Animation, interactive quizzes, exercises, videos and more: online learning at 麻豆视频
An initiative of the Ontario government is helping 麻豆视频 instructors use technology to deliver their course content in ever more innovative ways.
Thanks to the Ontario Shared Online Course Fund, were offered in the fall of 2014. For the fall of 2015, : two new, fully online courses and eight new sets of course modules.
The modules 鈥 which will include animations, interactive quizzes, videos and self-paced exercises 鈥 are 鈥減arts of courses鈥 which will be designed for re-use and sharing across courses, departments, and even institutions. They will complement teaching in "brick and mortar" classrooms as well as online courses.
The 麻豆视频 projects are among 102 selected for funding across the province. 鈥淥ur success rate was very high, and we鈥檙e extremely pleased to be involved this way,鈥 says Laurie Harrison, the university鈥檚 director of online learning strategies.
The upcoming round of modules will be integrated in math, science and social science courses, including psychology, social work and nursing. A key feature is that instructors will participate in the design themselves 鈥 working in teams in which they鈥檙e assisted by graduate students or educational technology specialists.
鈥淒eveloping capacity within different program areas is something that鈥檚 occurring as a result of this process,鈥 says Harrison.
Already, 麻豆视频 offers 25 undergrad online courses and another 10 in such second-entry programs as dentistry or physician assistants 鈥 as well as 46 graduate courses that are fully online. In the past year, registrations in fully online courses reached more than 6,000.
The new modules are eclectic, with titles such as 鈥淒igital Labcoat鈥, 鈥淓thics in Engineering鈥, and 鈥淐ognitive Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience for Designers and Engineers鈥. The names alone reveal the interdisciplinary reach and scope of the online initiative.
William Ju is a lecturer in 麻豆视频鈥檚 Human Biology program, whose students often take courses in psychology, cell and systems biology, and neuroscience.
鈥淚 had asked my students how similar the concepts and lectures in various departments were, and they mentioned there was usually a great deal of overlap in many courses,鈥 he says.
Ju believes that online lessons shared between courses could greatly reduce this redundancy, allowing students to 鈥渄rill deeper鈥 during class time. One infers that they would also help departments keep abreast of others鈥 activities.
The module he鈥檚 developing (鈥淩e-Usable Learning Modules and Objects for Instruction in Neuroscience鈥) will feature animations and quizzes, all designed to show students how the brain learns. In turn, says Ju, 鈥渢he feedback from these types of modules will further help us to understand how students learn.鈥
In so doing, instructors such as Ju will be experimenting with the idea of a hybrid classroom 鈥 one that gives students the opportunities for discussion, lectures, group and online work: a full menu of learning options.
The online modules will also allow them to 鈥渇lip鈥 classrooms: in this model, traditional class work (such as lectures and videos) is provided online, so that 鈥渉omework鈥 (knowledge application) can occur in class, through discussion and group work.
Ju relishes the opportunity to offer his students choices; he recently completed a pilot course in which they were given the option of studying either a) traditionally, b) online in real time, or c) online at their own pace. Making the online students feel connected (both to class and course material) was 鈥渁n exciting challenge,鈥 he says.
It鈥檚 clear that technology is playing an integral part in 麻豆视频鈥檚 effort to increase student engagement and active learning 鈥 whether by replacing activities that were once done in class, or freeing up space so that classroom time can be better used.
鈥淲hat can a course look like?鈥 asks Harrison, affirming that with the help of initiatives such as the Ontario Shared Online Course Fund, 麻豆视频 will continue to explore the best use of student time and instructor resources. 鈥淭his isn鈥檛 just about bolting additional resources onto the ones that exist. This is about actually redesigning courses, from top to bottom.鈥
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