Title:  Fit to be a ‘teacher’ or unfit to be a ‘leader’? The dilemma of being an online educator where theory of online emergent learning does not match practice.

John Roder -  University of Auckland

Christopher Naughton- New Zealand Tertiary College

Juliette Smeed- New Zealand Tertiary College

Why is this important?

The premise of this discussion is that the successful leader in an online environment designs a course on the basis of shared learning and trust building, rather than on the basis of assessing engagement against standard measures (Novak, Ponting & Bhattacharya, 2007). The design, according to research (Dysthe, 2001), is understood as being intrinsically participative where the teacher has to ‘tune in’ to the students. In this design teachers frequently have to change how they relate to learning and working with a cohort of students. What, then, are the qualities demanded by this leadership role? Can the teacher maintain an elevated position as one who has the ‘key’ to unlocking the mysteries of the online ‘Study Guide’; or does the teacher have a different role to play – that of allowing and facilitating ideas to permeate in a ‘sideways’ fashion.  This might encourage different subject positions and oblige students to engage with theirs and others ideas (Lebler & McWiliam, 2008).  Learning through sharing challenges the notion of the overseer who upholds institutional standards, with the basis of learning becoming trust (Gulati, 2004).

How will the session be organised?

Firstly after introductions the experience of online learning and teaching will be reflected on by each member of the group. The various experiences of each member will be aired in terms of developing a community of learners in an online learning environment. The second part will introduce the potential for unstructured learning, where teachers allow for the spontaneous and the emergent to be legitimated in the process of learning. The final part of the discussion will focus on the implications of seeing learning as a way of ‘being’. The difficulty of reconciling the theoretical and research work into open access learning with the ‘real politics’ of institutional demands will be considered.

Dysthe, O. (2001). The asynchronous webmediated discussion as a learning
genre. Genres and Discourse in Education, Work and Life. Oslo University College, May 2001. Retrieved on October 24, 2008, from http://www.uib.no/iuh/ansatte/dysthe/Dysthe_Webmediated_%20May2001.pdf.

Lebler, D. & McWilliam, E. (2008) Aligning Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment for building creative capacity in undergraduate students: A Case Study from the Conservatorium. Retrieved on October 24, 2008, from http://www.cci.edu.au/sites/default/files/alawrence/Lebler_McWilliam_Aligning_Curriculum.pdf

Gunawardena, C. N., Lowe, M. A., & Anderson, T. (1997). Analysis of global
online debate and the development of an interaction model for examining social construction of knowledge in computer conferencing. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 17(4), 397-431.

Gulati, S. (2004). Constructivism and emerging online learning pedagogy: A
discussion for formal to acknowledge and promote the informal. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Universities Association of Continuing Education, University of Glamorgan, 5-7 April 2004.

Novak, S., Ponting, A., & Bhattacharya, M. (2007). Facilitating online
learning communities: The collaborative design of an online support resource. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 18(1), 11-28.

 

Dr. Christopher Naughton
New Zealand Tertiary College

Chris is currently leading several research projects at New Zealand

Tertiary College (NZTC). Having completed a study of students switching

from distance to online learning, Chris is leading an AKO project

researching early childhood music education entitled Changing Places.

The implementation of the online learning program at NZTC has been

reported on by Chris at AARE in 2008 and in the Journal of Distance

Learning (2008). Whilst research is ongoing into the provision of online

learning at NZTC the debate has now shifted from developing the platform

to an examination of the potential learning afforded through the use of

online tools. In particular the Web Enhanced Distance Learning (WEDL)

research group are concentrating on how online discussion can be seen as

transformative in effect, rather than merely perfunctory in the context

of early childhood teacher education.

 

John Roder
University of Auckland

John's recent research interests lie in the nexus of Web 2.0 and

curriculum, e-portfolios and the PLE or personal learning environment.

He examines future visions of technology and enhanced learning through a

critical lens. John also explores the notions of complexity,

connectedness, curriculum emergence and the distributed nature of

knowledge in online communities.  Expertise and leadership frameworks

that are adopted  in his courses attempt to favour distributed social

networks. John's focus is on communities that empower individuals

through the conscious development of loosely coupled connections between

group members and strengthening dialogical experiences around personal

perspectives and the big ideas of the courses he teaches.

 

Dr.Juliette Smeed
New Zealand Tertiary College

Juliette lectures in several modes at the New Zealand Tertiary College,

a provider of Early Childhood Teacher Education. Her current ECE

interests include research skills, curriculum and collaboration in

learning and teaching practice. Coming from a background in literature

analysis, Juliette is interested in the ways the Web 2.0 environment can

unlock the potential for diverse student cohorts to recreate texts

through dialogic engagement.  She is currently exploring how the online

learning environment, and online assessment practices, can be used to

rehearse collaborative habits of language and thought that will readily

translate into teaching practice.