Of all the readings this week, the one that spoke to me the most was Lisa Lane’s (2009) Insidious Pedagogy //firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2530/2303
The message…don’t let the technology at hand (CMS or LMS) dictate your pedagogy. Unfortunately, for those like me (novice in teaching online) it seems that may be the trend, see what technology is out there and then use those tools in teaching. (For example, at MCC we have Blackboard, so how can I use the Blackboard tools to teach my concepts?) As opposed to the other way around, approaching teaching from the pedagogically rich perspective; What are our student learning objectives? What are some of the most effective methods for teaching? and How do we translate those into an online environment? However, even the assigned readings from Ko and Rossen demonstrate the issue that Lisa highlighted in her article. E.g., they suggest useful ways to stimulate participation, rather than emphasizing the bottom up approach, what concepts do you want to teach and what is the most effective way to do that?
In the article, Lisa states that the way we solve this problem is to allow web-novice teachers to choose their CMS. This is an excellent approach, and I think it can be enhanced. Offering mentoring opportunities would be a great way to address this issue. This class is an excellent example of a mentoring opportunity, while it also teaches technology. Another mentoring opportunity, would be to offer a f2f small group opportunity for Web-novice professors to meet with a seasoned online professor, who could offer guidance and direction. I agree that web-novice instructors try to decrease their cognitive load by limiting use of specific software, but this class is a great way to decrease that issue. It really allows us to experiment online in a safe environment.
In conclusion, training opportunities for online teachers is crucial for quality of education to be maintained in a online environment. Essentially, pedagogy needs to be the basis for technology and overall class design. Providing more opportunities for training/mentoring from that perspective would benefit professors, students, and learning institutions.