I delivered this talk via video conference to a 3-university meeting attempting to define a common standard for quality in online teaching. I looked at quality from perspective of Three Generations of Onlien Pedagogy. I may have just shared my mixed feelings about quality control systems in these slides

1. Quality Online Teaching and
Learning - Is it really different than
campus-based education?
Terry Anderson, PhD
Professor Emeritus
Athabasca University, Canada
Conferencia Red MECDL (UNAM, UADY, UABC)
Tijauna, Mexico
Sept 27, 2016

2. Who is Quality For??
Slide Credit – Int. Conf. on Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Africa, Windhoek, 2016
Enhancing quality and combating corruption in higher education: A global perspective
Uvalić-Trumbić s. & Daniel J. http://sirjohn.ca/wordpress/wp-
content/uploads/2012/08/SUTJSD1_Windhoek_Red1.pdf

3. Three types of Quality Control
Slide Credit – Int. Conf. on Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Africa, Windhoek, 2016
Enhancing quality and combating corruption in higher education: A global perspective
Uvalić-Trumbić s. & Daniel J. http://sirjohn.ca/wordpress/wp-

4. John Daniel’s Iron Triangle
http://www.slideshare.net/ODLAA/education-across-space-and-time-sir-john-daniel

5. Quality Dilemma
Innovation

6. Example
Quality Depends on Learning Design

7. Quality Depends on Pedagogy

8. Three Generations of Flexible Learning
Pedagogies
1. Behaviourist/Cognitive
– Self Paced, Individual
study
2. Social Constructivist –
Groups
3. Connectivist – Networks
and Collectives
“To name things is to recognize them:
It is the way we learn about our environment”
H. Gossage 1967
Anderson, T., & Dron, J. (2011). Three generations of distance education pedagogy
IRRODL 12(3), 80-97. http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/890/1826.

9. 1. Behavioural/Cognitive Pedagogies
• “tell ‘em what you’re
gonna tell ‘em,
• tell ‘em
• then tell ‘em what you
told ‘em”
Direct Instruction

10. Gagne’s Events of Instruction (1965)
1. Gain learners' attention
2. Inform learner of objectives
3. Stimulate recall of previous information
4. Present stimulus material
5. Provide learner guidance
6. Elicit performance
7. Provide Feedback
8. Assess performance
9. Enhance transfer opportunities

11. Enhanced by the “cognitive revolution”
• Chunking
• Cognitive Load
• Working Memory
• Multiple Representations
• Split-attention effect
• Variability Effect
• Multi-media effect
– (Sorden, 2005)
“learning as acquiring and using conceptual and cognitive
structures” Greeno, Collins and Resnick, 1996

12. Focus is on the Content and the
Individual Learner

13. Nature of Knowledge
• Knowledge is logically coherent, existing
independent of perspective
• Context free
• Capable of being transmitted
• Assumes closed systems with discoverable
relationships between inputs and outputs

14. Behaviourist/Cognitive Technologies
Content is king

15. • What are quality indicators for cognitive-
behavioral generation e-learning?

16. Quality is
• Clearness of presentation
• Logical sequence of events
• Timely and accurate feedback
• Clear instructions and activities
• Rubrics and transparent assessment

17. 1st Generation,
Cognitive Behavioural Pedagogy
Summary
• Scalable
• Few requirements, or opportunities, for social
learning
• Works most efficiently with individual learning
models
• Effective and efficient for some types of
learning
• Have we really taught learners to succeed with
this type of learning?

18. 18
2nd Generation
Social Constructivist Pedagogy
• Group Orientated
• Membership and exclusion, closed
• Not scalable - max 50 students/course
• Classrooms - at a distance or on campus
• Hierarchies of control
• Focus on collaboration and shared purpose
group

19. Constructivist Knowledge is:
• Knowledge is constructed, not transmitted
• Arrived at through dialogic encounters
(Bakhtin,) - the presence of others adds
motivation, conflicting ideas, social validation
• Teacher as group facilitator
“Dialogic as an epistemological framework supports an account of
education as the discursive construction of shared knowledge”
Wegerif, R.

20. Constructivist Learning in Groups
• Long history of research
and study
• Established sets of tools
– Classrooms
– Learning Management
Systems (LMS)
– Synchronous (chat, video
& net conferencing)
– Email, wikis, blogs
• Need to develop face to
face, mediated and
blended group learning
skills
Garrison, R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical thinking in text-based
environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and
Higher Education, 2(2), 87-105.

21. • What is quality in social constructivist
pedagogy based courses?

22. Quality is
• Large and messy problems
• Authentic tasks and assessment
• Self, peer and teacher assessment
• Group work and opportunities to develop
leadership skills
• Social presence

23. 2nd Generation
Social Constructivist Pedagogy
Summary
• Not scalable, Expensive in terms of time and
money
• New group tools enhance efficiency
• Helps teachers and learners transition to
online learning

24. Generation 3
Connective pedagogies
• Stephen Downes

25. Connectivist Knowledge
• Is created by linking to appropriate people and
objects
• May be created and stored in non human devices
• Is as much about capacity as current competence
• Assumes the ubiquitous Internet
• Is emergent
George Siemens

26. Connectivism
• “connectivism is the thesis that knowledge is
distributed across a network of connections,
and therefore that learning consists of the
ability to construct and traverse those
networks.” Stephen Downes 2007
See special issue of
IRRODL.org

27. Connectivist Learning
Persistence
Accessibility
Network
Effects
“Connectivying” your course
http://terrya.edublogs.org/2012/12/18/connectivy-your-course/

28. NOT Learning in a Bubble

29. Disruptions of Connectivism
• Demands net literacy and net
presence of students and
teachers
• Openness is scary
• New roles for teachers and
students
• Artifact ownership,
persistence and privacy
• Too manic for some

30. Connectivity Quality is
• Building and sharing of artifacts
• Developing and assessing new networks
• Critically evaluating resources
• Global activities and challenges

31. Quality Control needs to align with:
• State Authority expectation
• Pedagogical consistency
• Teacher time
• Need for innovation
• Community of educators, parents and
students within which it is imposed.

32. Three types of Quality Control
Slide Credit – Int. Conf. on Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Africa, Windhoek, 2016
Enhancing quality and combating corruption in higher education: A global perspective
Uvalić-Trumbić s. & Daniel J. http://sirjohn.ca/wordpress/wp-

33. Quality Systems

35. Quality Online Teaching
and Learning –
Is it really different than
campus based education?

36. Terry Anderson terrya@athabascau.ca
Blog: terrya.edublogs.org
Your comments &
questions
most welcomed!