Online Learning for Afterschool Leaders, Defined
In our field, we often see webinars posing as online learning. As leaders who care about your own learning and the professional learning of youth-serving staff, I caution you to really think twice about this. While quick and low-cost, webinars essentially model the “sit and get” approach to learning where the speaker is the “sage on the stage.” That’s not the kind of learning we want for youth in our programs nor should we settle for it in our own professional learning.
The virtual environment has the capability and flexibility to establish engaging and supportive professional learning opportunities for afterschool leaders no matter where they are located. Get a handle on online learning terms and envision the possibilities beyond the webinar.
Online learning is part of distance learning.
The learner and facilitator interact but are in different geographic locations. They may or may not be interacting at the same time. They are not together in a classroom.
It includes everything from correspondence courses to video and CD-ROM content delivery to online learning.
Online learning is a broad term that means instruction and content are delivered primarily over the internet. Often, this term is used interchangeably with virtual learning, cyber learning and e-learning. And, when online learning is able to be accessed on your smartphone or tablet, it’s referred to as mobile online learning.
But eLearning is more of a specific thing.
It is part of online learning, but is self-guided and independent. Instruction has been developed in advance and interaction between learner and instructor doesn’t necessarily occur in real time or at all.
Typically e-learning includes multimedia like video of the instructor talking or showing something and interactive objects like self-quizzes.
There is not usually a set time frame in which learning occurs, though there may be a set number of learning modules.
An example of eLearning that we created is the Afterschool Tech Toolkit.
Online courses typically have a start date and end date. They usually are set up with a cohort of learners and have a facilitator who guides the course over time like a semester. All course activity is done online; there are no required face-to-face sessions within the course. Often, we think of this format for university courses, but we also see online courses for adult professional learning in our field.
Course activity may include some self-guided e-learning aspects, but usually also includes multimedia and web resources, interactive discussions with other course participants, assignments and dialogue with the facilitator, and scheduled video conference meetings.
Some interactions occur synchronously (learners and facilitator interact at the same time) and some occur asynchronously (learners and facilitator interact at different times)
Often eLearning and online courses are housed within a learning management system or LMS which allows users to have an account where they take their classes. The LMS also allows administrators to track learners; participation, course completion and achievements.
An example of an online course that we support is the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance’s Afterschool Coaching for Reflective Educators in STEM (ACRES) course for afterschool educators.
And then there is blended learning where face-to-face interactions are combined with online interactions to support learners. This is a common model in our field as it feels familiar to have the in-person meeting. We often see launching and/or closing with an in-person session and then hosting virtual meetings or online course-type activities occur during the professional learningmodule.
Another model we’ve seen frequently is a pseudo-blended approach where a video conference acts as the in-person meeting and then there are other onlineinteractions that occur asynchronously. I say pseudo, of course, because it’s all online--not truly blended :)
An example of blended learning is the National AfterSchool Association’s Leading with Emotional Intelligence Fellowship.
Online social learning is when people learn and make meaning of new ideas through discussion using social media technologies. This occurs largely asynchronously and whenever the learner needs the information. For example, you may post a specific question or problem in a Facebook group, members of the social network provide their knowledge and experiences and from that exchange, you apply their comments to your own life. More and more, we’re seeing online social learning embedded into online learning courses as a way to build relationships and community.
Virtual workshops are a format we’ve facilitated where a small group of participants join a Zoom video meeting on a designated date and time. For example, we facilitated a series of virtual workshops for the 21st CCLC program directors in Kentucky on family engagement. Different from a webinar, the virtual workshop format asks participants to use their cameras and be present for the full session. We used the Zoom tools to engage participants in online chat, breakout rooms, whiteboard brainstorming and polling.
What we haven’t seen much of yet in our field is professional learning delivered by augmented or virtual reality. Using a smartphone, augmented reality (AR) lets you see the real-life environment right in front of you—staff in your program, youth creating art—with a digital augmentation overlaid on it like Pokemon Go, professional learning style. Imagine that you could view your program through your device and have a digital overlay that could offer advice on program quality indicators or give you different prompts to coach and support staff. Not yet in our field, but certainly could be coming!
There are also formats that are online and informative, but if not connected to any other interactions are simply one-way communications to inform around a specific topic or demonstrate a specific skill.
In this category, I would put YouTube videos. I looked and couldn’t find any on ‘how to lead an afterschool organization’, but if you search for something more specific like how to create a budget or how to recruit students, you may find it. YouTube videos are helpful for showing viewers how to do a discrete task.
Another format in this informative category is the webinar. Do you know that a webinar is literally a seminar on the internet? Typically, webinars are lectures and may have one or multiple presenters. During a webinar, participants can see and hear the presenter, view slides, ask questions and answer polls. Webinars can be live or recorded.
There is a place for webinars--often, we host webinars to reach a lot of people to let them know about a new report or strategies to support their practice. For example, we facilitated this Bridge Presenter Preparation webinar to make sure conference presenters had the information they needed to be successful. But online learning, a webinar is not.
As a field, we know we need professional learning. We need opportunities to connect with other people who share our passion for this work. We need opportunities to build knowledge and skills that will help us lead successful programs for youth. If we direct resources to intentional learning design and skilled online facilitation that occurs over time, we can support afterschool leaders with high-quality online learning experiences that maximize the opportunities of the online environment.
*This is a re-post. The original post link no longer exists.
References
Conrad, D. (2006). E-Learning and social change: An apparent contradiction. In M. Beaudoin (Ed.), Perspectives on higher education in the digital age (pp. 21−33). New York: Nova Science Publishers.
iNACOL (October 2011). The online learning definitions project. International Association for K-12 Online Learning. Retrieved 9/22/16 at http://www.inacol.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/iNACOL_DefinitionsProject.pdf
Sener, J. (July 7, 2015). Updated e-learning definitions. Blog. Definitions of E-Learning Courses and Programs Version 2.0 April 4, 2015 Developed for Discussion within the Online Learning Community By Frank Mayadas, Gary Miller, and John Sener; Retrieved 9/22/16 from http://onlinelearningconsortium.org/updated-e-learning-definitions-2/