The book Theory and Practice of
Online Teaching and Learning, a Guide for Academic Professionals offers tips
and advice about the online teaching and learning processes. In order to
explore what is in vogue in the world of online teaching and learning, the book
provides guidance to those educators to whom the internet still remains an
unknown zone. The purpose of this paper is to examine the chapters of the book
and evaluate it in terms of balance and consistency to accomplish the intended
objectives.
The present paper delineates
specific concerns which should be revised by the authors. Chapter one is an
excerpt of Teaching Online written by Ko (2010) It explores some of the
basic points about teaching online and tries to answer some common questions
about this. The excerpt is out-of-date, because it belongs to the 3rd
edition, from the year 2010, while this book is now in its 4th
edition, which was released in the year 2017. Maybe this is the reason why some
of the comments seem out of time. For instance, it presents the limitations of
online courses as opposed to on-site lessons, and highlights the little
interaction between learners and instructors that takes place in online
courses. Clearly, if the author had considered online lessons through video
calls, she would not have mentioned these limitations in online lessons. In
addition, the rest of the chapter is limited to presenting some reflections
about online teaching but it fails to provide new information or valuable
advice for educators. Chapter 2 consists of an extract from Essentials of Online Course
Design by Sosulski, and Vai (2015). The objective of this chapter is
to provide key characteristics for asynchronous and synchronous teaching and
learning. It would have been preferable if the characteristics had been well
explained and cited correctly. Chapter three is about e-tivities, as
author Salmon calls them, to refer to collaborative activities that can be
adapted to different situations. A certain extent of e-tivities description
is found as regards definition, purposes, needs to produce them, and audience
to be addressed. Nevertheless, the stories presented do not provide a clear
example related to the topic previously mentioned. Chapter four is an excerpt
of the book Learning Online. In this chapter, Means, Bakia, and Murphy (2014) propose an extensive system to categorise
online teaching methods considering four dimensions: context, design,
implementation, and outcomes. Each detailed dimension, in turn, contains
sub-categories. This framework could be helpful
for educators to become aware of the myriad of possibilities available in the
field of online courses. Nevertheless, it errs on the excessive level of
detail, since trying to classify a course according to such a great number of
categories and subcategories could become a tedious task that is neither
reasonable nor functional.
In the case of chapters five
and six, concepts about the online education field are finely developed.
Chapter five is from Reusing open Resources. The book
written by Littlejohn and Pegler (2014), explores how the use of open resources changes the
online teaching and learning experiences. The chapter successfully sheds light
on the effects that open sources have had on the decentralization of education
and how this phenomenon has made it possible for learning to cross boundaries
to other contexts of everyday life. In chapter six, Laurillard (2013) examines the relationship between
technology and education and posts a red flag to educators about the effects of
technology on education. Presumably, this warning is about the role of
educators to ensure that in the future education harnesses technology and not
vice-versa.
In conclusion, whereas the analysed book presents some suitable
descriptions, it also exhibits several weaknesses. Firstly, considering that
this is a book designed for educators, the guide could have been more
innovative if it had struck a balance within the material by applying simpler
instructions where necessary. Furthermore, detailed descriptions should be
included to facilitate the readers’ comprehension and prevent them from being
misled on relevant topics.
American Psychological Association. (2019). Publication manual of the
American
Ko, S., & Rossen, S.
(2010). Teaching online: A practical guide. Routledge.
Laurillard, D. (2013). Teaching
as a design science: Building pedagogical patterns for learning and technology.
Routledge.
Littlejohn, A., &
Pegler, C. (2014). Reusing open resources: Learning in open networks for
work, life and education. Routledge.
Means, B., Bakia, M.,
& Murphy, R. (2014). Learning online: What research tells us about
whether, when and how. Routledge.
Salmon, G. (2013). E-tivities:
The key to active online learning. Routledge.
Vai, M., & Sosulski,
K. (2015). Essentials of online course design: A standards-based guide. Routledge.
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