Pedagogical Strategies for Worthwhile Learning in Online Environments: Presentation for Connecting Online Conference CO12 February 2012

1. Pedagogical Strategies for
Worthwhile Learning in Online
Environments
Ramesh Sharma
CO12 4th Annual Connecting Online Free Conference
February 3-5 – 2012
Hashtag #CO12
http://www.wiziq.com/events/co12.htm

2. Worthwhile Learning
• Socrates: different kinds of knowledge
(important and trivial)
• Two very different sorts of knowledge
– ordinary knowledge
– definitional knowledge

3. Meaningful Learning
• Ausubel (1963)
– Learner’s previous experiences present in his
cognitive structure and the learning content are
compatible with that cognitive structure
Ausubel, D. P. (1963). The Psychology of Meaningful Verbal Learning. New York: Grune and Stratton

4. Chief features
• Active
• Authentic
• Constructive
• Cooperative

5. Active
• Learner should possess a motive to learn and
actively engage in worthwhile learning

6. Authentic
• When the learning tasks can be displayed in a
real environment or in a situational learning
environment to help learners to better
understand them

7. Constructive
• To make learners truly understand what they
have learned and reflect what they have
observed in the process of learning

8. Cooperative
• Cooperation with peers to obtain suggestions
and knowledge

9. Online higher education market in
2015
• Hazel Associates (2005):by 2015 the online
higher education market would exceed $69
billion and found it to be the fastest growing
sub-sector in global education market.
Hazel Associates. (2005). Global e-learning opportunity for U.S. higher education. Retrieved from
http://www.hezel.com/globalreport/

10. Lack of Pedagogical Considerations
• Weigel (2000): Online courses lacked any
pedagogical considerations, rather being “
little more than an exercise of posting on the
Internet an enhances syllabus that includes
lecture content, reading assignments and
practice tests along with using discussion
groups and e-mails to respond to students
questions”
Weigel, V. (2000). E-learning and the tradeoff between richness and the reach in higher education.
Change, 33(5), 10-15.

11. Effectiveness of web: a disappointment
• Carr-Chellman and Duchastel (2000)
– It is also evident that many online courses lack basic
design consideration and that the web is simply being used
as a medium for delivery of instructions created within
another framework. Such transposition from one medium
to another may have some value in reaching certain
outreach goals, but it also run serious risks of diluting the
original instruction and possibly rendering it ineffective
(p.229).
Carr-Chellman, A., & Duchastel, P. (2000). The ideal online course. British Journal of Educational
Technology, 31(3), 229-241.

12. Usage pattern of online education
practices
Integrated Mixed / Blended Independent
Supplement to Complement to Alternate to
face-to-face face-to-face face-to-face
teaching teaching teaching

13. Engaging for worthwhile learning
• In whatever way the online education
practices are used, trends showed a need for
a paradigm shift from teacher to student
centered learning; from simply passing on
knowledge to constructions of knowledge and
collaboration (Salmon, 2000; Bates, 2001;
Laurillard, 2002).
Bates, T. (2001). National strategies for e-learning in post-secondary education and training. Paris,
France: UNESCO, IIEP
Laurillard, D. (2002). Rethinking university teaching: A conversational framework for the effective use
of learning technologies. London, UK: Routledge
Salmon, G. (2000). E-moderating: The key to teaching and learning online. London, UK: Kogan Page.

14. Strategies for engaging learners
• constructivism (Hung, 2001)
• web-constructivism (Basiel, 1999)
• learning by doing (Schank, 1997)
• problem-based learning (Barrows, 1994)
Barrows, H. S. (1994). Problem-based learning applied to medical education. School of Medicine,
Springfield, IL: Southern Illinois University.
Basiel, A. (1999). Applied formative evaluation in the Web-based environment. MPhil. Thesis in
Computing Science, Middlesex University, London.
Hung, D. (2001). Design principles for web-based learning: Implications for Vygotskian thought.
Educational Technology, 41(3), 33-41.
Schank, R. (1997). Virtual learning: A revolutionary approach to building a highly skilled workforce.
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

15. Strategies for engaging learners
• case-based learning (Chen et al, 2006)
• learning by designing (Naidu, Anderson, and
Riddle, 2000)
• role-play-based learning (Ip, and Linser, 1999)
• an eclectic approach in instructional design for
web-based learning (Mishra, 2002).
Chen, C. C., Rong-An, S., & Harris, A. (2006). The efficacy of case method teaching in an online asynchronous learning environment.
International Journal of Distance Education Technologies, 4(2), 72-86.
Ip, A., & Linser, R. (1999). Web-based simulation generator: Empowering teaching and learning media in political science. Retrieved from
http://www.roleplaysim.org/papers/rpsg.htm
Mishra, S. (2002). A design framework for online learning environments. British Journal of Educational Technology, 33(4), 493-496.
Naidu, S., Anderson, J., & Riddle, M. (2000). The virtual print exhibition: A case of learning by designing. In R. Sims, M. O'Reilly & Sawkins,
S. (Eds.), Learning to choose: Choosing to learn (short papers and works in progress) (pp. 109-114). Lismore, Australia: Southern Cross
University Press.

16. ERIC Model
• Sharma and Mishra (2007) suggested
Experience-Reflect-Interact-Construct (ERIC)
model for learner engagement in digital
environments.
CONSTRUCT EXPERIENCE
EXPERIENCE REFLECT
Sharma, R. C. & Mishra, S. (2007). Cases on global e-learning practices: Successes and pitfalls. Hershey, PA: Idea
Group Publishing.

17. Kawachi’s Multimedia Learning Model
Kawachi, P. (2005). Empirical validation of a multimedia construct for learning. In S. Mishra, & R.
Sharma (Eds.), Interactive multimedia in education and training, (pp. 158-183). Hershey, PA: IDEA Group

18. Final comments
• Not all institutions are online, yet it is true that
perhaps all now use some form or other of
electronic technology known as e-learning
• e-learning has not demonstrated improved
learning ?
• Teachers do not know how to employ e-learning
efficiently
• reduce the psychological transactional distance
between the individual student and the content
to be learnt

19. Thank You!