Integrated Learning Process
The overall approach to teaching and learning is informed by your conception of how people learn. The way in which a course is designed and structured supports and facilitates the approaches and methodologies designed into the learning materials.
Resources
- This Saide resource, Learning, a Learning Spiral and Materials Design, gives a theoretical basis for the notion of building a learning pathway that facilitates learners moving from the known to the unknown between modules and units, as well as within the learning activities in the materials (75KB, 5 pages).
Learner Support
Learner support is a crucial component because it is related to access to learning. The role of the teacher in structuring the content, in designing learning activities that promote higher order thinking skills, and in providing an opportunity for sharing and collaborating is central in providing learning support in quality teaching. Learner needs might include academic support, support for access to resources, and so on.
In online courses, the ’teacher’s presence’ guiding and supporting learners and their learning is key to enhancing the online learning experience. Anderson and Elloumi (2004: 275) conceptualised the notion of the three ‘presences’ in online course delivery. They are:
- Teacher presence – mediating between learners and what is to be learned (the material).
- Social presence – rooted in the idea of learning as a collaborative process for constructing knowledge.
- Cognitive presence – in which the role of the teacher is to guide reflection and discourse on learning.
Resources
- Review the quality criteria for NADEOSA Quality Criterion 7: Learner support (75KB, 3 pages).
- The Saide article Enriching Online Learning Experience: The three ‘presences’ helps us think about these roles more carefully, particularly for online teaching and learning (366KB, 4 pages).
- Link to this free PDF of a resource edited by Anderson and Elloumi (2004), titled The Theory and Practice of Online Learning (1st edition).
Design Review Questions
You might want to think about these questions to check how you help your learners in their learning:
- In what ways have you integrated your approach and methodologies into the course design?
- What ‘teacher presence’ have you built into your course design?
- How helpful are the learner support NADEOSA quality criteria in making decisions about learner support in your course?