FRAMES

One very interesting answer to the question, "What is Art?" is "Anything someone puts a frame around." In the final analysis, it may be the only real answer one can give.

Further, in almost any kind of criticism--whether it is about literature, art, or film, or whether it is social, historical, or political criticism--depends on a point-of-view. A frame. A window. A metaphorical structure that informs how the critic looks at the subject.

And to the question "What is learning theory?" a frame might be one particuarly useful way of answering--something that informs, orders, and gives structure/purpose to the activities/environments we design.

Behavioral theories can be thought of as a kind of frame. As can cognitive, social, and psychological approaches to eLearning.

It is probably worth stressing here that the OTL program is completely agnostic in terms of theory. While OTL 501 is clearly constructivist, it is an approach judged to be appropriate to adult learners in a graduate program who are studying online teaching and learning.

It is certainly not a goal of this class to tell participants which frames to build. It is, however, a goal of this class to provide the tools for each participant to construct his/her own set of "frames" for designing effective eLearning environments.

A RECAP

It may be worth taking a look at what we have done so far and consider what we have left to do in this class.

The first two weeks of the class (Module One) were devoted primarily to:

1. getting used to the nature and structure of this online format;
2. considering (via Gillani) how the new contexts (information overload, student diversity, new learning theories, and the Web) inform how we start thinking about designing eLearning environments; and
3. reading in some detail about the role and importance of learning theory in the design of eLearning environments.

The third and fourth weeks of the class (Module Two) focused primarily on the learner, and encountered issues that can affect how students learn--including gender, culture, geography, and learning styles.

The fifth week of the class (Module Three) focused on community and what it means to learn together online.

We are down to our last three weeks.

• Week 6 (Module 4) covers Cognitive & Behavior Theories in Gillani.
• Week 7 (Module 5) covers Social & Psychological Theories.
• Week 8 (Module 6) deals briefly with assessment--of online learning in general, and of this class in particular.

Since most of you have been working on the class Wiki, most of you will have already read the Gillani chapters on Learning Theories. So the good news is, if you have been keeping up and working on the Wiki, then most of the required readings for this class are already done.

Please use this week to improve and expand the class Wiki.

• Do the entries need more references and hyperlinks?
• Do the entries need suggestions and lists of practical applications for online learning?

In the Discussion Activities for this module, we will start thinking how using knowledge of a particular learning theory can affect the development of a learning activity (or environment).