Advances in Online Teaching and Learning

Natalia Calveiro

Sandra Fabbri

Florencia Menendez

Paula Santucci

Department of Education, Universidad CAECE

Lengua Inglesa Especializada I: EAP

Mg. Verónica Pintos and Mg. Melina Barbero

November 11th, 2021

The book The Theory and Practice of Online Teaching and Learning: A Guide for Academic Professionals (n.d.) compiles six works written by experts of the growing field of technology. It provides valuable guidelines and information about online teaching and learning. Each chapter covers different issues related to online teaching. The aim of this paper is to provide evidence of the convenient and helpful advice on online teaching and learning provided by this work and also of its limitations.

The first chapter, Teaching Online: The Basics (Ko & Rossen, 2010), explains directly the basics of teaching online as regards differences between online and face-to-face classes, training, qualifications required and benefits. According to Ko and Rossen, “...still scarce is the availability of reliable and effective training for online instructors” (2010, p.11). The fears but also the beneficial aspects of communicating online are highlighted. Nevertheless, the fears are not explained with proper examples. Thus, the authors should not have made use of an anecdote to illustrate the fact that not knowing someone face to face may be frightening and fears regarding online communication ought to have been exemplified.

The second chapter, Orientation to Online Teaching and Learning, is written by Vai & Sosulski (2011). The key points in this chapter are the characteristics of teaching online, pointing to the differences between synchronous and asynchronous learning as well as blended learning. In this instance, the authors should have provided more characteristics of the third type of learning. This chapter also offers a clear guidance for designing online classes referring to time and includes a reflection chart to give teachers a source of critical thinking that the author should have written at the end of the compilation for practicality.

The third chapter, E-tivities for Active Online Learning (Salmon, 2012), presents a dissection of the functions, benefits and participants of e-tivities, which are defined as “frameworks for enabling active and participative online learning” (Salmon, 2012, p.29). Not only does this chapter provide information on e-tivities but also shares experiences with them from both students and teachers, and their thoughts and opinions on them. However, there are no concrete examples of e-tivities, their construction or platforms to design or post them. Therefore, the author should have provided detailed examples of e-tivities, a step-by-step design guide and recommendations of online platforms for teachers to create this kind of activity.

The fourth chapter is The Varied Terrain of Online Learning (Means et al., 2014) where a set of dimensions is specified to classify online learning: context, design features, implementation, student-instructor ratio and intended outcomes. The authors subdivide each dimension and explain each of them in detail. Although this categorisation may be useful to classify online teaching methods, the authors do not explain a key issue: how to achieve that their typology is used extensively.

The fifth chapter, Reusing Open Resources for Learning (Littlejohn & Pegler, n.d.), states that Open Educational Resources (OERs) impact the learning process because they are free of charge and this allows them to be built upon to a large degree. They give the opportunity to reuse, remix resources or make something new with the creations of others. Despite the fact that the ideas expressed in this chapter about reusing open resources are worthwhile, the authors should have explained how to implement the development of these resources by creating or adapting social networks to the educational environment.

The sixth chapter, Teaching as a Design Science (Laurillard, 1969), depicts teaching as a science whose aim is to make the world better: a design science. This kind of science is aided by the constantly changing technology, and the book explores how the original purpose of technology was not to be used as a teaching tool but it was to take it and adapt it to help in education. Additionally, it mentions that although teachers may feel they are being left behind by technology, they have the option to acknowledge technology, harness it and exploit it for educational purposes.

To conclude, the book The Theory and Practice of Online Teaching and Learning: A Guide for Academic Professionals offers thought-provoking and useful information regarding online teaching and learning. It is a new field that is continuously changing and evolving, so educators must keep updated and knowledgeable in the use of technology and its wide variety of tools and applications. This not only benefits their practices but also enriches their online or face-to-face classes. Although the reading of this book is recommendable for teachers, it must be highlighted that the development of its contents is rather brief and it is necessary to complement its reading with other materials to gain thorough knowledge and put the theory into practice.

References

Taylor & Francis Group. (n.d.). The theory and practice of online teaching and learning: A guide for academic professionals. Routledge. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/docs/FreeBooks+Opened+Up/Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_FB_final.pdf

Ko, S., & Rossen, S. (n.d.). Teaching online: The basics. In Taylor & Francis Group (Ed.), The theory and practice of online teaching and learning: A guide for academic professionals (pp.7-15). Routledge. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/docs/FreeBooks+Opened+Up/Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_FB_final.pdf

Laurillard, D. (n.d.). Teaching as a design science. In Taylor & Francis Group (Ed.), The theory and practice of online teaching and learning: A guide for academic professionals (pp.56-60). Routledge. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/docs/FreeBooks+Opened+Up/Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_FB_final.pdf

Littlejohn, A., & Pegler, C. (n.d.) Reusing open resources for learning. In Taylor & Francis Group (Ed.), The theory and practice of online teaching and learning: A guide for academic professionals (pp.46-55). Routledge. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/docs/FreeBooks+Opened+Up/Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_FB_final.pdf

Means, B., Bakia, M., & Murphy, R. (n.d.). The varied terrain of online teaching. In Taylor & Francis Group (Ed.), The theory and practice of online teaching and learning: A guide for academic professionals (pp.39-45). Routledge. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/docs/FreeBooks+Opened+Up/Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_FB_final.pdf

Salmon, G. (n.d.). E-tivities for active online learning. In Taylor & Francis Group (Ed.), The theory and practice of online teaching and learning: A guide for academic professionals (pp.28-38). Routledge. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/docs/FreeBooks+Opened+Up/Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_FB_final.pdf

Vai, M., & Sosulski, K. (n.d.). Orientation to online teaching and learning. In Taylor & Francis Group (Ed.), The theory and practice of online teaching and learning. A guide for academic professionals (pp.16-27). Routledge. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/docs/FreeBooks+Opened+Up/Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_FB_final.pdf