Analysis of an Open Course

This blog post looks at an open course available from Yale, Physics 200:Fundamentals of Physics ,1 found at http://oyc.yale.edu/physics/phys-200#overview.  Since I have a science background, completed college physics courses and have previously taught physics at the high school level, I thought this would be a good course to analyze.  I will look at how this course works as a distance course in terms of planning, effectiveness and active learning. 

Does the course appear to be carefully pre-planned and designed for a distance learning environment? How so?

The course appears to be pre-planned, but not necessarily for distance learning environment.  When you first look at the course, it seems to be recorded lectures with weekly problems to solve.   The lectures and problems sets are all found on the course site.   The video quality is good; it is clear to see the instructor and what is being written on the chalkboard. There is opportunity to join in a study group through www.openstudy.com, but it is not incorporated into the course.  This is an optional activity to help with answering questions. You post your quesiton and a helper may answer your question. There are some open questions that have been posted for some time without being resolved completely.  You are at the mercy of the helpers.The sequence of topics and progression of course content is typical for introductory calculus based physics.  Overall, this is not what would be designed as a distance learning course (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012).  It is a face-to-face course put on the web.

Does the course follow the recommendations for online instruction as listed in your course textbook?

The textbook discusses several recommendations and considerations for online instruction (Simonson et al., 2012).

1. Online instruction must know who the learners are.  The instructor for this course did address which learners would be sitting in the classroom with him, but the online version of the course does not necessarily take this into consideration. 
2. The presentation of learning did not vary.  The lessons were lecture with drawings and equations on the chalkboard.
3. The instructor on the video states that he is presenting the essential content for a physics course and took into account the amount of time available for coverage in a semester long class. 
4. Instructional goals and objectives were not specifically shared with students – the purpose of the video cameras and an overview of the course occurred in the first lecture, but objective and course goals were not provided on the website or in the course materials. 
5. By definition active learning is something other than sitting and listening to a lecture in the classroom (Paulsen & Faust, n.d.).   The video lessons do not provide opportunities for active learning and allow students to recognize what they are struggling with (Classroom, 2009).  The video instruction provides a lot of information, but there is little active discovery in the lesson.
6. The visual materials included video, but do not include other items, except for lecture notes for a few of the lessons.   According to Simonsen et al. (2012)  “Handouts are an essential communication link with students” (p. 167).   This course misses the communication opportunity available through handouts as well as an opportunity to help with transfer of knowledge.

Did the course designer implement course activities that maximize active learning for the students?

Active learning is defined as a classroom activity that allows student engagement in the learning process.  By definition it is something more than just attending and listening to lectures (Prince,  2004).  In this online physics class, there would need to be more activity to the lesson structure to be considered active learning.  Since the information is obtained through lectures on video and the lesson structure does not incorporate other activities within the lesson, active learning is not being implemented in this course.  An interactive online quiz from the lecture or reading material in which students are able to get immediate feedback would be a good step in making the lessons more active. Online discussion could be a possible activity incorporated into the lesson structure.  Since this is an open course, the online discussion would be a challenge to implement easily.

Concluding Thoughts

The course appears to be an experiment in online learning.  I would recommend the use of this course for anyone wanting to see how quickly a college course moves as well as a refresher course in using calculus in the physics classroom.  I would also recommend high school students looking at a science or engineering degree to view the lectures in this course to introduce college level lectures and problem solving expectations.  For this course to be more effective it will be important for designers to incorporate more active learning components with some interactive web based materials.  This could interactive online quizzes and additional problem solving activities.

References

Classroom Activities for Active Learning. (2009, November). For your consideration: Suggestions and reflections on teaching and learning.  Chapel Hill, NC: UNC Center for Faculty Excellence. Retrieved from http://cfe.unc.edu/pdfs/FYC2.pdf

Paulsen, D. R. & Faust, J. L. (n.d.). Active learning for the college classroom.  Retrieved from http://www.calstatela.edu/dept/chem/chem2/Active/

Prince, M. (2004, June).  Does active learning Work? A review of the research.  Journal of Engineering Education, 93(3), 223-231.  Retrieved from http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/Prince_AL.pdf

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Art History - Museum Distance Learning Solutions for a Classroom

Scenario - Interactive Tours

A high school history teacher, located on the west coast of the United States, wants to showcase to her students new exhibits being held at two prominent New York City museums. The teacher wants her students to take a "tour" of the museums and be able to interact with the museum curators, as well as see the art work on display. Afterward, the teacher would like to choose two pieces of artwork from each exhibit and have the students participate in a group critique of the individual work of art. As a novice of distance learning and distance learning technologies, the teacher turned to the school district’s instructional designer for assistance. In the role of the instructional designer, what distance learning technologies would you suggest the teacher use to provide the best learning experience for her students?

