GOAL 3.2 Ways to Assist a Student on an Online Course

Different Ways to Assist a Student on an Online Course

Alan Roper have stated that: “more and more, adult learners are finding the convenience and flexibility of online learning a match for their goals learning and busy life styles”. The public for these courses are adults that work all day long and find difficult to attend to a program in a classroom. So in the comfort of being in home these students can continue their education and accomplish their academic goals without being in presence in a weekday course which may result stressful and exhaustive to their lifestyles. Some of them are committed parents or workers that may arrive home with no extra energy after a long journey at work.

There are different ways to assist a student on a course on line. One of the crucial points on taking a course online is that the learner must have self-discipline and self-organization, no one will be there to remind him/her about the next date of delivery. The student shall create a scheduled based on the outline and dates given by the teacher to hand in.  To plan out beforehand is important to don’t fall behind the schedule given by the educator.

Hugh G. Petry mentioned: from a different perspective, that of alternative schools, theory is relevant to practice with a vengeance. It would not be too much of a distortion to say that practice in many alternative schools derives almost directly from the desire really to live the abstract principles of autonomy and freedom.(2010, p.46)

Nevertheless I must say that certainly there is some freedom on creating the space and setting the time to study but in the other hand it must prevail an environment of consistency and to show some discipline in order to succeed on presenting the practices in the form and term requested by the educator. Speaking in an environment of open distance course the student must have always present the fact that there are many advantages on learning autonomously but it can’t be total freedom limits and controls are important from both sides teacher- student as part of a learning methodology. To be consistent in the actions and to set up a routine may lead to have good results. This means that is important to give the space for reading and to set the day for writing or posting.

Speaking in the definition of autonomous this can shift from time to time. The definition may vary from one to other since the point of view of each one may show some differences on an individual internal concept.

This means that the learner is free to certain point. What it means this? That there is some freedom on how to do the task though this freedom can be only on time and space. By the other hand the teacher practices shall have some requests on the form and time of delivery written on the outline designed. In order to these controls the learner must make adjustments to the way to complete the practices. In this sense the educator has to guide the learning and promote and environment of socialization, interaction and communication among the students. It’s possible throughout the discussion board. This is a systematic pattern of feedback. Comments from others may help the learner to get motivate, socialize or correct mistakes. Reading other works may enrich some previous structures on the subject to study or analyze. It’s possible

trough out the discussion board.

A well designed study plan may not have this space of lack of communication because if a problem arise to the learner the availability from the educator must be always present to give the learner that feeling of being supported by the educator. So online courses allow the teacher to know any possible problem if the student makes the attempt to communicate  only needs to drop off a message to the teacher appointing the problem.

References

Roper A, document retrieved by the web on: March 24, 2014; How Students Develop Online Learning Skills; web; www.educause.edu/ero/article.

You can find the document on:

http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/how-students-develop-online-learning-skills

Petry Hugh G; The Philosophy of Open Education, Boston, Mass, 02108, U.S.A, edited by Taylor & Francis e Library 2010

Open and Distance Education teachers and learners some highlights and recommendations.

Important Considerations in Open and Distance Education for Teachers and Learners

Open and distance education from Marcela Adriana Malagon Maciel

GOAL 2.2

Weaknesses and Strenghts 

             Nowadays we have important advances on education and there is a marked tendency to the use of technology addressed to different purposes like: business, education and entertainment. This type of system was created for the ones that were unable to continue their education and was difficult or impossible to attend to a system on a formal education basis. Speaking about needs on this type of learner I must point out that to get enroll into this system implies to have some qualities from the student like: to be autonomous, well organized in time and space, some knowledge using up to date computer programs , the use of  browsers, the use of internet and other media via satellite.

(Lindner et al., 2001) supports that; “a learner must possess certain knowledge, skills, and abilities in order to complete a planned instructional sequence and be successful”.

To have full access to this media of communication and information requires a level of knowledge from the learner in order to be capable; to carry out and the complete realization of the tasks and activities given by the teacher. For the same reason this type of program requires certain level of being autonomous. Nevertheless I would like to point out some important aspects that involves the weaknesses and strengths of this type of learner which gets enroll in an open distance education system.

Inglis et al., (2002) claimed that: this group of distance educators tends to see learning as the development of a student’s capabilities in directions defined by the teacher.  For them, the learning package serves to provide the resources needed to achieve this result. Meanwhile those who favor the use of interactive modes of delivery nevertheless generally accept the practical and economic necessity of making use of learning resources. They argue, though, that learning materials need to be used in such a way as to construct a dialogue between the teacher and the student.

According to the past cite I must say that I agree to the point that open and distance education teaching  must be built an environment that leads to the interaction among the class participant’s, the teacher and learner. Because the interaction among the class is another way to learn to know the opinion of each one performs as a feedback.

References

K. Doodley, Lindner and L. Doodley, 2001. Advanced methods in distance education, Applications and Practices for educators trainers and learners,( )Information science publisher.

Inglis.A, Ling and Joonsten.V, (2002). Delivering digitally; Managing the transition to the knowledge media, (2^nd edition), published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library.