Resources
Location:
A Model for Online Learning Environments

A Model for Online Learning Environments

Title:A Model for Online Learning Environments (ID: NLI0332)
Author(s):William E. Pelz (Herkimer County Community College)
Topics:Virtual Community
Origin:ELI Meetings (2003)
Type:Presentations and Seminars
Abstract:The SUNY Learning Network (SLN) is the system-wide program for the delivery of complete online degree programs for the 64 colleges of the State University of New York. SLN has seen explosive growth in participation among SUNY Campus (55 institutions), complete online academic programs (55 degrees and certificates), courses (2500+ annual offerings) and students (40,000+ enrollments annually). SLN had been recognized by EDUCAUSE with its 2001 award for Systemic Improvement in Teaching and Learning, and by the Sloan Foundation supported Sloan-C consortium with awards for both Excellence in ALN Faculty Development (2001) and Excellence in Institution-Wide ALN Planning (2002). Efforts to assess teaching and learning in SLN have resulted in a model for e-learning, one that attempts to account for general good practices in education (e.g. Bransford et al., 2001) as well as recognized, higher-education principles (Chickering and Gamson, 1987), and which also accommodates recent understandings of how people learn in largely text-based asynchronous environments (e.g. Anderson, Garrison, and Archer, 2001). Central to this model is an emphasis on how "learner-centeredness" must be wed with an equal focus on knowledge building, assessment, and community in higher education. For online learning environments, especially those that lack face-to-face interaction, we need to understand how these requirements are transformed. The model advocates a focus on "teaching presence", "cognitive presence", and "social presence" within a virtual community of inquiry. We will discuss strategies we have used to prepare faculty to enact these new concepts in online environments to foster student engagement, satisfaction, and learning.
View this resource:
Learner Centered Practices
Bookmark/Search this page with:
   del.icio.us   Digg   Google   Yahoo   Technorati Stumbleupon Facebook Twitter

 
© Copyright 1999-2009 EDUCAUSE
  Unless otherwise noted, EDUCAUSE holds the copyright on all materials published by the association, whether in print or electronic form. In certain cases the work remains the intellectual property of the individual author(s) (see Special Circumstances). Content from conference speeches, presentations, blogs, wikis and feeds reflect the opinions of the author, and not necessarily those of EDUCAUSE or its members.