The Way to a Harmonious Combination of Traditional Methods of Conducting Classes and Online Technologies

However, Bates admits, in a classroom setting, scholars are very organized in the classes that meet on a regular basis. Especially those classes that meet at the same time. And in the same place over a period, called a semester or a term, and Bates agrees that we still have this widely factor model of education design. The e-book published by Tony Bates himself, shows strong evidence of classroom design models that were taken more than 140 years ago. But how can we know where we are going if we do not know where we have come from. According to Bates, “However, over the span of 150 years, our society has slowly changed. Many of these factors or conditions no longer exist, while others persist, but often in a less dominant way than in the past. Thus we still have factories and large industries. But we also have many more small companies. Greater social and geographical mobility. And above all a massive development of new technologies that allow both work and education to be organized in different ways” (2015, pg. 86).

A lot of different approaches within the classrooms. For this purpose, McKeachie and Svinicki accepts that lecturing still has its part in society. As PhD professors or M.D.’s executes investigations on diseases. And the results are a discovery for healing the diseases. The best way to present the research to family and other colleagues, is to perform a lecture stating the findings. The teaching tips article published by Houghton Mifflin provides solid proof that today we are dealing with millennial's who have grown up in the superhighway time and they are not use to straight lecturing. Faculty members, as an expert, need to show students a model of the real value of lecturing and how they approach a topic or a problem. McKeachie and Svinicki maintain that, “Lecturing is best used for: providing up-to-date material that cannot be found in one source. Summarizing material found in a variety of sources. Adapting material to the interests of a particular group. Initially helping students discover key concepts, principles or ideas, modelling expert thinking” (2006 pg. 58). Accordingly, Marton and Saljo sense that there needs to be an environment where deep learning can arise, and if not, then there is no knowledge taking place. In other words, Marton and Saljo accept that the outcome of knowledge is when the pupil can demonstrate his/her increases in intelligence and changes in perceptions as a result of their experiences in school or in college. Approaches to learning, published by Edinburgh, demonstrates strong evidence of the idea of approaches to learning like the inquiry approach. We need the inquiry approach in our classrooms. Popularized in the 1960’s, and 70’s, the inquiry approach is chiefly a pedagogical method advanced during the discovery educational movement as feedback to old school forms of direction which allows students to establish-information-processing and issue-solving skills. In Marton and Saljo’s view, “The claim that students adopt deep, surface and achieving approaches to learning has had a significant impact upon the development of approaches to teaching in higher education. While it is a simple and appealing idea, it is also frequently misunderstood. Like any established research paradigm, it has also been the object of robust criticism” (1997, pg. 1).

Nevertheless, Bates concurs that transmissive lectures go all the way back to Ancient Greek and Roman times, and lecturing may even go as far back as the European university in the 12th century when most novels were very scarce. A lot of documentation, like scrolls, from ancient Greek or Roman times, were destroyed during the Dark Ages. Teaching in the digital age published by Tony Bates associates Ltd., shows strong evidence that that as early as the 1960’s, researchers have been researching the effectiveness of lectures. As an instructor, lecturing is one of the favorite methods of passing on information to scholars. Bates maintains, “Lectures themselves, belong to an even longer oral tradition of learning, where knowledge is passed on by word of mouth from one generation to the next. In such contexts, accuracy and authority (or power in controlling access to knowledge) are critical for ‘accepted’ knowledge to be successfully transmitted. Thus, accurate memory, repetition and a reference to authoritative sources become exceedingly important in terms of validating the information transmitted” (2015 pg. 88).

Furthermore, the author found that in order to elevate scholars beyond shallow learning to rooted levels of understanding, constructivists believe that education is obtained through social processes. On the other hand, connectivist place a great amount of emphasis on networking scholars and all collegues learning through interactions like discussions because they are face-to-face occurring in a group, or one on one as they are very crucial in the digital age. The e-book published by Tony associates Ltd., suggests the need for common interactions amid scholars and amid scholars and teachers, for the sort of learning needed in this computer age. According to Bates, “Seminars can range from six or more students, up to 30 students in the same group. Because the general perception is that seminars work best when numbers are relatively small, they tend to be found more at graduate levels or the last year of undergraduate programs” (2015, pg. 96).

Thus, Schon admits that the apprenticeship only, is not the best mechanism of learning. Schon adds, you just cannot learn by doing only, but you have to understand the ambience in which knowledge is applied. The book The Reflective Practitioner published by Routledge gives strong indications that when doctors go to medical school, they are welcoming the practices, duties and the values of the experts in the field. Medical students spend 2 years learning the ambiance and the last two years applying the connection. According to Schon, “The professions have become essential to the very functioning of our society. We conduct society’s principal business through professionals specially trained to carry out that business, whether it be making war and defending the nation, educating our children, diagnosing and curing disease, judging and punishing those who violate the law, settling disputes, managing industry and business, designing and constructing buildings, helping those who for one reason or another are unable to fend for themselves. Our principal formal institutions— schools, hospitals, government agencies, courts of law, armies— are arenas for the exercise of professional activity” (1983, pg. 3).

