Incorporating E-learning - short for electronic learning—in my courses has rejuvenated my teaching practice of more than thirty years. I feel invigorated, because teaching and learning in my classroom has taken an appreciable new direction since spring 2001. During the last few years, I have also reconnected with my colleagues and my students in ways that are very satisfying professionally. I am excited again about what is happening in my courses and with my students, who are taking greater responsibility for their own learning and that of their peers, as they involve themselves in more collaborative class activities via electronic technology.
In the academic year 2000/01, I participated in Designed for Learning, a professional development seminar sponsored by LaGuardia’s Center for Teaching and Learning that explores ways to infuse technology in academic courses to improve student literacy, knowledge, and familiarity with digital technology. Designed for Learning is a pedagogy-intensive seminar that encourages classroom experimentation and provides support for faculty in the use of technology through the Student Technology Mentor program, a pool of well-trained, knowledgeable, and helpful current students and alumni. The seminar provided opportunities for me to reconnect with my colleagues around issues of best teaching practice and created a support group that I can rely on when needed. It also motivated me to reassess my syllabi and to question the topical outline that I cover in each course. Best of all, the e-learning activities, which I designed as a part of the DFL seminar, helped my students become more actively engaged in their academic work and made for more pointed class discussions.
Generally, e-learning includes computer-based learning and web-based learning. E-learning may also offer the use of CD-ROMs and/or a course management system such as Blackboard, which provides a Discussion Board to enhance student collaboration and sharing of ideas, email, storage space that permits students to collect their course work in one place, and an online grade book among other features. Or, e-learning may entail delivering a course completely online, in which instance the instructor and students are not in the same physical space. In my case, I weave Blackboard activities such as the Discussion Board into lessons, guide my students in web-based inquiry, and assist them with multimedia presentations to share their knowledge and experiences with larger audiences consisting not only of the instructor and every student enrolled in the course, but friends and family members, and perhaps employers and supervisors.
Slowly students begin to understand and appreciate that their class work has a much broader audience, and that they are not authoring work for me as their main audience. As a member of that larger audience, I now respond differently to work posted online than when class essays were destined mainly for the shredder. This factor has also informed the type of assignments I design for my students and has raised my expectations about the quality of their work. For students, the question of a broader audience impacts on how drafts of essays are written, revised, and what the final product looks like. Students are more apt to be aware of appropriate rules governing written academic work and to use them in the preparation of their assignments. In short, they have raised their own expectations and are more accepting of their responsibilities as learners.
Overall, the introduction of e-learning activities in my courses has transformed teaching and learning in ways that are satisfying professionally and, more importantly, enriching for students. The Designed for Learning seminar gave me the tools and support I needed to navigate a sea riddled with anxiety and apprehension about the use of technology in Humanities courses. In fact, I emerged from the experience not only having a better understanding of the place technology could have in my teaching and confident about my ability to infuse e-learning in my courses, but more focused on student learning. The latter is paying off handsomely, because regular attendance is higher, late arrivals are down, and productivity and quality of work continue to improve. These are all good behaviors that I am compelled to reward by raising my expectations and by designing new learning activities that require multimedia technology.