Essential Question: What is the role of discourse,
collaboration, and technology for distributed learning online courses?
Discourse
is the main way people learn new concepts and this is done by communicating
with others. A student will learn better if they have a way to connect with
others to share ideas and knowledge about a concept. Then the group will
collaborate to come up with an idea and make an intellectual thought or
conclusion. Technology is key to how students will be able to make discourse
with others in online learning courses. Technology provides the means to
communicate with others in sharing ideas and coming to conclusions of new learned
concepts. (Harasim, 2012) A few examples of that students can communicate in
online courses are through texting, online blog, messaging systems, skype, etc.
The most important thing when it comes to online courses is to overcome the
obstacles that are made from not being a traditional class.
I find that discourse is very
important in learning mathematics and some of the best learning is when a group
of students have the chance to explain and fight for the rules of mathematics.
One of the eight mathematical practices found in Alaska’s Common Core
Mathematics Standards is “Construct
viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.” (2012) Students can
take each other’s work and explain the reasoning of each step in a logical way.
A great way that we can do this is having each student send in a photo of their
problem to the teacher using the Remind
application that the teacher has already set up. Then the teacher can pick one
randomly and model critiquing the work. Then send these phots randomly back to
the students. Now the students are using technology to have discourse about the
concept of mathematics.
Online courses do have challenges
when it comes to communication because of the restrictions of being not near
each other. Boling et al. explains that “one of the major complaints about
computer-mediated communication is the lack of social cues” (2011). By keeping
in this in mind, other cues can be created such as the use of emojis but this
means that the students need to be diligent in using them to provide feedback
to their classmates and teachers.
Alaska Department of Education & Early
Development, (June 2012). Alaska Mathematics Standards. Retrieved from https://education.alaska.gov/akstandards/math/akstandards_math_081312.pdf
Boling, E. C., Holan, E., Horbatt, B., Hough,
M., Jean-Louis, J., Kurhana, C., Krinsky, H., Spiezio, C. (2011, December).
Using online tools for communication and collaboration: Understanding
educators’ experiences in an online course. Paper presented at the 61st Annual
Meeting of the Literacy Research Association (LRA). Jacksonville, FL.
Harasim, L. M. (2012). Learning theory
and online technologies. New York, NY: Routledge.
Mariah,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you that people tend to have an easier time learning when the feel a connection or relation to their peers. When I don’t feel comfortable, it is hard for me to put in my best effort. My best work has always been when I feel accepted from my classmates.
Great point.
Josie