The scope of this introductory article in e-learning methods
and practices is to provide the readers with the necessary knowledge to develop
e-learning courses. Developers of e-learning courses should be able to:
1) Understand in which cases e-learning constitutes an
appropriate educational method
2) Define the educational needs of their learning groups
3) Write distance education materials
4) Choose adequate ways of communication between
students and tutors as well as between students themselves
5) Become effective e-tutors
6) Provide student support, when necessary
7) Assess the students in an effective way
8) Evaluate the effectiveness of their courses
Methodology
The duration of a course, as well as its exact contents, depend on the educational needs of the specific group of learners. Therefore, the
first step in the designing of the course will be to identify the specific
needs of the learners. A detailed questionnaire should be distributed to the
target group and their answers will be measured qualitatively and
quantitatively. The questionnaire will measure the IT level of the learners,
their previous experience in e-learning or other distance education methods,
their learning and communication patterns, etc. Those answers will form the
basis of the course’s planning.
Bibliographical research in each country’s social,
political, educational and technological background is also essential in order
to understand the prospective learners and plan a program that fits their needs
as well as their customs. Unfortunately, as Robinson (1995, p.225) pinpoints, a
significant amount of research and studies based on the subject of student
support and communication in e-courses have been developed on the basis of an
analogous cultural context: the formal, institutionally-based higher education
of the developed world. The imposition of this context has created a false
“norm” and has undervalued the importance of diversity in the development of
open and distance education courses.
The aim of this research will be to identify the
context-specific factors, which shape the learners’ needs, mainly:
·
The geographical distribution of learners
·
The technological infrastructure
·
The economical capabilities
·
The socio-cultural diversity
The study and analysis of the bibliography and the
questionnaires will enable the educational team to develop a course, with
respect to the diversity of the specific learning community. The findings will
be used particularly in the designing of the communication methods and patterns
and the system of student support.
The course will be designed in order to provide high levels
of interactivity between learners. The students will have a lot of
opportunities to communicate with each other in both synchronous and asynchronous
ways, exchange viewpoints and, the most important, undertake team-work
projects. One of the most significant advantages of online distributed
courses is the ability to bring people from diverse cultures closer by creating
multicultural learning communities. Thus, the collaboration between students
will add value to the students’ learning experience, since it will offer them
the chance to view the world from a wider perspective.
The projects and assessment exercises that the students will
undertake will be practical, in forms of realistic scenarios. For example, in
the thematic field “Understanding your learners” (see below), the students may
be asked to draw up a list, of which elements are important in knowing their
learners and cast interviews on a real group of learners. Since the prospective
students of this course are already working in the field of education, they
won’t encounter any difficulty in accessing a sample.
Thematic fields of the course
The suggestive thematic fields of the course are:
1.
The historical context of distance
education and e-learning
2.
The designing of e-learning material:
text and multimedia material
3.
The communication between groups of
learners
a.
The pedagogical necessity of interactivity
between learners
b.
Forms of communication: synchronous,
asynchronous communication and the technological means to achieve it
4.
The role of the e-tutors
5.
The support of students in e-learning
environments
6.
The students’ assessment and self-assessment
7.
The evaluation of the e-courses
Of course, the aforementioned thematic fields are
indicative, subject to change depending on the findings of the research.
Bibliography:
ROBINSON, B. (1995), Research and pragmatism in learner
support, in Lockwood, F., Open and Distance Learning Today, Routledge, London.
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