Teaching and Instruction by Design

The Learner  - I cannot remember the exact moment of my first online experience, but I can tell you a lot has changed. I do remember the obnoxious cry of a dial up modem and desperately trying to communicate with peers from an online class.  It wasn’t pretty or simple. Skip ahead to 2018. There is no limit to the ways we can learn. The world is literally in our hands. So how does this ease of communication impact the online learning community? According to Haythornthwaite, online learning is less constrained due to the freedom of the learner to control the format of the material and pace of learning. (Haythornthwaite, p. 59)  I enjoy the social and non-social aspects of learning online. The community in an online class provides a great resource to share ideas and develop a deeper understanding of concepts. As well, controlling the pace and environment provides autonomy to the learner (and teaches a strong lesson on the evils of procrastination). All of this suppo...