Pedagogy
Focus
Establish a culture that accommodates changing pedagogical practice.
Explanation
Changes in pedagogical practice will continually develop and evolve as the experience of teachers and students working in an online environment develop, and as the available technologies themselves evolve and develop. There is no single ‘right’ approach for teaching in an online environment. Teachers should be encouraged to develop a repertoire of pedagogical approaches, and understand which approach to adopt under each set of circumstances. This should allow members to develop and explore teaching and learning practices that address learner needs, and will develop and grow over time especially as new technologies and methods evolve.
Action
- Implement a review process that identifies and supports existing and emerging pedagogical practice.
- Develop explicit statements about pedagogical practice including reference to models and frameworks to guide practice (eg. SOLO, Blooms, inquiry, problem-based learning etc).
- Actively promote and share successes in using different pedagogical approaches.
Supporting Resources
Blurring the Lines Between Online and Face-to-Face: Examples from the VLN
In this illustration, Wayne State University faculty member Michael Barbour describes the a teacher who's face-to-face classroom practice was substantially influenced by the pedagogy that he employed as an online teacher with one of the VLN clusters. His views are based upon a three month tour of New Zealand where he visited nine of the current and emerging e-learning clusters, interviewed dozens of cluster ePrincipals; school Principals and deputy Principals; eTeachers; eDeans, Coordinators, and Facilitators; and students, and observed several video conferencing lessons and tutorials in a variety of subject areas.
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One thing to take away from this illustration is not only the substantial impact that teaching with the VLN has had on both this teacher's pedagogy, but also in the learning opportunities that he was able to provide for his students. Finally, it is also important to note that the administration of the school were willing to allow this teacher to experiment with this innovation form of delivery, essentially creating that culture in the school that welcomed this kind of innovative pedagogy.
