An Attempt to Delineate the Complexity of Online Learning. A Book Critique.

 

An Attempt to Delineate the Complexity of Online Learning. A Book Critique.

The Theory and Practice of Online Teaching and Learning: A Guide for Academic Professionals (Routledge, n.d.)  is a book written by the Routledge publishing house. For each of its chapters, the book summarizes and advertises other books written by experts on the field of online pedagogy (Ko & Rossen,2010; Laurillard, 2012; Littlejohn & Pegler, 2013; Means, Bakia & Murphy, 2014; Salmon, 2012; Vai & Sosulski, 2011, The Theory and Practice of online Teaching and Learning: A Guide for Academic Professionals, n.d.).

Not only is this book intended to retell what was written in other related works, but it also contends that reading from specialists may help bridge the gap between onsite teaching practices and the new modality of online education. The audience being explicitly addressed includes academic professionals, faculty members and teachers interested in the application of online learning strategies. The word guide in the title gives the impression of being a prescriptive manuscript from which readers can adopt practical ideas and tools to apply to their online classrooms. However, this book provides little actual tips and instructions to start designing a web-based education programme and more of qualitative historical research and general knowledge, hence making it unappealing to read and futile for the prospective teacher undertaking the challenge of delivering online lessons.

The key aspects of online teaching are succinctly explained in chapter one. Online vs. onsite learning, the role of both teacher and students and the skills set required for online teaching are discussed. Even though some online skills are enumerated, there are scarce details on how to acquire them and a heavy reliance on the personal traits of the individual, such as inner motivation and creativity as shown below.

Faculty of all ranks who are enthusiastic about the possibilities offered by online teaching- and who are willing to invest some time in learning new technology and methods for the sake of personal and professional growth - are good candidates for teaching online. (Ko & Rossen cited in The Theory and Practice…, n.d., p. 12)

Chapter two provides clear information concerning the differences of online asynchronous learning, such as the lack of physical space and the basics of online content and communication, flexibility and time allocation (Vai & Sosulski cited in The Theory and Practice..., n.d.). In addition, a list of the distinct generations of learners is characterized using simple and intelligible language, calling for reflection and inviting the audience to empathise with their students.

Throughout chapter three, the authors delineate the features of e-tivities, a term coined by Salmon (Salmon, cited in The Theory and Practice..., n.d.) but the chapter fails to provide relevant data as regards their implementation. Although this book was intended  to be a guide for practice, the readers are left with the feeling of having to experience all by themselves to master the design of web-based activities. “To be successful in designing and running e-tivities you will need some passion and commitment.” (Salmon, cited in The Theory and Practice..., n.d. p. 38) evidences the undue stress that is put on the self.

Chapter four appropriately delves into the variety of online programmes available and provides data in the form of tables and figures, making the information available at a glance. On the negative side, some of the evidence presented results vague and overgeneralized, consequently affecting the author’s credibility like in the following example “Some researchers found that learning interventions [...] were more effective than those [...].”(Means et al., cited in The Theory and Practice..., n.d. p. 42).

Reusing Open Resources (Littlejohn & Pegler, cited in The Theory and Practice..., n.d.), in chapter five, misleads the audience by hinting the possibility of acquiring practical knowledge about specific resources to turn to when in need. Nevertheless, it ends up being a sociological presentation about the impact of making resources free of charge for everyone, which is most probably useless for teachers who want to work online. 

Finally, chapter six compares designing online courses with both an art, due to its creative side and a science because it is based on pedagogical foundations and improved overtime with its implementation. But even though design is considered a scientific discipline, there are no clear prescriptions on how to design using technology to our advantage as one may expect from a scientific method.

In conclusion, for this book to be useful for getting to know both the Theory and Practice of Online Teaching and Learning (Routledge, n.d.), as the title promises, the authors would have had to deepen the theme presented focusing more on the practical aspects of online instruction as most teachers already know how to plan according to their subject matter and students’ level for onsite teaching but stall when developing online content and material. In no way do the authors provide the reader with a tool i.e.: a website or app to be investigated or even tips to be put into practice. Having done that, the authors could have appealed to the reader more efficiently, hence making the book worth reading.

