Online
Trends and Advanced Tools
A community of practice reflection
Revisted!
Revisted!
By
Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano
School
of English
Faculty of Social Sciences
Universidad Latina de Costa
Rica
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Post 216
As one progresses in the
exploration of asynchronous tools for online courses, it is very important to
evaluate how these tools can eventually affect the learning environment one is
trying to create for one’s learners. This exploration of potential challenges
takes us to examine the process of creating wikis, blogs, or a simple video
message for one’s learners. Nevertheless, in spite of the challenges one can
face, there are potential benefits that one is to identify in the usage of any
of these tools.
Let us explore the challenges,
benefits, and questions one may have concerning asynchronous tools for online
courses. Here are reproduced three questions regarding tools that I intend to
answer based on my current teaching. Nevertheless, it is also for you, my
reader, to ask yourself the very same questions and reflect upon them, too.
·
What
do you feel is the most challenging feature of asynchronous tools?
When confronted with trying to give an answer to this
question, I can barely think of an appropriate answer. The point I am trying to
make in terms of challenges can be directly connected to the instructor or to
the learner. At the beginning the neophyte teacher can find him/herself in a
dead-on street if help is not asked from some experienced users of the tool(s)
s/he wants to use in his/her online or hybrid course. As soon as this shocking
experience is over and expertise and confidence are gained, the instructor is
even ready to help students use the desired tool. At this point, the teacher is
to train learners on how to use a given tool, so they can also gain confidence
in its use and become effective users of the tool.
To put it simple, teachers can
find it difficult at the beginning, but as soon as they get the knack of how
something is made, they are on the go. As for students, who are more
technologically oriented, the transition to start using a new tool can be just
a matter of a short lapse but with proper and effective training.
·
What
do you feel is the greatest benefit of these tools?
Asynchronous tools benefit today’s learners beyond
what can be really measured. Firstly, tools like these provide a certain kind
of freedom that working students cannot experienced due to their tight
schedules. With asynchronous tools, they can find some room in their busy
agendas to do what is requested in the course chronogram. Secondly, it terms of
m-Learning, these tools offer them the chance of working on their assignments
while commuting back and forth from home to work. With their mobile devices
they are also aligned with the course content and with the teacher’s feedback
and new materials.
With tools like these, we need to
stop being skeptical and understand that blended and mobile learning can be ideal
ways of earning a degree, as it already happens around the globe and in which thousands
of individuals are part of this way of learning. Asynchronous tools provided by
the course instructor are the last ingredient needed to help all these students
to get a university degree or additional training for their working life.
·
What
questions do you still have about using asynchronous tools in your online
course?
When asked the above question, I must admit that I
have already overcome my initial skepticism of online, hybrid, and blended
learning. I feel certain that education can be attained in different ways, and
that our technological societies and citizens are looking for extra
alternatives that can allow them to work, have a family, enjoy their social
life, and also get a degree in a higher education institution. The use of all
these asynchronous tools connected to an LMS platform can be the long-awaited
answer that many individual in our home countries have been waiting for.
To conclude, as suggested above,
ask yourself the same questions provided here. I am sure we can have either
similar or different answers due to our personal teaching conditions and
settings. Blended learning at Universidad Latina where I am currently working
is still in a very developing stage. It is not a common practice in all courses
where more traditional ways of teaching are still favored by many faculty
members. With the pass of time, it is bound to be a slow but forceful revelation
in education at the higher level, and more and more professors will start
joining those of us who already combine F2F instruction with lots of blended
activities to have learner exposed to class content beyond the classroom
boundaries.
Sunday, February 21, 2016
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