The Learning and Teaching Showcase 2010 'From principles to practice' held at CQUniversity on 9-10 August included a topic for debate: 'Classroom-based learning is more effective than online learning'. The video recording of the debate is available here.
This online space will allow us to continue our collaborative dialogue on the debate topic and other learning and teaching matters.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
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4 comments:
FEEDBACK FROM ROCKHAMPTON CAMPUS
* It is not either or, student can always chose, change, and mix and match to suit their needs.
* Online - more about convenience than learning.
* I agree that education or learning is not just content, it is about interaction. However, it is an unfortunate economic reality that students of all ages may need to work and this limits F2F time.
* How does the online learning environment utilize the five senses which are necessary to develop a health professional?
* Non-verbal communication can be mimicked online - passion can be conveyed online as well as face2face - learning is a social conduct - blended learning can provide both methods - residential school + online
* I agree online good for content delivery. Body language and questions are my indicators of level of understanding and interest. My Flex students always appreciated teleconferences/teletutes. Level of engagement of F-2-F compared to Flex is hugely different. More when F-2-F. Interaction is not one way.
I think it's important not to confuse online vs f2f delivery with online vs f2f learning. Where is the discussion about how and what students learn in an online environment as opposed to a f2f environment?
On campus attendance furthers professional development and communication skills (especially for school leavers):
I grew up with and am a proponent for classroom-based learning, but have to admit people put up good valid cases for online learning. However the arguments were narrow-minded, they did not take into account a range of skills developed through being on a campus (i.e. classroom-based learning).
Attending university is a profound personal experience. University is not all about learning the courses, it's also an incredibly maturing process because you meet and interact with a new and non-school group of people. It's eye opening and enlightening. The personal maturation that goes on is enormous - for the 1st time you are interacting with a broad cross-section of people and views without the restrictions of school. Impossible to get online. In terms of personal, professional and emotional intelligence development that gives classroom-based learning a massive advantage over online learning.
At the end of the day, specific skills or knowledge aside, employers need people who can interact with and communicate effectively in person in a team or client environment. These skills are learnt formally and informally whilst attending University in person. Online learning, whilst convenient, keeps the student in physical isolation and as such does no great service for professional development (especially communication skills) and for the future quality of the workforce.
Feedback from Mackay Campus
First two points similar to Rockhampton and that while convenient online learning may not be effective.
Classroom learning is best because of immediacy, increased enjoyment,imporvied motivation, caters better to flexibility of learning styles, and lecturer is able to adapt to student responses faster.
Online learning is OK for dissemination of material
Online learning needs to be supported by some face to face teaching such as residential school
Online learning needs to be interactive with videos, interactive portfolios, and real-time communication.
It was alos pointed out that success was not defined. Can it be measured by enrolments, retention rates, grades. What data do we have that online learning is or isn't effective?
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