 

 

 

References

 

 

Ko, S., & Rossen, S. (2010). Teaching online: A practical guide (3rd ed). In Routledge, The Theory and Practice of Online Teaching and Learning: A Guide for Academic Professionals (pp. 8-15). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

 

Laurillard, D. (2013). Teaching as a design science: Building pedagogical patterns for learning and technology. In Routledge, The Theory and Practice of Online Teaching and Learning: A Guide for Academic Professionals (pp. 57-60). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

 

Littlejohn, A., & Pegler, C. (Eds.). (2014). Reusing open resources: Learning in open networks for work, life and education. In Routledge, The Theory and Practice of Online Teaching and Learning: A Guide for Academic Professionals (pp. 47-55). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

Means, B., Bakia, M., & Murphy, R. (2014). Learning online: What research tells us about whether, when and how. In Routledge, The Theory and Practice of Online Teaching and Learning: A Guide for Academic Professionals (pp. 40-45). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

 

Routledge. (n.d.) The Theory and Practice of Online Teaching and Learning: A Guide for Academic Professionals (3rd ed). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. Retrieved from: https://n9.cl/k85v2

 

Salmon, G. (2013). E-tivities: The key to active online learning. In Routledge, The Theory and Practice of Online Teaching and Learning: A Guide for Academic Professionals (pp. 29-38). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

 

Vai, M., & Sosulski, K. (2015). Essentials of online course design: A standards-based guide. In Routledge, The Theory and Practice of Online Teaching and Learning: A Guide for Academic Professionals (pp. 17-27). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

Bridging the Gap Between Online and Onsite Teaching.

 

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

Bridging the Gap Between Online and Onsite Teaching.

Routledge (n.d.). The Theory and Practice of Online Teaching and Learning: A Guide for Academic Professionals (3rd ed). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. Retrieved from: https://n9.cl/k85v2

Summarizes and advertises: Teaching Online: A Practical Guide (Ko & Rossen,2010); Essentials of  Online Course Design: A Standards-Based Guide (Vai & Sosulski, 2011); E-tivities: The Key to Active Online Learning (Salmon, 2012); Learning Online: What Research Tells Us About Whether, When and How (Means, Bakia & Murphy, 2014); Reusing Open Resources: Learning in Open Networks for Work, Life and Education (Littlejohn & Pegler, 2013) and Teaching as a Design Science: Building  Pedagogical Patterns for Learning and Technology (Laurillard, 2012). Makes a parallel between online and onsite learning. Delineates both teachers’ and students’ roles. Discusses the issues of online skills training. Contends that teaching online improves teachers’ performance by promoting reflective practice. Establishes the peculiarities of online course design. Studies the benefits of asynchronous learning in terms of its flexibility. Enumerates the teacher’s duties and responsibilities. Describes the objectives, values and purpose of e-tivities (Salmon, 2012) and details the roles of participants, designers and moderators.  Emphasizes the importance of design to enhance technology’s potential. Presents a framework for categorizing online courses according to its context, design features, student-teacher interaction and intended outcomes (Means, Bakra & Murphy, 2014). Outlines the level of accessibility to open resources. Stresses the importance of collaborative knowledge instruction and the social impact of making content accessible for most people i.e.: the shift in paradigm from the individual to the collaborative construction of knowledge. Qualifies course design as a form of art and a science. Weighs the significance of becoming proficient in the use of new technologies to be applied to educational contexts under a pedagogical rather than a technological led fashion. 

Taking the Classroom to the Web: Online Teaching and Learning.

 

Taking the Classroom to the Web: Online Teaching and Learning.

 

Outline of the article: Routledge (n.d). The Theory and Practice of Online Teaching and Learning: A Guide for Academic Professionals (3rd ed). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. Retrieved from: https://n9.cl/k85v2

 

●       Purpose: To summarize other authors who wrote about online teaching to advertise their books. 

●       Thesis statement: Reading from experts may bridge the divide between teaching and technology to succeed in the delivery of online courses and web-based education programmes.

●       Audience: Academic professionals, faculty members and teachers interested in the application of online learning strategies.

 

1. INTRODUCTION
2. BODY

A.    Key aspects of online teaching.

1.      Online vs. Onsite.

2.      Students and teacher’s roles.

3.      Kinds of tasks.

4.      Main concerns of online teaching.

B.     Design, adaptation and implementation.

1.      21st Century learners.

