Where Do I Want To Get To?
Once again I’m reminded of a song that fits the sentiment of this question. U2’s “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” , speaks to me about the journey we are always on. I am always looking for the best way that students can learn and subsequently, the best ways to teach. My perspective is that the two are not really separable. Every effort I have seen that tries to have a student learn independently with little or no teacher support lacks any real success. Although correspondence style course work has been around for many years, close examination of the success rate would tell a sad tale. It is evident in every corner of the planet that we are social creatures and do not thrive in isolation, so why expect students to be successful in a totally asynchronous learning environment. My hope is that the journey that is the OLTD program, will take me closer to realizing and establishing a model of online learning design that will enable me to incorporate the best practices into the creation and growth of Aurora Virtual School here in Yukon. I will need the evidence of modern learning theories, online methodologies, and the collaborative experiences and knowledge of the OLTD program instructors and professional teachers in the network of the various cohorts. I want the best for students here in Yukon. We have a population that lives in locations that span a range of modern urban centers to small rural communities, to very isolated families that only have an address expressed as a location of Latitude and Longitude. The challenges of delivering programming to many of our children will only be solved if we invest in a variety of online models. This will challenge our infrastructures in media, electricity, technology and travel. I am hoping that the OLTD program will provide insight into how some of these issues may be resolved.
Once again I’m reminded of a song that fits the sentiment of this question. U2’s “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” , speaks to me about the journey we are always on. I am always looking for the best way that students can learn and subsequently, the best ways to teach. My perspective is that the two are not really separable. Every effort I have seen that tries to have a student learn independently with little or no teacher support lacks any real success. Although correspondence style course work has been around for many years, close examination of the success rate would tell a sad tale. It is evident in every corner of the planet that we are social creatures and do not thrive in isolation, so why expect students to be successful in a totally asynchronous learning environment. My hope is that the journey that is the OLTD program, will take me closer to realizing and establishing a model of online learning design that will enable me to incorporate the best practices into the creation and growth of Aurora Virtual School here in Yukon. I will need the evidence of modern learning theories, online methodologies, and the collaborative experiences and knowledge of the OLTD program instructors and professional teachers in the network of the various cohorts. I want the best for students here in Yukon. We have a population that lives in locations that span a range of modern urban centers to small rural communities, to very isolated families that only have an address expressed as a location of Latitude and Longitude. The challenges of delivering programming to many of our children will only be solved if we invest in a variety of online models. This will challenge our infrastructures in media, electricity, technology and travel. I am hoping that the OLTD program will provide insight into how some of these issues may be resolved.