DAPHNE KOLLER: WHAT WE'RE LEARNING FROM ONLINE EDUCATION
Daphne Koller in her TedTalk is bringing up the issue that, even today, many people do not have an access to a high-quality education.
In order to bring the best quality education to as many people as they could, Daphne Koller and her colleague, Andrew Ng, founded Coursera - an online learning platform. The goal of Coursera is to provide the best courses from the best educators and the best universities to people around the world for free. People who could never have access, for example, Stanford-quality course, because of various reasons (economical issues, health issues, family obligations, etc.) are now able to be enrolled in it.
Some of Coursera's features that Daphne lists are:
real course experience imitation (starts on a given day, students are engaged with learning materials on a weekly basis, do homework assignments which are graded and have a real deadline);
after the student successfully finish the course, he/she receives a certificate (which can be used by a student to present to a future employer or university in order to get actual college credit);
diverse learners are collaborating with each other;
courses are interactive-based;
the material can be break up into short modules (which enables a more personalized curriculum);
every student has to engage with the material;
peer-based grading (which is extremely efficient in humanities where critical thinking is essential);
quick feedback (because of learners from all around the world who are able to engage);
collected data is used to improve the quality of courses.
Daphne points out the three main things that are enabled if we offer top-quality education to everyone around the world for free:
It would establish education as a fundamental human right;
It would enable lifelong learning;
It would enable a wave of innovation (talents can be found anywhere).
TED. (2012, August 1). Daphne Koller: What we're learning from online education [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6FvJ6jMGHU
SUMMARY
Link to "Technology affordances mapped to different learning theories": https://prnt.sc/vbblju
Conole, G. (2008). New Schemas for Mapping Pedagogies and Technologies. Ariadne, (56). http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue56/conole/
WHAT IS THE VALUE OF SOCIAL PRESENCE IN ONLINE LEARNING?
In this video, Michelle talks about how much social interaction is important in an online learning environment.
People are social creatures and their knowledge, skills, and abilities can be well developed under social interaction. If a student is feeling isolated during an online course, it can significantly impact he's/she's learning progress. To prevent this, the goal of an online instructor is to create a rich, community-oriented online learning experience.
There are two ingredients for developing a community-oriented online class:
Instructor presence - visible, actively engaged in the course process, sensitive to students' needs. In that way, the instructor motivates students to engage in class.
The social presence of student-student feels like a part of the group, has a sense of belonging, is aware of other people's, their thoughts and feelings. When a social presence is on a high level, the satisfaction of students increases as well as the interaction between them, As a result, deep learning occurs.
Pacansky-Brock, M. (2014, January 27). What is the Value of Social Presence in Online Learning? [Video file] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-YafD8upsQ
WEB-BASED LEARNING IN PERIODS OF CRISIS: REFLECTIONS ON THE IMPACT OF COVID-19
The current pandemic deeply impacts the educational industry. As a response, educational systems shift to Web-Based Learning. This paper lists the impact of the pandemic on Learners, Teachers, and Content, all across eight learning dimensions.
Eight Dimensions of Web-Based learning that expect the impact of crisis are:
Pedagogy dimension of student learning;
Technological dimension;
Interface dimension;
Evaluation dimension;
Management dimension;
Support dimension;
Ethical dimension;
Institutional dimension.
Key challenges to a web-based learning environment and solutions for it are researched from three different sides - supply side, demand side, and institution side.
Supply-side:
Cost of technology
Solution: leveraging existing web-based learning platforms; collaboration;Insufficient time to design a robust web-based learning course; Solution: collaborations with other developers;
Platform security
Solution: ensuring users are duly registered by the system; measures to prevent third-party to get access to a web system; use of the alphanumeric character for passwords; inclusion of signs and symbols; individual systems should have a unique password; frequent system update; instituted recovery procedure; competent IT security expert;IT Capability of platform managers
Solution: hire competent managers;Infrastructure availability
Solution: collaborations.
Demand-side:
Digital divide
Solution: enabling learning environment that fosters collaboration; allowing offline functionality of platforms; ability to run on multiple technological platforms;Learners adaptability
Solution: make learners understand the benefits of web-based learning; online forums should be maximized; a possibility that student can contact the teacher;Technical issues
Solution: multi-device courses and personal attention; courses should not require huge internal memory, high internet speed, and should have a solid and simple script; help page, FAQ section, and good student care service;Inaction from flexibility
Solution: setting a time limit and sending reminders.
From the institutional side, the key issue is protecting the intellectual property of owners of web-based learning platforms.
Solution: robust internet security architecture; necessary policies and laws.
Chiemeke, S. & Imafidor, O.M. (2020). Web-based learning in periods of crisis: reflections on the impact of Covid-19. International Journal of Computer Science & Information Technology, 12(3), 33-46. DOI: 10.5121/ijcsit.2020.12303