Based on personal experience, I am taking the position in favor of online learning environments. This is not to say that I don't like the typical classroom environment, but for many years of my educational career the usual classroom setting involved a teacher in front of the class, lecturing for an hour. This would often result in my dreading the prospect of going to school, which is not the best frame of mind to be in when being presented with new materials to learn. What's exciting is that, over the last two years in my current degree program with Florida State, I have learned that there a been a shift in pedagogical philosophy in terms of how to best educate students. Current trends suggest that instruction which engages students, builds upon their prior knowledge and encourages interactivity and creativity in both lesson plans and assignments provides stronger benefits to student learning than the typical classroom lecture scenario (Diaz-Rico & Weed, 2006; Moreno, 2010).
Many of the benefits listed above are also considered to be the strengths of the online learning environment. Faux (2009) describes Online Education 2.0 as “a forum where information is exchanged, not just presented, and where solutions are collaborated, not just given.” The New York Times “Bits” blog (2009) also promotes the benefits of the online environment as a way to better tailor learning experiences to individual students' needs. Again, just from a personal standpoint, I can attest to the suggested benefits of online learning. The majority of the classes that I have taken with Florida State have had required virtual classroom sessions, with only this class and TSL-5325 being asynchronous. Yet the design of the classes have been such that there were very few times in which I wasn't interested in attending. I believe that the main reason for this is due to the interactivity that was built into the sessions by the instructors. When I first started at FSU I was nervous about virtual classes being held in the Elluminate classroom, but I no longer feel that way because it's an extremely user-friendly application and the instructors have used it in a variety of ways that held their students' attention. Faux (2009) feels that another benefit of the online environment is that the fear of failure among online students has decreased, due to the element of privacy that is inherent to the virtual setting. This assessment seems fairly accurate, as there have been very few times where I have felt anxiety in an Elluminate session. The few times that I have felt somewhat anxious occurred when I used the microphone function for the first time and when I was involved in a group project and didn't want to let my classmates down. The usual Elluminate session generates much more interest and curiosity than feelings of anxiety.
Chapter nine of our text spends time discussing the differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, which is important to think about when considering whether or not to take online classes. I feel that the online environment is probably better suited students who are intrinsically motivated: those who are “involved in a learning activity for it's own sake” (Moreno, 2010). Learning from home can provide many benefits, such as creating a schedule that fits around work and family activities. This environment can also present challenges, such as when a favorite sports team is playing an important game during a scheduled class session or if a thunderstorm causes a loss in internet service. I think that students who are intrinsically motivated will be able to successfully overcome these challenges. So far I am extremely satisfied with the online education that I have received with Florida State and would recommend the online learning environment to anyone who is considering earning a college education.
Diaz-Rico, L. T., & Weed, K. Z. (2006). The crosscultural language and academic development handbook: A complete k-12 reference guide (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.
Faux, E. (2009). Online learning 2.0: The next generation of higher education. Educationnews.org. Retrieved from http://www.ednews.org/articles/online-learning-20-the-next-generation-of-higher-education.html
Moreno, R. (2010). Educational psychology. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
New York Times Bits Blog (2009). Study finds that online education beats the classroom. Nytimes.com. Retreived from http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/study-finds-that-online-education-beats-the-classroom/
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