Education Blog Purpose Statement

Source

DiPietro, Ferdig, Black and Preston (2008) claim that, "The skills needed for teaching in an online learning environment support a teacher's function as a point of intersection for pedagogy, technology, and content (Russel, 2004; Savery, 2005)". Advancing the art of blending and balancing the concerns of pedagogy, technology, and content is an urgent task for all teachers at EBI. Pedagogy, technology, and content are three key pillars of all good education. When one or several of these are ignored, missing, or underdeveloped, student learning suffers. 

The teaching style at EBI is often didactic, and our pedagogy is overtly religious. We spiritualize learning and have embraced educational theories and philosophies that support overly simplistic conclusions about how education works. One example: At times we present too much information in a course (or program). We even use the metaphor "drinking from a fire hose" to describe this phenomenon. Sometimes we acknowledge the problem but in the next breath we tell students to “pray“ or “ask God for strength“ to help them understand and learn the material. 

My blog is designed to demonstrate and promulgate the latest research in online course design, blended course design, best practices in online education, educational psychology, and the latest trends in education in order to show that students learn best when course material is carefully designed with learner needs in mind. That is, when the material is selected, sequenced, and chunked appropriately based on learner needs and and then learning is measured against predetermined learning objectives. We should respect students by carefully studying concepts such as information load, course development standards, evaluation, learning objectives, and the latest trends in adult education.


Also, my blog seeks to relate these educational concepts to Biblical concepts where possible, allowing educators at EBI to "search the scriptures daily to see if these things are so," (Acts 17:11). Some may object to the importance given to secular sources in my education blog. I will mention briefly in my defense that the Bible is not a teaching manual. A different teaching approach and style is valued and practiced in each context and culture in which Ethnos360 works. Hypothetically, if storytelling communicates spiritual truth best among the Dani then perhaps acting the story out communicates best to the Batak. 

At EBI we'd like to begin offering fully online education. We cannot simply take what we are doing in the classroom (lecture) and put it online. Education professionals present a strong case for the differences between face-to-face settings and fully online settings. As Kerr notes, “in the online setting students may work independently and in isolation more often than in a face-to-face setting” (2011). Forcing tried and true, face-to-face material into the online space and simply adding a couple of assignments to it will not meet the needs of online learners. I believe there will be problems with motivation, pacing, sequencing, and information management in this online educational style. I think we can do better. 

Most teachers at our school simply use Populi as a gradebook and, at best, a place for teachers and students to interact around the assignments. In my own courses, I am modeling a further change to embrace all three aspects of a teacher's function. I strive to create interactive online lessons that consider individual differences between students. Students use technology to consume course content in a pedagogically sound online lesson then come to class prepared to demonstrate their learning.

Consider the following ways that this blog can help us become better educators:

• Please consider my 10-point online education rubric/checklist as a place to start designing courses.
• Please consider advice from Marc Prensky about digital wisdom/ digital natives/ digital immigrants.
• Please consider seeking out education resources that can help round out areas of weakness in your teaching practice.
• Consider the effects of timely and complete feedback and how they contribute to student learning.
• Please take a look at the importance of academic transformation and fostering a perspective of constant improvement.
• Check out my post on the dangers of indoctrination and intellectual abuse.

Works Cited:

Kerr, Shantia. (2011) Tips, tools, and techniques for teaching in the online high school classroom. Tech Trends, Vol 55 #1 Page 28

DiPietro, Meredith, Richard E. Ferdig, Eric W. Black and Megan Preston. (2008) Best Practices in Teaching K-12 Online: Lessons learned from Michigan virtual School teachers. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, Vol 7 #1 Page 10