1. Can everyone be an online learner? What do the various theories you have learned contribute to your answer?
Online learning has its origins in the 1990s and has provided an opportunity for busy individuals especially the working class and students seeking foreign education to study their courses of choice at the comfort of their home. Though popular, online learning is not for everyone. The disconnect may be attributed to the existing evidence that marginal students have difficulty in courses delivered entirely online (University of Missouri, 2008). Studies on online courses found that students enrolled in online courses did worse than those in the in-person version, and students with less academic preparation struggled the most. Marginalized students work best in traditional settings that call for full time, immersive learning where students work closely with instructors and with peers on group projects rather than isolated learning as is the case with online courses. Though it is expected that online learning will adopt artificial intelligence in the future, the current predicament in online learning is the lack of personalization and customization. These are important as in traditional learning teachers can diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of each individual learner and direct them accordingly.
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2. How to support an online learner who is not motivated? Describe 2 possible scenarios that online learners may not have or may lose energy and interest in online studying.
An online learning environment is characterized by benefits such as the ability to check on coursework according to a student’s own schedule and the self-placed learning it offers. However, the environment can be boring and less motivating. To support less motivated learners, administrators need to create course content that is engaging. Utilizing audio, and video elements can help in creating a feeling in students that they are in greater contact with the tutor. The content can include links to current events related to coursework that maintains the relevance of the subject to the real world. The instructor engagement may include responding to emails, providing a response on tasks sooner with positive and personalized remarks, as well as posting weekly messages on the course web portal by clips to create a sense of real-time conversation with the students. Less motivation may also emerge in cases where there is no deadline to beat. Therefore, instructors can help the student in creating aims for the course by setting measurable assessment methods of the student’s progress.
In one scenario, a student logs into the course webpage which is set to automatically give reading materials after a certain period as well as assessments at spaced intervals. The webpage is silent, and no instructor engages the student. In another scenario, where an instructor is slow in responding to emails, giving assessment results, and does not follow up on discussions, the student can grow bored fast. In both scenarios, the students may feel they are taking automated courses with no particular end goal.
3. How self-regulation, self-motivation and reflective practices are applied to solve issues.
Daniela, who has examined the relationship between motivation, self-regulation, and performance in high schools, concludes that self-regulated learning approach has a strong influence on the school performance level. She further asserts that it enhances the motivational level. Reflective practices aid in the development of reflective-thinking skills. Self-regulation, self-motivation and reflective practices can be applied to solve problems. In instances where students are depressed or going through some personal difficulty, self-regulation plays a vital role. Self-regulation involves personnel management and revolves around one's guidance of feelings, behavior, and thoughts to reach goals. Self-motivation skills are essential in solving issues where students have grown disinterested in learning, see little value in a course and its content, identify the teaching space as less supportive, or is discouraged by the arrangement and distribution of rewards.
4. How do situations such as this call for strong consideration by teachers and administrators of the effective performance domain.
Administrators and teachers can use self-motivation, self-regulation and reflective practices to improve the learning domain. For example, a teacher can introduce a concept idea or problem and then turn it over to their students for further inquiry. Moreover, students can be empowered to take charge of the learning environment by instructors creating stimulating, open-ended assignments that target the real world knowledge. The environment should empower students to make choices and consequently assess and reflect on their progress.
5. What learning theories most clearly support authentic or performance-centric performance? Why?
Performance-based assessment and learning represent set learning methodologies aimed at gaining and applying knowledge, work habits and skills through the performance of tasks that are significant and attractive. Performance-centered assessments are authentic assessments because they require to perform on something, to produce a product or students to construct extended responses. Performance centric assessment is best supported by cognitive learning theory. This is because cognitive learning theory is based on internal processing of information and its outcome can best be assessed by what the students create and how he does it. The outcome, such as constructed response or the produced product, can predict what is going on in a student’s mind. Constructivism learning theory is also suitable for this assessment as it acknowledges that we all construct our own perspective of the world. Therefore, authentic assessment outcome will reflect and personalized experience and understanding of the student.
6. What learning processes support norm-referenced or fixed choice assessment method? Why?
Norm-referenced assessment is one in which the comparison of test-takers performances to each other is done. For example, students’ scores are ranked from the highest to the lowest. This type of assessment does not interpret the scores according to what the student can do or knows. The behaviorist theory of learning suits this assessment as all students are provided with the same information and are expected to process it similarly. Students in this type of learning are expected to recall the basic facts, performing repetitive tasks and automatic responses.
References
Daniela, P. (2015). The Relationship Between Self-Regulation, Motivation And Performance At Secondary School Students. Procedia - Social And Behavioral Sciences , 191 , 2549-2553. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.410
University of Missouri. (2008). Despite Popularity, Not Everyone Can Successfully Learn Through Online Courses. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080226113511.htm l