For this purpose, the author found that seminars go all the way back to the time of Aristotle, who tutored Alexander the Great, and Socrates, who tutored Plato in Ancient Athens. Constructivists really believed that discussions and tutorials emulate their access to teaching and learning in the digital age because Socrates used conversation and questioning to help others realize on their own what was good, true and real. The e-book published by Tony Bates Associates Ltd., strongly advises that both of these dialogue forms of learning, seminars and tutoring, can be found in classrooms and online. The beauty about tutoring is that it is one on-one-communication. According to Bates, “Tutorials are a particular kind of seminar that are identified with Ivy League Universities and in particular Oxford or Cambridge. There may be as few as two students and a professor in a tutorial and the meeting often follows closely the Socratic method of the student presenting his or her findings and the professor rigorously questioning every assumption made by the student – and also drawing in the other students to the discussion” (2015, pg. 98).

Furthermore, the author found that, discussions in an online classroom, known as collaborative learning, can happen among the entire class or in a small group. The reality is, despite the best efforts in the course design, some groups will have very low cooperation by some group members and this very low participation which will create low quality outcomes. The article published by the International Review of Research in Open and Distant Learning, produces evidence that most individuals live very busy lives. Especially when it comes to adult learners. Brindley claims that, “Academic work is important but must fit around demands of career, home, and community. Group projects require that learners be present on a particular schedule, reducing the flexibility and convenience factor in online study and possibly causing anxiety and/ or resentment, particularly if the purpose of the group work is not clear and the group experience is not positive”.

For this purpose, Morrison notes that the goal of design, especially instructional design, is to make learning more effective, less difficult and more efficient. Even AT&T offered a course that was nine weeks long and their long line craftsmen were taken away from the job trying to take the classes; so, they sent in an instructional design team and reduced it down to nine days finding that 25 days of the course was irrelevant. The book designing effective instruction, published by John Wiley & Sons, provides very heavy information that the ADDIE model is also passed down by many instructional designers for technology-based teaching. It is a standard that ADDIE helps high quality distance educational programs whether online or print to develop professionally. According to Morrison, “One reason it has been so successful is that it is heavily associated with good quality design, with clear learning objectives, carefully structured content, controlled workloads for faculty and students, integrated media, relevant student activities, and assessment strongly tied to desired learning outcomes. Although these good design principles can be applied with or without the ADDIE model, ADDIE is a model that allows these design principles to be identified and implemented on a systematic and thorough basis. It is also a very useful management tool, allowing for the design and development of large numbers of courses to a standard high quality” (2010, pg. 136).

Bates adds that online learning is not only leading to new models or design of instructing and learning, but it is increasingly influencing both the classroom and campus-based learning. Bates says a good example of this change in learning due to online techniques were when Mr. D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation” literally changed the design of movies suggesting techniques that were unique to cinema at that time such as panning shots, panoramic of long shots and realistic battle scenes, now called special effects. Teaching in the digital age published by Tony Bates Associates Ltd., acknowledges that teaching online changes the learning environment. One no longer needs to talk about teaching methods, but rather teaching models. In Bates view, “We start with classroom teaching methods that have been moved into a technological format with little change to the overall design principles. I will argue that these are essentially old designs in new bottles” (2015 pg. 130).

Some people believe that just adding technology to the game of learning automatically results in meeting changing needs in education, but Bates says that is not so. Unless the design is altered necessarily taking advantage of the possibility of the new technology, the outcomes will be the same in that substantial classroom model that it is attempting to assume just like putting new wine in an old bottle. The e-book published by Tony Bates and Associates Ltd., gives strong evidence that scholars studying online are in a selective learning environment than students learning in a classroom setting. The focus is the design. Bates maintains, “Education is no exception to the phenomenon of new technologies being used at first merely to reproduce earlier design models before they find their unique potential. However, changes to the basic design model are needed if the demands of a digital age and the full potential of new technology are to be exploited in education” (2015, pg. 133). For this purpose, the author found that Disruptive innovations explains why so many companies are not able to sustain success.

Traditional universities have devoted great assets in competing with other universities sustaining innovations like improved technology in teaching, better classrooms, more faculty investigations and better residence halls and dining facilities. Why online competency-based learning is the disruptive novelty for higher education article published by the EDUCAUSE Review, provides evidence that although there are sustaining innovations on college campuses, there are non-consumers of traditional education. Higher learning, however, has historically accomplished just sustaining innovations. The author claims, “Who are the non-consumers of higher education? They include the nearly 71 percent of U.S. College – going students who do not participate in the residential college experience. Most of them commute, work part-time, have family commitments, and / or do not have the luxury of majoring in a field that has no direct relevance to their future goals” (Weise, 2014, Vol. 49, N0 6). Thus, Bates adds that a MOOC is a massively open online course. People have argued that MOOCS will change the world of education with its disruptive technology. Teaching in a digital age published by Tony Bates associates Ltd., gives solid information that even though there are different kinds of MOOCS, they all have some common features. However, just the mere word MOOC covers a wide range of different designs.In Bates view, “MOOCs can be seen then as either a major revolution in education. Or just another example of the overblown hyperbole often surrounding technology. Particularly in the USA. I shall be arguing that MOOCs are a significant development. But they have severe limitations for developing the knowledge. And skills needed in a digital age” (2015, pg. 179). Furthermore,

Collins found that in 2013 during the spring semester of San Jose State University. 3 MOOC courses were launched, provided by Udacity’s Platform. They attracted 14,000 students and tested the retention. Progress and online support. But only about one-half matriculated. Case study: using MOOCs for traditional university coursework published online, did show strong evidence that MOOCs are here to stay. To check for success, with the MOOCs, they combined the course log-ins and advanced data with surveys for students, faculty and others. Collins maintains, “Student effort was the strongest success indicator, suggesting criticality of early and consistent student engagement. No statistically significant relationships with student characteristic were found” (2013, pg. 1).

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