Classrooms in the21st Century

What is online/distance learning?

Online learning, also referred to as distance learning, does not have to mean you are getting a less personal learning/teaching experience.

• Online learning IS a tool to enhance learning. In many cases, an online student will have a more personal connection to the instructor of an online class, than they would in a large lecture class.

Online learning is not necessarily easier, and it does not mean you're not getting a lower quality education.

• Online learning IS a structured learning environment that takes organization, preparedness, and self-determination to succeed. Both you and your students will get as much out of an online/hybrid class as you put into it. It takes a lot of preparation and management ahead of time to optimize the learning experience.

Fully-Online Course1. 100% of the course instruction and learning is done online, or from a distance.

2. Synchronous elements require that all students log in at the same time. a. An instructor might provide a live lecture using a webcam or might hold a chat

session for the entire class.

3. Asynchronous elements do not require that you log in at the same time as other students or your instructor.

a. You might be asked to post to bulletin boards, submit essays and other assignments, or participate with other class members on a group assignment.

Flipped Classroom

1. Students ‘attend’ the lesson outside of the classroom, typically in the form of teacher presentation videos or animated slideshows that can be viewed online.

2. ‘Homework’ and activities are done in class.

3. Followed by some summative assignments or tests to indicate the progress of each student in the understanding of the material presented in that lesson.

Blended (Hybrid) Classroom1. A course is blended if 30% or more of the education is provided online. Some traditional face-to-face "seat time"

has been replaced by online learning activities. The purpose of a hybrid course is to take advantage of the best features of both face-to-face and online learning.

2. Designed to integrate face-to-face and online activities so that they reinforce, complement, and elaborate one another, instead of treating the online component as an add-on or duplicate of what is taught in the classroom.

For example, if a course traditionally meets in a classroom three times per week, a hybrid or blended version might use online sessions to replace one or two of the traditional weekly classroom sessions or to eliminate all but a few key face-to-face sessions for laboratory work or examinations.

Comparison