From Large Mathematics Education Lectures to Online Modules and Discussion
The Development of a Partially-Online Elementary Mathematics Teacher
Education Program at the University of Western Ontario
Presented by: George Gadanidis, Faculty of Education, University of
Western Ontario
Links
Faculty of Education, University of
Western Ontario
Description of
Online Course Structure
Samples of Online Mathematics Education Module
Link
to the Mathematics Education e-Textbook
Context
Prior to 2001-2002, the approximately 450 elementary preservice mathematics
teachers at our Faculty of Education received 18 hours of small group
instruction (25-30 students per class) and nine hours of large group
lectures (over 200 students per lecture). In 2001-2002, in an effort
to improve preservice teacher learning, we replaced the nine large group
lectures with nine online content modules and online discussion conferences
(this was also done in the language arts area). The goal was to move
from the simple transmission of information through face-to-face lectures
toward online interaction that uses online modules to offer content,
links to Web-based resources and video, Web-based interactive activities,
and online discussion conferences.
This new direction for our preservice teacher education program builds
on existing expertise in our Faculty of Education, and its capacity
to offer online courses through its continuing teacher education program.
In the last four years, the online component of the continuing teacher
education program has grown from two to over one hundred fully online
courses. Such courses contain online content and discussion areas and
tools that have been developed locally at the Faculty of Education.
For example, the discussion area we are currently using has been developed
by our technology staff in consultation with key instructors, and replaces
the commercially available discussion board used previously. This provided
the opportunity to design a discussion area that better meets the varied
pedagogical needs of instructors. It also had the advantage of being
four times faster than the discussion board we were using previously,
allowing for faster online interaction and much less demand on expensive
Web server resources. The online program offerings also include a process
to facilitate the effective management of students and course discussion
areas, and a set of locally developed course management tools that enable
efficient registration, records administration, and student evaluation.
Implementation Challenges and Opportunities
In the proposal stage of the project, some faculty raised concerns
about student access. How do we know that the over 400 students affected
will have access to the Internet? If they all depend on our computer
labs for access, won't this make access impractical? Administrative
concerns were also raised about notification of the program change to
students. Application forms were processed and acceptance letters were
sent out to students prior to the proposal for this project. Should
prospective students have been told ahead of time that part of their
program was online?
Support for the initiative came from most of the mathematics and language
arts instructors, who felt that the lecture format did not provide optimal
effectiveness. The shift from large group lectures to online content
and discussion tried to better align the teaching methods with the pedagogical
content. Also, with increasing enrollment over the last three years,
physical space in the Faculty of Education building is at a premium.
Coincidentally, a recent external review of the Faculty of Education
recommended incorporating online technology into the preservice program,
in light of its successful development and use in the continuing teacher
education program.
The online initiative proceeded in the 2001-2002 year as a pilot project.
The 2001-2002 Experience
Although we had confidence in the quality of our online continuing
teacher education program, we were not sure how preservice teachers
would react to the online language arts and mathematics components.
The students in our continuing teacher education program choose the
online format (as our program also runs parallel face-to-face courses),
whereas our preservice students would not be given a choice. Also, continuing
teacher education courses are taken by teachers in the field, scattered
across Ontario and beyond (we have many Canadian teachers working abroad
that take our courses), making the online program an attractive option.
In contrast, our preservice teachers are already in our Faculty of Education
building.
Interestingly, the anticipated problem with access did not appear to
be an issue for students in their online participation in 2001-2002.
When students were asked at the general orientation presentation in
September 2001 whether they had regular access to the Internet outside
of the Faculty of Education, over 90% indicated with a show of hands
that they did. Only approximately 50% of the students had answered positively
when a similar question was asked at the general orientation presentation
in September 2000. Also, it seemed that students were able to access
and participate in the online component with ease and with little resistance
to this mode of program delivery. Instructors reported few problems
and questions from students.
Instructors noted a number of benefits of the online component. For
example, workshop instructors indicated that, compared to the large
lecture format of previous years, they noticed a significant improvement
in terms of preservice teachers' completion of readings prior to attending
the workshops. It seemed that the online modules, each of which preceded
the respective face-to-face workshops, offered preservice teachers the
incentive to do the required readings (which included text readings
as well as readings and activities in online content modules) and the
opportunity to discuss related issues in the online discussion area.
Each of the online modules contained an introduction section which listed
expectations and raised key questions, a content section that included
various activities and questions to guide student thinking, and an organizer
section which listed the reading and online discussion requirements.
We suspect that accountability was also an issue, as online discussion
was assessed whereas large group lecture attendance was not assessed.
Overall, we were surprised by how smoothly the online component appeared
to function and how few technical problems students experienced when
working online.
Looking Ahead: Further Improvements and Pending Issues
For the 2002-2003 academic year, we revised the course outlines so
that there are more explicit links between the online and face-to-face
components. For example, in one of the assignments, students work in
small groups and take turns facilitating online discussion; they also
take turns relating a summary in subsequent face-to-face sessions for
further discussion. In addition, the print textbook used in the mathematics
course in 2001-2002 was replaced by an online textbook which contains
online text, graphics and interactive explorations of mathematical concepts.
As the online component is entering its second year of implementation,
and as it is seen by faculty as potentially a permanent aspect of our
teacher education program, it is coming under greater scrutiny. A number
of issues remain outstanding. (1) What are the implications for faculty
who are not comfortable teaching online? Although all mathematics education
faculty appear to be in agreement that the online modules are an improvement
on the large lectures they replaced, some faculty are not comfortable
teaching online. (2) Is it really possible to demonstrate knowledge
and ability in a "hands-on" skill online? Although the same
question may be asked of the large lecture format, this remains a nagging
question for some faculty. (3) What is the effect of workload-shouldn't
the online component be given greater teaching credit than a large group
lecture? This issue was dealt through an adhoc committee which recommended
that teaching credit be increased for the online component.
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