The challenges of learner-centered teaching in the virtual classroom

Sarah CorneliusSchool of EducationUniversity of Aberdeen, UK

http://www.webex.co.uk/

My experience

• One to one– postgraduate supervision, assignment support, interviews

• Small groups – workshop-style interactive events, meetings, student led-

sessions• Larger groups – professional development presentations, course inductions,

international collaboration

Evidence from research suggests– Technical problems frustrate learners– Learners appreciate the opportunity to interact– Increased interaction leads to greater satisfaction/better

outcomes

BUT– Studies are often case studies, new courses, new online

learners, new facilitators

Suggestions for facilitators– Engage learners with short learner-centered events(Steed, 2013)

Presentation

• What is learner-centered teaching?• Research on virtual classrooms• Challenges in virtual classrooms– Creating a supportive learning community– Handing over control– Designing learner-centered activities

• What next?

Learner-centered teaching Putting learner first in all decisions

• Engaging learners in learning (‘hard, messy work’)

• Motivating learners by putting them in control

• Encouraging collaboration within a learning community

• Providing opportunities for reflection on learning

• Paying explicit attention to learning skills

Doyle (2008) Weimer (2013)

Learners’ experiences

• Learners with substantive experience (Cornelius, 2013)• Learners’ recommendations for facilitators (Cornelius and Gordon, 2012a)

Teachers’ experiences

- 4 experienced UK facilitators: IPA study (Cornelius, 2014)- Conversations and interviews(Cornelius, Gordon and Schyma, 2014)

Challenges to learner-centered learning in the virtual classroom

1. Creating a supportive learning community2. Handing over control to learners3. Designing ‘messy’ activities

1. Creating a supportive learning community

A good facilitator… …will ‘create an ethos of mutual support’ (Bonk et

al. 2004)…values the rich array of experiences and skills that

learners bring…develops effective social presence of learners and

teachers…creates opportunities for informality and

relationship and community building

Recommendation 7. Minimalists

It was just annoying

This has probably been the most

stressful part of the course for me…we make plans, they

don’t turn up

It creates a level of stress that possibly you [tutors] aren’t

aware of

There were some people, like me, who [were] quite happy to talk all the time, but

there were others who weren’t…they didn’t

seem to want to participant

Sub-recommendation 1: Be aware that those who participate minimally have a negative effect on their peers and consider ways to manage this

Cornelius and Gordon (2012b)

2. Handing over control

Software issues

– Classroom metaphor• learner expectations and experiences

– Access/permission issues • moderator ‘in charge’, has power to enable/disable

– Language/terminology • ‘randomly distribute’, ‘drag’

• Learners need some level of control to feel comfortable in the learning environment

I hope you never use the ‘team captains’ approach.. That

would dredge up memories of the gym class

I remember being in a breakout room and no-one

else being there…feels lonely

Sub-recommendation 2: Select optimum numbers for breakout rooms and allow learners to move in and out of rooms as appropriate

It is fairly easy to get into the breakout rooms although …I

sometimes wait until the rush is over and then drag my name into

the room

I think [allowing participants to move themselves to rooms] gives participants autonomy as well, to

know that you can do that yourself, instead of someone

taking you

Cornelius and Gordon (2012b)

2. Handing over control

Teacher issues

• Complex multi-modal environment – Sometimes induces a retreat to ‘tutor-led’

approaches to deal with complex demands or unexpected problems

– Difficult to understand learners’ experience and get feedback

In Bob’s words

I needed to have control

I definitely make sure, even in [a] bossy or more pushy way, that everybody has at least their

chance to speak

try to be more democratic and more consistent

the chair of the meeting

Cornelius, 2014

In Claire’s words

I’ll do roughly the same tutorial face to face and [with web conferencing]

it’s quite intense

there’s no time to waste

[I try to] make it interactive […] to make sure everybody is being carried along and they are

following

what I find difficult is actually knowing how it is from their perspective

Cornelius, 2014

3. Designing learner-centered activities

‘Messy activities’ require authenticity, complexity, risk taking– From ‘webinar’ or interactive lecture to other

possibilities: • role play, group work, research activities• integrating other technologies• building in opportunities for reflection and

development of learning skills

Still needed…

• More evidence of what works and why in the virtual classroom – particularly from the learners’ perspective

• Exemplars of learning experiences which exploit the opportunities offered by the virtual classroom

• Evaluation of changes to teachers’ roles and practices

Acknowledgements

Thanks to colleagues and collaborators… Carole Gordon, Jan Schyma, Yvonne Bain,

Margaret Harris, Chris Aldred, Blair Stevenson…and to participants and students

s.cornelius@abdn.ac.ukTwitter: @sarahcorneliusSlideshare: slideshare.net/sarahcornelius

ReferencesBonk, C. J., Wisher, R.A., & Lee, J.-Y., (2004). Moderating learner-centered e-learning: problems and

solutions, benefits and implications. In Roberts, T. S. (ed.) Online Collaborative Learning. Hershey: Idea Group Publishing.

Cornelius, S. (2013a). Convenience and Community? An Exploratory Investigation into Learners’ Experiences of Web Conferencing. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 24 (3), 267-283.

Cornelius, S. (2014). Facilitating in a demanding environment: experiences of teaching in virtual classrooms using web conferencing. British Journal of Educational Technology. 45(2) 260-271

Cornelius, S. & Gordon, C. (2012a). Learners' experiences of synchronous online activities: project report. University of Aberdeen. http://www.slideshare.net/SarahCornelius/learners-experiences-of-synchronous-online-activities.

Cornelius, S. and Gordon, C. (2012b) Facilitating learning with web conferencing: recommendations based on learners’ experiences. Presentation to CSEDU conference, Lisbon, April 2012

Cornelius, S., Gordon, C., & Schyma, J. (2014). Live online learning: strategies for teaching with web conferencing. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Doyle, T. (2011). Learner-centered teaching: putting the research on learning into practice. Stirling Virginia: Stylus.

Steed, C. (2013) Live online learning – are you ready for the virtual classroom? Blog post http://chat2lrn.wordpress.com/2013/06/10/live-online-learning-are-you-ready-for-the-virtual-classroom

Weimer, M. (2013). Learner-centered teaching: five key changes to practice. 2nd Edition. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.