Transferring content from a face to
face (F2F) learning environment to a blended or all on line course is not as
easy as it sounds. One cannot simply
copy and paste lecture notes into PowerPoint slides and then claim to have
retrofitted their course to an online or blended format. Much more planning and thought process needs
to go into these courses to ensure that students are learning what you want
them to learn and are engaged in the educational process.
But first, let’s address the
different types of learning environments. Face to Face herein will be
identified as (F2F) is easily described.
100% of the learning is done in an environment where the teacher
(facilitator) and the student are in the same location at the same time. This is your typical higher education, brick
and mortar school. This could also mean
a trainer and employee situation in an office.
Online programs are just the opposite.
Most of the content is delivered using some type of technology, either
the computer, web, video etc. Most of
the content, 80% or more is delivered in this way (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, &
Zvacek, 2012, p. 5). So a blended
class is just as it sounds. It is a
combination of both face to face and online course work. (Simonson et. al) indicated that 30-79% of
the courses content will be delivered on line.
That equates to 21-70% of the content being delivered in a F2F format.
This best practices guide will cover
the following topics to assist the facilitator in transitioning from purely F2F
deliver to a hybrid or blended online approach.
It is assumed that the research has been conducted and it has been
determined that the blended/hybrid approach to training is
the best suited for the situation.
- Pre-Planning Strategies to think about
- Program Enhancements in the Distance Learning Environment
- The Trainer’s Changing Role
- How to Increase Online Communication
Pre-Planning Strategies
There are several pre-planning
strategies that you need to think about when moving a course from a F2F format
to a blended format. I have attached a
mind map, https://www.lucidchart.com/documents/view/d4711edf-9a26-40b4-8e67-b93c209497d9
and broken the pre-planning into several categories, learners,
technology, course content, and time and cost.
I will discuss each category.
Things to consider when thinking
about the learners:
- Does the learner have the technology available to them?
- Technical skills – Do they know how to use the technology?
- What are their personal characteristics?
- What are their learner characteristics?
- What role do they play in the organization-what prior knowledge do they bring to the table?
Assessing the learner is a very
critical step when planning coursework, whether F2F or at a distance. Time, effort and money can be wasted on
developing a course in which students don’t have the necessary skills complete
the course and conversely if they have already mastered the course objectives (Simonson et al., 2012, p. 264).
Things to consider when thinking
about the technology:
- What tools will deliver content?
- Where will the learning take place-in a lab or at their desk?
- Is the current network capable of handling the learning software?
- What software licenses are needed?
- Who will develop the content?
- What course management tool will be used and how will learner progress be tracked?
Success in an online class is not
which technologies are used, but how they are used and what information is
communicated using the technologies (Simonson
et al., 2012, p. 115). While it is
important that the learner know how to use the technology, more importantly is
that the technologies selected help the learner to achieve the desired learning
objectives.
When addressing course content it is
not enough to just thing about the information going into the course, but
careful consideration must be made on how particular content will be
delivered.
o
Who
will provide content?
o
What
CMS will be selected?
o
Can
the course be reused?
o
How
will assessment results be tracked?
o
What
delivery method will be used and is it the best designed method for the
learning objective?
o
Can
the current server maintain the course content?
It is important to remember that
while the information is the focus of the class, what you want the learner to
walk away with, is the job of the designer.
The designer should examine the context of the instruction to determine
what the best path the learning should take (Morrison, Ross, Kalman, & Kemp, 2013,
p. 61).
The final preplanning topic that I
will address is time and cost. The cost
to develop distance education and ensuring that there is a return on investment
(ROI) is a primary concern to many administrators (Simonson et al., 2012, p. 336).
The items that I identified with cost
and time were:
o
Research
o
Development
o
Server
Storage
o
Office
Supplies
o
Salaries
o
Hardware
o
Software
o
Licenses
o
Employee
time commitment
While time commitment can be a
barrier to distance education, if the course is planned out well, and there is
a true effort to minimize extraneous cognitive processing then the time spent
in distance learning can be extremely worthwhile (Laureate, 2010).
Program Enhancements
Once all the pre-planning has been
completed, the training manager can now begin to identify which content he
would like to deliver using technology.
He must first determine what the goals and objectives of the curriculum
are, and how a specific component can be delivered using the various technology
tools. One example may be using a video,
or listening to a podcast prior to the learner coming to class to gain useful
information. Part of the training could
be built into a presentation platform that is delivered via email, and all employees
need to go through the presentation.
Discussion boards could be added into the course management system to
allow coworkers to communicate with one another. A webinar could be held as the instruction to
the course with learners using a built in whiteboard or taking some polling
questions. The possibilities for
upgrading a complete F2F course are endless. The designer does need to be
mindful though that it is not just about the bells and whistles and packaging
the class so it looks like a professional product. Each deliverable must have a specific
learning goal and outcome moving the learner to achieving the learning
objectives.
The Trainers Changing Role
Whether the facilitator teaches in a
F2F class or in an online, the ultimate goal is to deliver content in such a
way that learners understand and transfer the provided information into
knowledge. There are role of the online
facilitator has some changes with it’s F2F counterpart. The online facilitator needs to know the
software that the course will be taught with as well as any extra components
that the learners will be asked to use. The facilitator must review the lesson plans
carefully. Facilitators must keep in
contact with their students in the online environment. Even though this is a blended learning class,
it is important that the instructor stay in contact with the students for any
online portion. The facilitator must
also participate in any synchronous and asynchronous discussions, and, the
facilitator must show learners that they care about their success (Laureate,
n.d.).
How to increase online communication?
Communication in an online
environment is much different than the F2F.
Communications are asynchronous and responses are not immediate. Learners can post questions to the facilitator
and it may be 24 hours or so before an answer is received. Because of this, it is paramount that the
facilitator set clear contact expectations, the means for contact and a clear
syllabus. This important document is the
primary communication with students at a distance (Simonson et al., 2012, p. 199). The syllabus will help students to understand
the structure of the course, expectations, assignments and the assessment
process, thereby, reducing many of the initial questions from the learner (Simonson et al., 2012, p. 199). Clear contact information for the facilitator
should be provided to each of the students as well.
Discussion boards or discussion
threads are another great way to communicate with each other in the class. Discussions should be thought provoking,
original ideas delivered in well written language. The instructor should post questions that
encourage high order thinking (Simonson
et al., 2012, p. 274). For
synchronous online communication, video conferencing, audio conferencing, chat
features and instant messaging provide dynamic real time communication. Online communication can be either
synchronous or asynchronous, but getting the learners to participate is
key.
Conclusion
As I read the scenario that was
presented, I marveled at the almost nonchalant way the training manager
described his goals. He wanted to
incorporate some online components to make the classes a blended learning environment. He wanted to make sure that all of the
materials were stored on a server to make them easily accessible. This is a huge undertaking, and one that
needs to be carefully planned. The ideas
presented here are only a sampling of options available to the training
manager. A full detailed project should
be outlined and managed properly to make sure that all pertinent areas are
addressed. (I think I see the content
blossoming for our next course!)
References
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Facilitating
online learning [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Laureate Education (Producer). (2010). Triarchic model of
cognitive load: Parts 1 and 2 [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu
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