Online Learning and Teaching Articles

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The following articles pertain to learning and teaching online.

     Be a Good Detective:  Solve the Case of Oral Reading Fluency. 

This is an article written by Meriubethe Richards.  It is about how teachers can assist their students in becoming fluent oral readers.  In this article Richards likens the job of the reading teacher of tracking the role of fluency in reading instruction to solving a good mystery.  The author states that in order to improve and assess oral reading fluency teachers have to become good detectives and follow the clues to the true nature of fluency.

Oral reading fluency, according to the author, is, for successful readers, "...the ability to project the natural pitch, stress, and juncture of the spoken word on written text, automatically and at a natural rate (Richards, 2000).  Current research says that oral reading fluency is a critical part of reading performance and instruction.

In her article Richards mentions how Nathan and Stanovich (1991) suggested how reading fluency might not be a necessary condition for good comprehension and enjoyable reading experiences.  She also said that due to the fact that good readers are also fluent oral readers it is to the advantage of the teacher to figure out how fluency contributes to good reading. 

Meriubethe Richards suggests ways to help students to become fluent in their reading.  These methods consist of modeling, repeated reading, paired oral reading, theOral Recitation Lesson, and choral reading.  These strategies also would be helpful for students who are English Language Learners.  Each method is explained in depth by the author.  This article was really helpful in relating it to the online reading instruction that I do.  I feel that it had a wealth of knowledge that I can put to good use immediately in order to help move my online students forward.

Report Challenges Online-Learning Assumptions:  Online Students Report Deeper Learning Approaches, More Challenging Coursework Than Their Peers in Face-To-Face Classes

This article was written by Maya T. Prabhu, Assistant Editor for eSchool News.  It discusses those who are critics of online education, and tells how they say that face-to-face instruction provides a higher quality learning environment for students.  In spite of this, according to Prabhu (2008), a recent study by Indiana University discovered thatonline learners displayed deeper approaches to learning in comparisonto classroom-based learners.  This is great evidence and was of high interest to me as an online instructor and also as a previous and current online student. 

Researchers say that deep learning is a learning type that does more and goes beyond rote memorization.  Instead it focuses on reflecting, integrative learning, and higher-order thinking analysis, synthesis and evaluation.  The article states how critics of online instruction assume that face-to-face learning courses have advantages not found in the online classroom environment.  Yet the results from the Indiana study seem to indicate that online teachers "...may be making special efforts to engage their students.  It may also be the case that online classes appeal to students who are more academically motivated and self-directed."  I found this interesting since many of my online students are struggling learners who often did not maybe do so well in the typical school situation offline. 

According to the results of the survey done by Indiana University in their research, 37 percent of first-year online learners and 45 percent of seniors reported participating in course activities that intellectually challenged them very often.  This is in contract to only 24 percent of first-year students in the traditional offline classroom and 35 percent of seniors who said they were challenged.  I wonder if the results have to do with students worrying about the other students.  Often barriers can be peer pressure.  Students can often worry about or be disrupted by other learners in the offline classroom.  Much time also is wasted, I believe, on discipline.  I had many students that I interviewed relay that they felt that online instruction was better than them because they did not have to wait for other students who often took away their learning time, and they felt that they received more help in the online environment.

When students reflect about their learning they think about who they are, what they know and what they are and will be learning in the future.  It sets a purpose for their learning and helps them to set their goals.  Such reflection causes students to question their learning, and it therefore becomes more meaningful to them.  Integrative learning causes students to apply their learning from their classroom to other classrooms and eventually to the classroom of life.

Further results of the survey showed that 58 percent of first-year students who had most of their classes online reported using higher-order thinking in their work for their classes, in comparison to 55 percentof classroom-based learners.  So in the end, online instruction wins and offers higher order thinking instruction on a grander scale than that found offline.