When people talk about ‘Open Education,’ people understood it from different backgrounds. Since ‘Open Education’ is a broad term, it is understandable that it can be subjected to various interpretations. Among the themes of ‘Open Education’ discussed by Jordan and Weller (2017), I found distance education interesting. This is because distance education laid the foundations of e-learning and online education. Without distance education, I do not think that e-learning will be possible. Distance education become popular during the 1980s and this signaled the learner-centered pedagogy. From the teacher-centered pedagogy, teachers were challenged to create activities that focus on the learners. Accordingly, creating interactive materials with the use of technology can help improve learner-centered teaching.
One example of distance education is Lisa Lane’s (2017) class called Modern Western Civilization. I would say that I find her class impressive because she was able to create interactive learning materials. Lane (2015) explained that her pedagogy is balanced between presentation and interactivity. This made me realize that in addition to providing reliable sources and materials, the materials should also be interactive. For instance, a plain presentation might bore the students. So in order to make the lessons interesting, educators can also use audio, images, video clips, and links to primary-source documents (Lane, 2015). In addition to this, Lane (2015) also hosts discussion forums to allow students to ask questions. Lane also has frequently asked questions (FAQ) section which provides the students all the instructions they need.
In the future, if I will be tasked to handle an online class, I will make it a point to make my learning materials as interactive as possible. One of the activities that I find interesting is asking my students to have their learning blogs. In their learning blogs, the students will be tasked to reflect on the topics discussed. On a last note, I will also encourage them to comment on their classmate’s blog.
In conclusion, the shift in technology can affect the shift in pedagogical practices. Based on my observation, I would say that the developments in technology allowed teachers to create more interactive learning materials. In the near future, I am hoping that the developers of technology could have more partnerships with educational institutions in order to come up with more interactive learning resources.
References
Jordan, K., & Weller, M. (2017). Openness and educaiton: A beginner’s guide. Global OER Graduate Network.
Major, C. H. (2015). Teaching Online: A Guide to Theory, Research, and Practice. JHU P.