{"id":927,"date":"2011-05-30T07:19:49","date_gmt":"2011-05-30T12:19:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bethknittle.net\/WP_Blog\/?p=927"},"modified":"2011-05-30T07:23:00","modified_gmt":"2011-05-30T12:23:00","slug":"learning-is-not-an-instructional-method","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bethknittle.net\/WP_Blog\/?p=927","title":{"rendered":"Learning is Not an Instructional Method"},"content":{"rendered":"

Learning takes place within a learner it results in the change of the learners understanding and behavior.\u00a0 As toddlers we learn that fire is hot, and ice is cold.\u00a0 Those of us who watched A Christmas Story<\/em> learned not to stick our tongue on a frozen flag pole. Though I am sure a few were inspired to try any way, they still learned the lesson. Learning takes place all the time as we engage with our environment and each other.<\/p>\n

Recently I have been part of discussions surrounding ‘Online Learning’ some of these discussion take place at work, others among my PLN and a few more at Moodle Boot Camp.\u00a0 I have to say I do not like the term ‘Online Learning’ even less ‘eLearning’.\u00a0 An individual’s learning does not take place online, on a computer, in a library, or in a classroom for that matter.\u00a0 Learning takes place within the learner.The classroom, a learning management system, online resources, books, teachers and other learners are part of the learning environment but are not learning themselves.<\/p>\n

I continually hear that online classes are not as rigorous or as valuable as a face to face class.\u00a0 I have sat in some pretty useless\u00a0 face to face classes in my day, the same can be said for an online class or two. The delivery method of content is not as important as the content and instruction that is developed and shared.\u00a0\u00a0 A course should be evaluated on the content, instruction and supports for learning that are part of the class.\u00a0 The delivery method is just one more piece to be considered but should not be the single factor that determines its value and credibility.<\/p>\n

Since learning is ultimately the responsibility of the learner, they should have a choice on what delivery and instructional methods works best for them.\u00a0 We continually talk about how we need to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all learners, yet we tend to limit it to face to face classes.\u00a0 We also tend to reserve online classes for credit recovery or at risk students. Is it because we believe that only these students can benefit from this delivery method?\u00a0 I believe that this method can be appropriate for all learners.\u00a0 Is it because we believe online courses have less of a strain on school resources?\u00a0\u00a0 In K-12 learning there is still a teacher developing lessons, content, communicating and supporting students. What has changed is the timing and method of communication, not the time commitment and thoughtful development of learning materials.\u00a0 Some would argue that an online course may in fact have a greater time commitment\u00a0 as there is often more communication between teacher and students then in a traditional classroom.<\/p>\n

I think we need to pay attention to the words we use and distinguish between learning environments (instructional methods) and actual learning, they are not the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learning takes place within a learner it results in the change of the learners understanding and behavior.\u00a0 As toddlers we learn that fire is hot, and ice is cold.\u00a0 Those of us who watched A Christmas Story learned not to stick our tongue on a frozen flag pole. Though I am sure a few were inspired to try any way, they still learned the lesson. Learning takes place all the time as we engage with our environment and each other….<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[35,27],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bethknittle.net\/WP_Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bethknittle.net\/WP_Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bethknittle.net\/WP_Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bethknittle.net\/WP_Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bethknittle.net\/WP_Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=927"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.bethknittle.net\/WP_Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":930,"href":"http:\/\/www.bethknittle.net\/WP_Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927\/revisions\/930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bethknittle.net\/WP_Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bethknittle.net\/WP_Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bethknittle.net\/WP_Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}