Activity 1.1: Current Understanding of Online Pedagogy

The first journal activity 1.1 is to describe my current understanding of online pedagogy.

Pedagogy - the art of teaching, good principles or strategies for teaching.

• Students need to be engaged in their activities or at least understand the benefit of doing any activity
• Teacher and learner need to be aware of course outcomes and follow the course outline
  
• Students should have an orientation to the environment
• Role of teacher - responsive
  
• Role of learner - motivated, mature, responsible. focused
  
• Purpose to participation
• Content needs variety
• Provide opportunities for interaction and collaboration

My teaching philosophy

• to provide a learner-centered educational environment
• to guide students to be resourceful, confident, able to apply lessons to new situations, respect each other - teach each other
  
• to pass along my enthusiasm, respect and love of the law
• to be approachable and dedicated
• to be a positive role model
• to encourage them to meet challenges, work through situations, analyse issues
• to be available to provide feedback, extra assistance, mentoring
  

Personal Experience of Online Pedagogy as a Learner

• have had positive and negative experiences
  
• when the instructor is not present in a meaningful way or when instructions are confusing, it's difficult to know where to turn, especially with the time zone difference
  
• it's intimidating to be studying with so many learned colleagues as I do not consider myself an equal
  
• have had wonderful experiences collaborating on Webquests and Wikis with colleagues , as well as being introduced to new technology such as Google Docs, Wimba, Elluminate

Personal Experience of Online Pedagogy as a Teacher

• with each course I study, I learn more about online pedagogy which I apply to teaching
• was on the Angel pilot project and put three courses on one site - not a good idea - too confusing for students
• introduced blogging for a three week period with very positive responses
• have arranged online courses which are easier to follow
• use online quizzes which give instant feedback
• use discussion forums
• online portion of courses have been excellent supplement to all courses and provide content, answer keys, feedback

  
  

Think about your own “philosophy” of teaching. In other words, what do you believe good teaching to be – what makes a good teacher? I need to look at Daniel Pratt’s (2005) paper, Personal philosophies of teaching: A false promise? which explores this concept of a “philosophy” of teaching in a provocative way. I'm not sure how to verbalize my philosophy of teaching. Everyone in this course says they take the constructivist approach. I'm not sure that's possible with my courses as there are few grey areas. Everything is very prescriptive and I'm told we are teaching 'applied technology' which doesn't lend itself to a constructivist learning environment.