Courses course.
• Authentic Learning Assessments Module- From the University of Calgary's online E-Training: Building Online Courses course.
• Learning Activities Module- From the University of Calgary's Learning Online course.

Course Syllabus

Course syllabi guide the learners through the successful completion of the sequence of modules that compose the course.Examples:

• E-Training: Building Online Courses Syllabus
• Learning Online Course Syllabus
• E-Training: Training Over the Internet Course Syllabus

Orientation to Model and Environment

A short orientation course to learning online using WebCT was designed and is used to orient all online learners and instructors to this delivery model and environment. This course gives learners and instructors a positive, fun, activity-base e-learning and collaborative group work experiences. This course is delivered completely online giving the participants as much of an authentic learning experience as possible.

Supporting the Instructors

In order to help the instructors to successfully use this model of instructing, they are provided with various tools to prepare study guides and interactive learning resources as well as access to learning object repositories where interactive digital learning resources are available through sharing. Expert support from instructional and learning resources designers is also available when required.

This year the University of Calgary is also launching a new online Certificate in e-Learning program that will help provide instructors with the necessary teaching/learning theories and technical expertise that will allow them to excel as online instructors. This program will model the philosophies and approaches described in this presentation and provide an excellent professional development opportunity for anyone interested in developing their skills in this area.

The University of Calgary is also the host of the Best-Practices in e-Learning 2003 online conference that will be held on August 13 and 14, 2003. This conference is an excellent venue for instructors to share and discuss the successful applications of e-learning with colleagues from around the world. Click here for more information.

Conclusion

Although implementing e-learning programs is challenging on their own, the University of Calgary is finding success in incorporating a learning activity-based model into their online programs. The response from the growing body of online learners enrolling into these programs is a very positive indicator that this works very well and that more growth in this direction would be welcome.

References

• Astin, A. (1985). Achieving excellence: A critical assessment of priorities and practices in higher education. San Franciso: Jossey-Bass.

• Belenky, M. F., Clinchy, B.M., Goldberger, N.R., & Tarule, J.M. (1986). Women's way of knowing: The development of self, voice and mind. New York: Basic Books.

• Brookfield, S.D. (1990). The skillful teacher: On technique, trust, and responsiveness in the classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

• Knowlton, Dave. S., (2000). A Theoretical Framework for the Online Classroom: A Defense and Delineation of a Student-Centered Pedagogy.

• Principles of Effective Teaching in the Online Classroom, Jossey- Bass, 5-21

• Prensky, Marc (2001). Digital Game-Based Learning, Toronto: McGraw-Hill.

• Seymoure Paper (1998), professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In "Does Easy Do It? Children Games and Learning," in Game Developer magazine.

TCC 2003 Online Conference
Copyright © 2003 Kapi'olani Community College,
University of Hawaii, All rights reserved.