In self paced learning the teacher plays an important role: he guides the learner allowing him to take the most important decisions of his pathway. Also, the technological tools that are available (as we mentioned in our previous post) give the learner more flexibility in choosing his own path.
George Siemens (2004)* in his theory of Connectivism talks about the use of social tools that not only give the learners the possibility of being independent, and doing things at the pace they choose to do, but those tools also allow the learner to get connected to other people, to learn from and with them. The learner learns by searching information but also through connections. This way, the learner is promoting a continual learning path, not only getting new information but, the most important, knowing how to search for information in the network society. The contacts the learner gets will allow him to continually update his knowledge. This leads to more motivation and the learner ends up being more focused in the learning process.
From the teacher/tutor perspective, in a self paced learning course, more attention can be provided to those learners who need it, being able to adjust the process to the needs of each of them.
Some distance education courses combine traditional methods with online courses, but self-paced courses bring out students autonomy and independence. This way, students may start their activity at different times, following their own pace, towards their interests, in order to follow a learning path and develop certain skills. Anderson, Annad and Wark (2005) ** summarize this idea with the following flowchart:
Figure 1: A proposed model of learner paced learning support
The Ladies
Ladies 2 - Gentlemen 0 :-D
PS - Again, we wrote this post together using the same tools mentioned in the previous one.
* In Siemens, George (2004). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. Available at http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
** In Andersen, T; Annand, D & Wark, N. (2005). The serach for learning community in learner paced distance education: Or, 'Having your cake and eating it, too!'. Australasian journal of Educational Technology, 21(2), 222-241. Available at http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet21/anderson.html
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