Content for Online or Distance PD

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Subject: [PD 3409] all content?
From: Isserlis, Janet Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu
Date: Tue Jun 16 09:56:47 EDT 2009

Mev asks if all content is appropriate for online learning.

Good question.

I was head of my drivers' training class in high school, but probably the first in my cohort to have an accident while actually driving?

What are the pieces that are well-learned (and learnable) via conversation, and what are the pieces that require real time 'doing' of something, with feedback and ongoing learning loops (like teaching a real group of people, understanding how to assess learners' ongoing progress, developing useful materials that can be adapted to meet the needs and strengths of those in the class)?

Janet Isserlis

Subject: [PD 3410] Sources of OPD content
From: David Rosen DJRosen at theworld.com
Date: Tue Jun 16 09:58:55 EDT 2009

PD Colleagues,

Most PD offers content. The content could be knowledge, an opportunity to experience something new, or an opportunity to do original research. At one end of the content spectrum the content/knowledge source is the teacher and a text, the "traditional" classroom model used in much of the world. At the other end of the content spectrum (OPD should be at this end) the teacher is not the only source of content, but is rather a "facilitator" of an OPD/blended process that includes many content sources. These include, for example:

1. Teachers who, while participants in the OPD course or activity, also have a wealth of their own knowledge and experience to contribute;
2. Guest experts available by email, teleconference, phone conference, or Twitter;
3. (Links to) audio files, for example: interviews, audio recordings of a teaching process, or recordings of presentations by experts;
4. (Links to) video files, for example:
  • short videos of authentic lessons and classroom processes,
  • accompanied by a teacher's explanation of what came before and after, the learning objectives of the lesson, and how the lesson connects to the curriculum or to a curriculum frameworks/set of content standards.

One of my projects, the Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) at http://www.mlots.org , provides a free library of short, adult ed classroom and tutorial videos for online and face-to-face PD;

  • commercially-made teacher training videos that are streamed online; and
  • teacher-made instructional videos, for example those found on TeacherTube or YouTube.
5. Books and articles (online, in hard copy, and perhaps downloaded to an electronic reader such as Kindle or ipod touch/iphone);
6. Fog-lifters. This may not be a familiar term, but probably you have seen one. They are one-page illustrations of a concept, structure or process. They take something complicated and explain it graphically so that the "fog" is lifted. One of my favorites is a one-pager that shows the stages from crisis to self-sufficiency, so that those who believe it is unrealistic to set "self-sufficiency" as a short-term goal for their unemployed clients can see the stages (1. In Crisis; 2. At Risk; 3. Safe; 4. Stable; leading to 5. Thriving (family self- sufficiency), so they can aim to have a client move to the next stage in the short term. This makes "self-sufficiency" a longer-term goal for some clients,more realistic for some providers. Someone suggested that some IKEA assembly instructions -- pictures not text -- might be another example of fog lifters;
7. Project-based learning in which the objective of the project is to discover, through the experience of researching, making, building, and/ or presenting or delivering something. This is often a collaborative effort, for example, building a curriculum unit or an instructional resource, or helping one's students to make a fotonovella or community health brochure PowerPoint or web page;
8. Action research (also called teacher research) in which teachers research a question that is important to them, often in their own classrooms; and
9. The OPD instructor/instructional team.

What other content sources could we add to this list?

David J. Rosen DJRosen at theworld.com

Subject: [PD 3422] Re: all content?
From: Hunter,Jayne Jayne.Hunter at nscc.ca
Date: Tue Jun 16 12:39:05 EDT 2009

Janet Isserlis asked: What are the pieces that are well-learned (and learnable) via conversation, and what are the pieces that require real time 'doing' of something, with feedback and ongoing learning loops?

For our online PD training, which is a certified foundational training for adult literacy practitioners, we incorporate a practicum. There are 6 modules required for certification, 2 mandatory plus 4 others, one of which must include a communications module. After the participant has completed at least one of the mandatory 2 modules, it is recommended that they be matched with an adult literacy learner or work in a classroom with an experienced practitioner to implement what they are learning on-line. For some, this (matching) can be difficult and so a case study can be completed as an assignment for each module. However, before a certificate is granted, a "real life" practicum must be completed.

My experience with on-line learning was through the GO Project. Their philosophy was to build community. A moodle platform was used (this is a free program) and participants were encouraged to update their profile with a picture. I found this made the other participants much more real to me. Discussions were threaded so you didn't have to read through lengthy posts that weren't relevant to your learning needs or interests. We did group work using wikis and also used Elluminate sessions.

Jayne Hunter
Literacy Nova Scotia

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