Introduction

Since this teacher is a novice to distance learning and the potential technologies available for distance learning, it will be important to look at technologies that require some basic knowledge or knowledge that can be easily learned or supported.  This way the technologies are not the focal point of the course and the instructor will feel comfortable using them in the classroom. Secondly, it will be important to identify the outcomes that are critical for the lesson and the students.  The scenario does not specifically address the outcomes for learning.  It does share some specifics like touring the museum, interacting with the curator, seeing the artwork on display and critiquing artwork.  As an instructional designer, I would make sure the learning outcomes are understood before moving forward (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, Zvacek, 2012.) Using details from the scenario, I will proceed with some recommendations regarding distance-learning opportunities available to this novice teacher.

The “Tour”

In order to take a tour of the museum, hopefully there is some sort of tour available for students to access, or perhaps the teacher will need to contact the curator about options for this in the classroom.  An interactive tour like the one that is available from the National Gallery of Art would allow for students to get a feel for what an art exhibit in a gallery is like as well as how the artwork is arranged.  Maybe the use of a 360-degree view of the gallery at various points would provide students with a feel of the museum.  The American Museum of Natural History provides examples of this approach to sharing exhibits.

If no tour is available, then hopefully the curator will be able to give a tour of the museum using videoconferencing, create a short video or provide a presentation that would share how the exhibits are displayed.  If none of these are options, then the teacher will need to access the websites and show the artwork available at the museum in the various exhibits (an example from the National Gallery of Art is provided here http://www.nga.gov/collection/)

Interaction with the Curator

If possible, it may be good for students to talk specifically with the curator in order to have their questions answered, as well as get some personal comments directly from the curator.  A videoconference through a program like Skype would provide this opportunity.  Stephenson (2009) describes an example of using Skype to interact with a curator.  There was a lot of interaction in this project between the students and the curator because these students already had a lot of information they created and posted in a blog.  The curator was able to view the student work and discuss this work with the students.  This suggests that perhaps the critique of the artwork should happen first and then get feedback from the curator on their critiques.  The video interaction may also provide unexpected facts and observations that expose students and allow for understanding (Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, n.d.).  A micro blog using Today’s Meet (http://todaysmeet.com/) could be set up for students to comment and ask questions during the videoconference.  The curator or teacher could view the comments and questions.  The curator and teacher could then answer the questions.  The micro blog could even be shown on the screen at the same time as the curator.

In typical secondary classrooms, teachers tend to teach more than one section of a course. This means that there is a possibility that the curator will not be available to speak with each section. The instructor will want to plan for this contingency in one of two ways.  The first way would be to arrange for all students to be present for the videoconference.  The second option would be to use a camcorder to make a video of the conference to share with the other sections

If the curator is not available for a videoconference, the instructor could ask for participation through a blog in which students can post questions and the curator would then be able to answer them.  Students could comment on the responses and answer the questions from the curator on the blog.  This would require the instructor to create a presentation on the art, or use the museum website to access the art.


A third option would have the teacher make a presentation with the art of the museum itself.  The teacher would make a blog created to interact with the curator where students can provide questions for the curator and then the curator can reply to the questions or comments made.  This option would not be real time, but would provide some interaction with the curator. If the curator is able to create a podcast or vodcast of their answers, that would be another option.

Student Involvement

As described earlier, during the discussion students could micro blog with the curator to share questions and comments.  This would provide opportunities for students that are uncomfortable asking questions live to the curator.

Students could create a wiki or blog to post their critiques of the artwork, with a link to the actual artwork on the blog for others to see.  Students or the teacher could easily create these pages for collaboration.  (An example of students critiquing their own work with photos of the work is found at http://www.vivacritique.com/Student+Wikis.)  The teacher could provide some thought provoking questions for the critique or a template for students to follow.  Completing this portion of the project first would allow for additional conversation points with the curator.  Recommendations to the teacher should encourage moving this portion of the project to be completed before videoconferencing with the curator.

Concluding Thoughts

The use of wiki and blogs for collaboration are effective for classroom use.  These provide a place that students can interact and store their thoughts as they collaborate (Pitler, Hubbell, Kun, & Malenoski, 2007; Beldarrain, 2006). The interaction with the curator and the tour of the museum provide an opportunity to make connections to their learning.  The use of technology in this example serves to enhance the learning process and must not take the central role of learning.  The lesson also allows for using the web in learning as well as move the learning beyond the textbook.  These characteristics are important for making distance learning effective and appropriate for the learning outcomes (Smaldino et al., 2012).

Resources

Beldarrain, Y. (2006). Distance education trends: Integrating new technologies to foster student interaction and collaboration. Distance Education, 27(2),139–153.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007).  Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Denver, CO: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning.

Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media. (n.d.). Skype. Retrieved from http://teachinghistory.org/digital-classroom/tech-for-teachers/23569

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Stephenson, N. (2009, February 15) The many roles of skype in the classroom.  [Blog message]. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/connect/iste-connects/blog-detail/09-02-15/The_Many_Roles_of_Skype_in_the_Classroom.aspx