FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD:
THE PROMISES OF ONLINE TEACHING
NorthWest Teaching of Psychology Conference
Des Moines WA
November 23,2009
“Online education is possibly the
biggest event in American intellectual
life in the past 40 years. What’s
happened is that a critical mass of
intellectual capital in the country has
moved outside the academy.”
Dr. Gerald Heeger
WHY OZ?
The Search for the Emerald City
 Characters of Dorothy, Scarecrow, Lion and
Tinman
 The Wizard
 Journey back to Kansas
 There’s no place like home!
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AGENDA
History of Distance Education
 DE Factoids
 Research on DE
 Pleasures, Pitfalls, Drawbacks of Online
 “The Emerald City” – 7 Principles
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HISTORY OF DISTANCE EDUCATION
1728 – first course advertised
 1833 – Swedish distance ed course
 1840 – Isaac Pittman in England
gives shorthand at a distance
 1874 – Illinois Wesleyan University –
degrees at a distance
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HISTORY, CONT.
1883 – Correspondence University of Ithaca NY
founded
 1878 - Chautauqua Movement founded
 1892 – University of Wisconsin –
appears in catalog
 1896 – William Rainey Harper found University
of Chicago; university level correspondence
courses
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MORE HISTORY
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1920 – educational radio
1962 – Telstar launched; advent of telecourses
1960s – computer based instruction sets the way for
online learning
1983 – appears as a distractor in ERIC
1990 – world wide web protocol developed
1998- Distance Education Demonstration Project
2006 – federal financial aid rules changed
D.E. FACTOIDS
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66% of post-secondary schools gave courses in 2006-2007
97% of two year schools offer distance education
Public institutions give more distance courses
12.2 million enrollments in 2007 (college-level, credit granting
77% of these enrollments are online
Asynchronous online delivery is most common
Growth rate of 20%
In 2007-2009, 1 million plus K-12 students took online
courses
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=80
RESEARCH ON DISTANCE EDUCATION
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Most studies compare F2F and distance delivery
No significant differences found
Some found online students performed better
Hybrid or blended was found to be best of all!
Studies also look at student outcomes, student
satisfaction and student attitudes
Need for more randomized, controlled studied
Need to examine total programs not just individual
courses
PLEASURES OF THE ONLINE CLASSROOM
Participation
 Level of answers
 Variety
 Relationships with students
 Lab for testing psychological principles
 Mobility
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DRAWBACKS OF THE ONLINE CLASSROOM
Greater time required
 Time-intensive nature of course creation
 Changing technology
 Time management issues for students
 Technology glitches
 Informality
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PROMISES OF THE ONLINE CLASSROOM
Expands accessibility
 Learning is a two-way street
 Easier access to information
 Web 2.0
 What Do I Want my Students to Learn?
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THE EMERALD CITY OF ONLINE
THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES
Seven Principles for Good Practice in
Undergraduate Education
 American Association for Higher Education
 Chickering and Gamson, 1987
 Guiding principles for undergraduate education
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PRINCIPLE ONE
Good Practice Encourages
Contact between Students and
Faculty
PRINCIPLE ONE - ONLINE
Contact is the most important factor in student
motivation and involvement in the discipline
and school
 Online courses promote interaction through
easier access, discussions, space for
interaction to occur, attenuation of perceived
barriers
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PRINCIPLE TWO
Good Practice Develops
Reciprocity and Cooperation
Among Students
PRINCIPLE TWO - ONLINE
Learning is enhanced when there is a team
effort and it is collaborative.
 Online courses facilitate student to student
contact through a ready space for
communication and the reduction of time and
space obstacles
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PRINCIPLE THREE
Good Practice Uses Active
Learning Techniques
PRINCIPLE THREE - ONLINE
In online courses that require active learning,
students fare better than in passive courses.
 Active learning promotes thinking skills and
touches on multiple learning styles.
 Online courses are tailored for active learning
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SENSATION & PERCEPTION
Visit the New York Metropolitan
Museum of Art’s online collections.
http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/index.
asp. You can also visit the M.E.Escher site at
http://www.mcescher.com/.
Have students identify Gestalt elements.
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Have students visit the site
http://www.greylabyrinth.com/Puzzles/puzzle151.htm
Do the Christmas present problem. (Do NOT look at the solution until you
have completed this activity.) As you solve the problem, take note of your
thinking process. If you have a tape recorder handy, thinking out loud can
be helpful.
After you have thought about your thinking process, tell us what it was.
Reread the section on problem solving. How might you better solve
problems? Now, go back to the Grey Labyrinth site (or find another
problem solving site) and try solving a different problem. How did you do
the second time?
THE BRAIN (BORROWED FROM JANE HALONEN)
Have student play a game of cards or a board
game. This gives them a chance to spend some
time with their kids!
Give them a list of brain parts. They must
identify the function of each during the game.
(e.g. occipital lobe – see the cards, board,
pieces)
RESEARCH/INTRO
Put students into pairs. Have them go to
http://www.psychologymatters.org ( a
compendium of research with applications to
daily life – it is from APA). They are to read one of
the studies, then outline the components
(question, IV, DV, etc). Finally they are to find an
example from the news (or other popular press)
related to the research. Each pair then posts to
the conference. Each student must then respond
to one posting with a suggestion for another
related study.
HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY
Have individuals (or pairs or groups) choose (or assign) a
historical figure. Their task is to find biographical information
about the person including their biggest contribution to
psychology, one primary source by the person, and one obscure
fact that is interesting about the person. Each then shares their
summary with the whole class.
 http://www.biography.com
 http://psychclassics.yorku.ca
WEBQUESTS
Several sites exist to assist you in building a webquest
which is an inquiry oriented activity in which most or all
of the information comes from online sources. They
generally focus on the use of information, rather than
the search.
 http://webquest.sdsu.edu
 http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/oct00/march.ht
m
 http://www.spa3.k12.sc.us/WebQuestTemplate/Webq
uesttemp.htm#introduction
PRINCIPLE FOUR
Good Practice Gives Prompt
Feedback
PRINCIPLE FOUR - ONLINE
The online environment enables the instructor
to give almost immediate feedback. There is no
need to wait for the next class.
 Most CMS (course management systems) have
gradebooks that enable the student to see
grades without any Buckley worries.
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PRINCIPLE FIVE
Good Practice
Encourages Time on Task
PRINCIPLE FIVE - ONLINE
Online courses can make time on task more
efficient.
 Online courses makes it easier for the
instructor to track student time on task and to
remediate when necessary.
 Online courses record all participation so
students can see what they are doing.
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PRINCIPLE SIX
Good Practice Communicates
High Expectations
PRINCIPLE SIX - ONLINE
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Online courses can more easily post expectations in
terms of objectives, etc.
Online courses make it easier for an instructor to
highlight good work, thus giving other students
examples of work that meets expectations.
The same high expectations held for face-to-face
students must be maintained for online students.
PRINCIPLE SEVEN
Good practice respects
diverse talents and ways of
learning.
PRINCIPLE SEVEN - ONLINE
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Different students have different learning styles and
talents.
The online environment allows the instructor to tap
into all of these. While it is primarily a visual element,
it is possible to gear some aspects to auditory or
kinesthetic learners.
Assignments can be somewhat customized to tap into
various strengths.
THE WIZARD?
Like the Wizard, can online solve
all the problems of education
today?
MISCONCEPTIONS AND MYTHS
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Technology makes things easy – it won’t be a
problem.
Teaching online is just like teaching face-to-face.
Teaching online will take less time.
Students today are tech-savvy so I can worry
about content.
I’m good in the classroom, I’ll be good online.
Teaching online will be easy – I can just post my
lecture notes.
TEACHING MYTHS, CONT.
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The class dynamics will be different online; there
won’t be any interaction.
I’ll never get to know my students.
I can’t do active learning online.
I didn’t have any special training to teach in the
college classroom. I don’t need any to teach online.
TO BEGIN:
Know your own learning style
 Know your own teaching and learning
philosophy
 Recognize your tolerance for the
unexpected
 Acknowledge your own technology literacy
levels
 Assess honestly your motives and beliefs
about online learning
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ISSUES TO CONSIDER
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Faculty selection
Time demands
Equipment needs – both faculty and student
Technology literacy requirements
Student expectations
Enrollment limits
Intellectual property rights
FACULTY TRAINING ISSUES
New paradigm for teaching
 Technological competencies
 Course design issues
 Teaching as a skill
 Time management issues
 Support service issues
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ONLINE RESOURCES
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MERLOT – http://www.merlot.org
a free and open resource
Hawaii Community College faculty site –
http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guid
ebook/teachtip/teachtip.htm
A terrific site with innumerable resources
http://www.nosignificantdifference.org/
website of students related to technology
Quality Matters – course design issues
http://www.qualitymatters.org
Sloan Consortium
http://www.sloan-c.org/workshop/certificate09
Tips from the U. Michigan
http://www.crlt.umich.edu/tstrategies/tsot.php
REFERENCES
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Benjamin, L. T. (1991). Personalization and active learning in the large introductory
psychology class. Teaching of Psychology, 18 (2), 68-72
Berge, Z.L. (2002). Active, interactive and reflective elearning. The Quarterly Review
of Distance Education, 3 (2), 181-190
Chickering A. W. & Gamson, J. (1987) Seven principles for good practice. AAHE
Bulletin, 39. 3-7
Clements, A. D. (1995). Experiential-learning activities in undergraduate
developmental psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 22 (2) 115-118
Gamson, Z. & Chickering, A. W. (1992) Applying the Seven Principles of Good
Practice for Undergraduate Education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Lesgold, A.M. (2001). The nature and methods of learning by doing. American
Psychologist, 56 (11), 964-973.
McKeachie, W.J. & Hofer, B. (2001). McKeachie’s Teaching Tips: Strategies,
Research and Theory for College and University Teachers, 11th ed.. Lexington, MA:
D.C. heath & Co.
U.S. Department of Education. (2009. Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in
Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies. Retrieved
10/1/2009 from http://www.ed.gove/about/offices/list/opeed/ppss/reports.html
CONTACT INFORMATION
Dr. Diane Finley
Department of Psychology
Prince George’s Community College
301 Largo Road
Largo MD 20774
301-322-0869
dfinley@pgcc.edu