Lessons Learned
In sum, many decisions were made about training development prior to developing any training content. The following lessons learned may be useful for future instructional designers developing distributed training:
- Tailor your training to your consumers: Consumers may be more than the trainees themselves. There may be administrators and instructors as well who will purchase, facilitate, or interact with your training system. These populations need to be identified from the start and their needs considered for training to be successful.
- Blended learning is not just an effective pedagogical approach, but it is a practical compromise between achieving learning objectives and acknowledging real-world time constraints.
- Instructors do not have to be experts: However, the burden is on the training developers to implement measures to allow non-experts to effectively deliver training.
- Students can be more than just students: Diffusing some of the instructor's responsibility to Peer Leaders can alleviate some of the burden on the instructor. Providing students with additional responsibilities may increase their level of commitment to the course and enhance their educational experience since they think more deeply about the training materials.
- Just because technologies exist that enable distributed learning does not mean that people know how to use them: The capabilities of some technology may exceed people's ability to use it. Be sure to allow adequate preparation time to ensure that consumers of all ages, education levels, and technical expertise can be comfortable with and fully exploit the training technology, and so that it does not get in the way of the learning it is supposed to deliver.
The MERLOT Pedagogy Portal is designed to help you learn about the variety of instructional strategies and issues that could help you become a better teacher. The resources you’ll find in the Pedagogy Portal should apply to teaching a variety of disciplines. This collection of resources should help you answer questions that teachers ask:
- How do I teach large lecture classes effectively?
- How do I engage my students in problem-based learning?
- Do I have to teach adult learners differently than recent high school graduates?
The resources highlighted in this portal are organized into 5 major areas which were developed by the MERLOT Faculty Development community after several years of exploring other categorization schemes. They correspond to the steps in the teaching process; each major area has specific topics for you to explore: 1. Learners and Learning, 2. Course, Instructional Design, 3. Teaching Strategies, 4. Teaching Challenges, 5. Assessment.
Resources Regarding Pedagogy and Online Learning, Instructional Strategies and Pedagogy (University Library, University of Illinois, Urbana, Champaign)
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Evaluation and Application of Andragogical Assumptions to the
Adult Online Learning Environment (2007)
Laurie C. Blondy
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Abstract
The usefulness and application of andragogical assumptions has long been debated by adult educators. The assumptions of andragogy are often criticized due to the lack of empirical evidence to support them, even though several educational theories are represented within the assumptions. In adult online education, these assumptions represent an ideal starting point for educators to use in their instructional approach. Application of these assumptions with respect to the type of course being taught and individual student needs can help create a learner centered approach to online education. Link ¶ 3:53 PM 0 comments links to this post
The results of this research imply that efforts within higher education to develop and build students' reflective thinking ability both in and out of the classroom are likely to have an accompanying positive impact on their tolerance levels. Specific curricular and cocurricular interventions can develop students' reflective judgment abilities. It is important for higher education to employ intentional interventions to facilitate the development of reflective thinking as an important end goal in itself. However, based on the findings of this study, educators may also do so to develop the cognitive capability underlying tolerance. Given the difficulty of attributing causality, the converse may also be true: what educators do in the area of building tolerance might also help some students reach higher levels of reflective thinking ability.
Developing respect for human diversity by replacing racism, sexism, and ethnocentrism with an appreciation for racial, gender, and cultural differences is a common learning goal of college and university educators. Educators should intentionally point students toward curricular and cocurricular learning experiences that promote tolerance, especially those based on developmental principles.
This research underscores the need not only to offer intentionally designed learning experiences for college students that will foster tolerance for diversity, but also to guide and direct students to become involved in these activities purposefully as essential components of their higher education experience.
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| Apathetic students, illiterate graduates, incompetent teaching, impersonal campuses -- so rolls the drumfire of criticism of higher education. More than two years of reports have spelled out the problems. States have been quick to respond by holding out carrots and beating with sticks. There are neither enough carrots nor enough sticks to improve undergraduate education without the commitment and action of students and faculty members. They are the precious resources on whom the improvement of undergraduate education depends. But how can students and faculty members improve undergraduate education? Many campuses around the country are asking this question. To provide a focus for their work, we offer seven principles based on research on good teaching and learning in colleges and universities. Good practice in undergraduate education:
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'Read, Reflect, Display, and Do' can help instructors leverage the internet's potential to help students learn Link ¶ 9:35 AM 0 comments links to this post
The School of Education and Social Policy offers two graduate degrees in Learning Sciences, the MA and the PhD. Both degree programs are dedicated to the preparation of researchers, developers and practitioners qualified to advance the scientific understanding and practice of teaching and learning. The goal of research and development efforts of the Learning Sciences is to develop pedagogical, technological and social policy innovations aimed at improving education. Rather than just studying innovation, course work and research, the Learning Sciences programs emphasize both the design and implementation of learning environments with a reform agenda. Link ¶ 9:26 AM 0 comments links to this post
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