Tuesday 21 January 2020

Online learning: education conventions have changed

Recently, I completed an online certificate in teaching. This made me realized how much has changed from the past in our conventional teaching methods. Our traditional learning methods are not applicable anymore. Online learning has transformed the conventional learning style at our school, college, and university level. Students are not forced anymore to stay active or keep their eyes open during a boring lecture in a traditional classroom setting. Classrooms are everywhere at any time from their laptops, iPad or even iPhone. Today, school teachers, college instructors, and university professors carry a role of mentor, facilitator, and coaches.
Mobile Learning: In my career as a business instructor, I have seen students taking notes on their notebook, laptops, iPad and now on their cell phones. I do wonder at times if they are texting on cellphones or browsing social media. However, it has made me realized that mobile learning is the new conventional teaching method. Studying from the pictures of notes or recording a voice message on your cell phone for a group project is a new norm.
Virtual classrooms: Secondly, virtual classrooms are an online place where students learn from presentations, watch videos and discuss with other participants. It is accessible anytime at any location as long as you have a strong wi-fi signal. Lectures and tutorials are delivered online with impromptu student-teacher and group projects’ meetings.
Web 3.0: Web 1.0 or the World Wide Web was a way to use the internet – a one-way traffic. Further, Web 2.0 came as a two communication between internet and individual. It was a buzz word in the 2000s. Nowadays, the Semantic web or web 3.0 is a new system for storing online information in such a way that computers can understand this information as any human being. Internet experts and computer scientists believe that it will bring a new paradigm shift in the way we use the internet. No doubt, all machines will be internet connected, and it will aid in our teaching methods.
Future of online learning: Having said this, infographics, webinars, podcasts, social media (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram etc.) and online presentation tools are used in daily teaching methods. In addition to online learning, the question is: will these massive open online courses have the same credential values as our traditional face to face degrees? Something to explore in future. 
Amna Khaliq is a Business Management Instructor at Northern Lights College. The views expressed are her own. She believes that kindness, smiles, love, and yawning is contagious. In her spare time, she likes traveling, cooking, reading and working out.

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