Other experts working to train teachers onlinoe agree. "One of the hallmarks of online learning is that it changes the onus of learning from the teacher to the student," obseves Dr. Lynne Meeks, who runs Alabama's portion of eLearning for Educators, a federally funded multistate ODP [sic] project.
Like Teacher, Like Student
by Dave Saltman
Harvard Education Letter
January | February 2011
p. 4
Federally funded, you say.
I'm pretty sure I don't want to pay for a multistate ODP project.
Or OPD, as the case may be.*
Heck, I don't even want to pay for a curriculum department for my own school district.
Also, I vote for the "onus of learning" remaining with the teacher, thank you very much.
Of course, I don't have a vote.
* OPD = online professional development
Also, I vote for the "onus of learning" remaining with the teacher, thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteThe onus of learning belongs on both the teacher and the student.
The teacher's job is to present content in a clear, systematic way at an appropriate level for the student (not presenting things they already know, not presenting information they aren't ready for). The teaching must be clear, and it must build on what's gone before. At that point the onus of learning shifts to the student.
The student's job is to make an effort to learn the material presented by the teacher. Otherwise, you end up with a situation in which students expect to simply sit back and relax and if they don't learn the material, it's up to the teacher to teach it again, and again, until it sticks.
I taught in a private school a couple years ago where the students didn't expect to have to put in effort to learn things, the adults in their lives backed them up, and as a result their level of knowledge was low for their grade level. The onus of learning, and any effort involved in it, had to be all on my side. That's not appropriate either.
By-the-way, I know from end-of-the-year tests that I moved the class forward one year's worth in one year's time. If the students had put forth effort I wonder how far they could have gotten.