My first reaction to this as I was reading is that the things the author was describing as “learner support” I would simply call, “good teaching”. The other thing that kept popping up was, “what kind of support is she talking about?” Finally on page 6 she discusses institutional support and instructional support.
From what I got out of this, learners need to be supported by people. Learners need to be able to interact with people who can help them and guide them through challenges when necessary. Courses that facilitate greater interaction can be more beneficial and effective than independent study courses.
No kiddin’
I got towards the last third of this article and had to force myself to keep reading. I found myself a little annoyed that this author wrote 13 pages about something that is glaringly obvious in an overly academic style. If online programs don’t offer effective support, then of course they’re not going to succeed. If we view online learning as structured and scripted independent learning, then its just a fancy correspondence course. It boggles the mind that this was such a unique concept that it needed to be over-written about.
As for requiring interaction I don’t necessarily agree. You have to find a balance between learning styles and preferences with desired outcomes. Yes interaction is important but what about learners who prefer to work independently? Having some aspects of a course require interaction would e fine but the entire course? That’s an unrealistic expectation. You run the risk of making the mistake of creating learning activities that force interaction simply for the sake of making students interact.
Why do academic articles like these need to be written like the author got paid by the syllable?
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