After reading the chapter four of Teaching online: A guide to theory, research, and practice, I have a better understanding about how to properly design and online course, especially for open online learning. In the past, I did not realize that students’ learning outcomes might be influenced by whether their online course is an open online course or not.
As Major (2015) mentioned, when a course is open, lots of people, which includes researchers in this field and professors interested in this course, are likely to take this course. I think with more people joining this course, the learners can communicate with more researchers other than their peers which could enhance their understanding about the learning content. Since I am a Statistics student, my research project sometimes needs basic knowledge in other fields. For instance, I was asked to analyze the mathematical model for the number of cranes last term. But I did not find a very precise model at that time. I think the main reason is that I did not realize the importance of knowing some features of the cranes such as the cranes’ birth rate and living habits. If that course was an open course and I could communicate with other statistics students and researchers, I would realize the importance of understanding the features of the cranes before I submitted my project.
In the future, when I take a course, I would prefer an open course that provides me with more opportunities to communicate with learners interested in my project. If the university does not have an open course, I would post a blog to share some thoughts before I start my research. I think the comments can help me find more aspects of my project. Besides, this is also a great chance to show my project presentation to people that I am not familiar with. I think it is an effective way to practice how to explain my thoughts and finding to the audiences.
Major, C. H. (2015). Course structure. Teaching Online – A Guide to Theory, Research, and Practice (pp. 76-108). Johns Hopkins University Press. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/reader.action?docID=3318874&ppg=87
July 13, 2022 at 6:09 pm
Hi Ruoxi,
I totally agree with you. Although I have been exposed to the Internet for a long time, I seldom use it for my study. Maybe it’s my innate mindset, or maybe I’ve never learned how to use the Internet to help study.
As you said, the Internet can help us communicate with other people without obstacles. Therefore, it is the most convenient way to seek help and spread knowledge. Thank you for your sharing.
Yaqi Zhang
July 13, 2022 at 7:12 pm
Hi Ruoxi. I quite agree with you that online learning can provide us with a lot of help that we can’t get offline. As you say, blogging is a great way to get knowledge to help you. On the Internet, everyone can use their knowledge to help each other. However, in face-to-face teaching, only people who are familiar with each other have the opportunity to communicate in learning. And in most cases, it’s not free.
Ziwei Xiong