I have to design a model - Term Paper Example

Online learning s are continuously increasing in the form of distance learning programs. (Allan & Seaman, 2007) Faculty and administration areconstantly struggling to improve the infrastructure for online learning systems. (Berge & Huang, 2004) A conceptual model is necessary to delineate guidelines that could help to bridge the gaps that affect online learning. Figure 1 - Engagement Model Students need to be engaged before any success can be achieved in online learning otherwise retention rates cannot be very high.

Online learning can be divided into four distinct stages which are: Recruitment; Coursework; Post coursework; Alumni. Students can be engaged in five opportunity areas within these four categories to enhance the effectiveness of e-learning. The primary method of communication between students and faculty would be the course website. The students will be encouraged to visit the website everyday to take note of any new announcements, instructions, posts for material to be discussed as well as other notices.

Before the commencement of the course the instructor would post his or her introduction and would encourage individual students to post their introductions. This would also signal the beginning of social interaction among faculty and students. The students would also be encourages to seek out relevant information to complete tasks and assignments through the use of online as well as physical resources. Tutorials will be provided that detail every step of information gathering to facilitate students as students with differing IT skills can be expected to take the course.

A set of qualitative learning outcomes will be used to assess the performance of the students. Given that the course is concerned with design and technology, the outcomes would be: The content matter of the course would have to be as interesting as possible in order to engage the learners’ interest and attention continuously. The subject matter of the course may seem to be dry to some students so the content matter has to make up for such shortcomings. The content matter presented would be diverse and would consist of animations, diagrams, interactive slides and presentation of ideas.

The animations would be uploaded to YouTube to ease accessibility while the diagrams would be available on the course website. Interactive animations and presentations would have to be developed through either Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight. Moreover the students will also be provided with reading material in the form of e-books and PDFs whilst ensuring that the reading material is succinct and comprehensive and employs pictures and diagrams to demonstrate concepts. Another important aspect is the interaction between students.

Online learning means that each student would access the teacher with individual questions that would not trigger questions of a similar nature by other students. (Angelino & Natvig, 2011) In order to enhance interaction it is proposed to use a common forum with threads and posts so that all questions and exchanges of information are public. This would be aided as well by holding simultaneous chat sessions and possibly video conferencing (using Skype for example) to provide concrete foundations for interaction amongst students.

A few tasks and assignments would be assigned to groups created at random so as to enhance interaction within the class. Groups would be rotated for each task or assignment in order to maximize student to student contact. Figure 2 - Online Video Chat cum Conferencing Environment Students will be provided feedback after a review of their individual work by the faculty member teaching. The task or assignment would have to be submitted online directly to the teacher and would be checked for plagiarism.

Based on the assessment of these tasks and assignments the students can be given effective feedback and future course of direction. (Lynch, 2008) Bibliography Allan, E., & Seaman, J. (2007). Online Nation: Five years of growth in online learning . Retrieved October 5, 2011, from Sloan-C: http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/survey/pdf/online_nation.pdf Angelino, L. M., & Natvig, D. (2011). Conceptual Model for Engagement of the Online Learner. Retrieved October 5, 2011, from TheJeo: http://www.thejeo.com/Archives/Volume6Number1/Angelinoetalpaper.

pdf Berge, Z. L., & Huang, Y. (2004). A model for sustainable student retention: A holistic perspective on the student dropout problem with special attention to e-learning. DOESNEWS 13(5) . Lynch, M. (2008). Effective student preparation for online learning. Retrieved October 5, 2011, from The Technology Source: http://technologysource.org/article/effective_student_preparation_for_online_learning/