I am beginning to think the construction of this online course is a bit like mountain climbing. You strive to reach one peak, thinking it is the highest and will give you a full view of where you are and where you need to go, only to discover that there is a higher peak in the distance! So, down you go into another valley only to climb a higher hill. Relating this to the construction of this online course, I felt so close to getting a firm handle on what I needed to include, where I was, and what I needed to do next – and then suddenly the end seemed so far off! Each time I get a module structure and try to add some semblance of a pattern throughout for students to follow, I see things that need to be changed. For example, I set a “learning pattern” throughout all of my modules: Introduction to grammar, Spanish literature, Spanish Culture, discussion, reflection, evaluation/feedback. Now I am wondering if the ‘pattern’ is too structured. Does this structure foster, or dampen, the goal of establishing teaching presence? Am I too much the teacher?
Many of the cultural questions that students will answer after listening to authentically produced audios are open-ended, or allow for a high degree of creativity. For these answers, I am asking students to reply by producing a recording of their own. I am wondering if this method will stimulate creative responses, or if students will record the minimum they can just do get the assignment done. Will they see it as an assignment given to them, or as an opportunity to learn, discuss and practice their language skills. How can I get them to push their comfort limits in using an acquired second language to express themselves? In a f2f environment I can monitor this first hand through direct instruction and encouragement, asking for class collaboration and assistance, or modeling. But this certainly will be different in an online environment. My confidence lies in the fact that these will be senior students, about to go off to college or the ‘real world’. So the andraogical pedagogy concepts we discussed in ETAP 687 will be at work here too (such as students drawing from their vast reservoir of experience, learning as a means to cope with real-life tasks, and learning as a mean to develop competence).
Meanwhile, it’s back to the drawing board. I intend to do some course changes in the coming week. Hopefully to produce something that encourages and fosters independent and creative learning at a higher level than what I have now.
