Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Going the Distance: Active Learning

2002; Project Innovation Austin; Volume: 122; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

0013-1172

Charles E. Notar, Sherri Restauri, Janell D. Wilson, Kathleen Friery,

Educational Strategies and Epistemologies

Technological advancements have changed our world. We do not live in the same world as our parents, one single generation ago. It has been said that education changes extraordinarily slow with new techniques and methods of teaching being resisted by many professionals in the field. Thus, the use of technology has also met with resistance and reluctance by many professionals perhaps due to the unfamiliarity of this format for most teachers and to the clinging to traditional methods of teaching and interaction with students. Fear of the unknown can be a powerful force and using technology in teaching can cause real tear. Distance Learning has caused real fear for many educators. Fear that it is an inferior way to teach. It has been equated with reading a chapter and answering questions with little instruction from the teacher. Fear that it is complicated and learning new formats will be arduous. After all, computers require a new language! The focus of this article addresses instructional techniques for the teacher desiring to use distance-learning technology and to increase student interaction and involvement into the distance learning formats. Distance learning can provide wonderful opportunities for teachers to enhance active learning. Active learning, be it in the form of constructivism, progressive education or behaviorism, can involve the multiplicity of interactive distance learning possibilities suggested to provide the opportunity for the student to interact with the teacher as soon as he/she encounters the need for this interaction. Schools exist to provide educational opportunities. Education should enable students to develop mentally, physically, morally, and aesthetically through the experienced curriculum. Formal instruction has two principal objectives with respect to the cognitive development of the individual: a) the long-term acquisition and retention of stable, organized, and extensive bodies of meaningful, generalizable knowledge, and b) growth in the ability to use this knowledge in the solution of particular problems, including those problems which, when solved, augment the learner's original store of knowledge. Historically, the focus in education has been the development of retention of learning and transfer of learning. Distance Learning (DL) is both a and a process that connects learners with distributed resources. The word system as used here (in the definition of DL) is the technology used to provide a learning experience to the students. The process is linking together the distributed resources in a way that allows the learner to learn. Here is where the educator's role as a material expert has been and instead the educator has emerged as a moderator. Technology is here to stay and it is a tool in education. Whatever the professional training program, technology has been taught to educators, but how it is to be used effectively in teaching has not. In the classroom there is a bond, an agreement, between teacher and students that the teacher will help the students learn. The teacher has learned the processes of identifying objectives, developing lesson plans, creating learning activities, and using appropriate formative and summative evaluations. The teacher is there to answer questions, and can sense through student verbal and nonverbal feedback whether or not the student is developing an understanding of the material. However, what is the process in the construction of lessons when using technology? Further, how can a teacher interpret nonverbal behavior such as a puzzled look indicating I'm lost if one is not there to see it? The same bond between the instructor and student in the classroom must be developed in DL. This often requires creativity on the instructors part and a willingness to use technology to the greatest extent possible. Colleges of education and state certification requirements mandate the use of technology in the classroom. …