Stimulating group activities during live sessions are my sweet sauce of course design. I believe that dynamic, well-designed group activities transform students like no other instructional approach.
My belief is not based on research or something that I learned from a workshop but based on 13 years of experience of implementing them in the online college space. I already knew that stimulating group activities via the cooperative learning approach are incredible on “land and sea”, but it was not until I utilized them as the foundation of my synchronous courses that I saw for myself how amazing they are.
Recently, in the past year or so, I have learned that studies support what I have learned from my “on the job” experience. Thankfully, I am not the only person in the world who values active learning via cooperative learning in my courses. I did not need research to tell me how well it works, but who does not love confirmation?
My passion for live group activities inspired my current series of videos. Although I have created videos about discussion frameworks, in particular, I decided that I wanted to share how transformative group activities are, in general. Once I made that decision, I began outlining what I wanted to say and how I could convince you to take a deep dive into this life-changing experience.
Yes, I typed life changing.
I know that my stance is strong but is based on nothing but the results that I have witnessed over 13 years.
Let me be perfectly transparent.
I believe that you can create a great asynchronous course—a course where there are no live sessions or at best the live session are optional, but I do not believe that you can create an extraordinary course without live group sessions.
I share my reasons in my most recent video, so I won’t share them here. Just know that superior course design for college students requires social interaction via live sessions…period.
That is my firm belief and I am sticking to it.
Let me also say that I have been pursuing my Ph.D. online since October of 2017 and I cannot put into words how disappointed I am. I am so disappointed that not one of my courses gave me the opportunity to collaborate with my peers on projects or even engage in in-depth live discussions that I totally and completely regret not obtaining my degree face-to-face.
I am telling you. The convenience is not worth the lack of connection and direction that I have received. My undergraduate students have received a much better learning experience than I have as a doctoral student and that is the “honest-to-God” truth. That reality saddens me.
I wonder, “How do I engage in collaborative projects as an instructional designer when I have never had the opportunity to do so in my $80,000 Ph.D. program?” It really boggles my mind and saddens me that I did not ask the right questions before I signed the dotted line.
I realize that if instructional designers, instructors, or even students have only experienced the asynchronous—post-to-the-discussion-board—only-do-peer-reviews-as collaboration—only-have optional-live-sessions-type of online courses, then it is difficult to imagine the rich world of mandatory live sessions where students come ready and able to learn from each other and learn about themselves in the context of a student-centered environment.
My question is, “Why is distance learning so one-sided, so either/or?” So, just because I want the convenience of attending a college several states away, I have to give up human connection? This trajectory should not be. Distance learners should have options—options that go well beyond convenience. Perhaps, if more programs offered online courses that actually have class, the attrition rates for distance learning nationwide, would not be so high.
My daughter’s school has learned this lesson during this current pandemic. After just two weeks of remote learning, after collecting data from parents, they implemented mandatory Zoom sessions.
Hooray!
Somebody gets it.
I hope that colleges and universities get it, too. We do not have to sacrifice “class”, active learning, student-centered, learning, flipped classrooms and the like just because we are online. We can offer scheduled classes and the students will attend.
Whew.
Thanks for making this far as I got this off my chest here “Inside the Virtual Village.” Now, I am releasing you from my tiny rant to watch the video. 😊 I hope that you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it; but, most importantly, I hope that it inspires you to advocate for live sessions where stimulating group activities are the norm.