2.      Basics of Learning Management Systems (LMS).

3.      Time and credits.

4.      Pros and cons of asynchronous learning.

5.      Teachers’ responsibility in course-building.

C.     Online activities.

1.      Importance of e-tivities.

2.      E-tivities design.

3.      Participants involved.

D.    Heterogeneity in online learning.

1.      Dimensions of online learning.

2.      Reference frame for online courses.

E.     Reusable resources.

1.      Open access and licences.

2.      Society and the public accessibility of resources.

F.      Online teaching: Art and Science.

Consistency in APA Referencing and Citing.

 

Consistency in APA Referencing and Citing.

This paper aims to thoroughly analyse the use of in- text citations and reference list written by the author,   Hoffman-Kipp, Artiles, & Lopez-Torres (2003) in their article  Beyond Reflection: Teachers Learning as Praxis  in light of the Publication Manual of The American Psychological Association (APA,  2010 which has been developed to agree on criteria for successful and uniform scientific communication in the area of Behavioral and Social Sciences.  APA encompasses pieces of advice for the organization and structure of manuscripts together with sound rules for writing as regards, style, tone and register. In addition, it provides prospective writers with guidance on citing sources to acknowledge the authors, hence avoiding plagiarism.

In order to quote directly following APA style, the manual indicates that quotation marks should be used and information about the author, year and page number should be provided between parentheses. The authors of the article under analysis adhere to these rules but fail to follow APA instructions for the addition of new material not previously mentioned by the author being cited.  Even though APA suggests the use of “brackets, not parentheses, to enclose material such as an addition or an explanation inserted in a quotation…”(APA, 2010 p. 173), the authors choose to fragment the quotation shown below to add explanations, therefore hindering comprehension.

“integrat[ing] curriculum around concepts and issues” that would be of current interest to both student and teacher, or “focus[ing] on inquiry and us[ing] literature to support that inquiry,” thus helping their students “not only to be problem solvers, but to become problem-posers” (Crawford et al., 1994, p. 174).” (Hoffman-Kipp et al., 2003, p.248)

Another mistake within the same citation is the omission of surnames in the parenthetical citation. Whenever citing multiple authors for the first time in APA, all of their surnames must be written. However, in subsequent citations the name of the first author is used together with the phrase et al. to avoid writing all the surnames multiple times. In this particular case the authors were omitted, not being acknowledged even once.  The same mistake is made on page 250 “(Engestrom et al.,1999)” (Hoffman-Kipp, Artiles, & López-Torres, 2003, p.250).

On the first paragraph of page 249, the authors name and comment on Freire`s ideas failing to provide the year between parentheses. According to the Publication Manual of American Psychological Association (2010), “If the name of the author appears as part of the narrative [...]cite only the year of publication in parentheses” (p.174).

The  in-text citation found on the third paragraph of page 250 “(Vavrus & Ozcan, 1996, p.3)” (Hoffman-Kipp et al., 2003, p.250)  may be considered wrong as it provides a page number which APA  does not require for paraphrased citations, unless they are direct quotations. In this case, after reading the source, it is made clear that the authors are paraphrasing and reporting what the cited authors stated instead of copying the exact same words.

In relation to the notes at the end of the article, two errors have been detected. In note number 1 (Hoffman-Kipp et al., 2003), a direct quotation is made complying with the rules for acknowledging the author but disregarding the fact that a block quotation is suggested when it surpasses 40 words (APA). The format of these blocks should be indented half an inch from the left margin. The second mistake is on note number 3 where the authors cite “(Engestrom, 1993, p.67)” (Hoffman-Kipp et al., 2003, p. 254) but fail to provide the information needed to find the text in the reference list. APA requires for each in-text citation to also appear in the reference list and vice versa. The rest of the citations could be found in the reference list, being this the only exception.

As a conclusion it can easily be stated that this article followed most of the APA guidelines for citing and referencing.  By comparing the theory to the actual citations and references made by the authors and through a deep analysis of the paper, some flaws were spotted and exposed. If the authors had thoroughly and consistently applied APA rules and procedures, the end result would have been easier to read and would have also avoided plagiarism.

References

·         American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association  (6th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

·        Hoffman-Kipp, P., Artiles, A. J., & Lopez-Torres, L. (2003). Beyond reflection: Teacher learning as praxis. Theory into practice, 42 (3), 248-254. Retrieved from https://campus.caece.edu.ar/pluginfile.php/151300/mod_page/content/2/Hoffman-Kipp_P._Artiles_A._J._and_Lopez-.pdf