December 23, 2024 | By Ellen Wasserman and Susan Bickerstaff In online courses, students are expected to take more ownership of planning their learning approaches and study methods, organizing their time, seeking help, and following through on coursework. In online STEM courses, these expectations are compounded by disciplinary cultures that have traditionally emphasized meritocracy and … Continue reading Practitioners Leading the Way: Developing a Model for Self-Directed Learning in Online Courses
November 14, 2024. In this webinar, researchers from the Postsecondary Teaching with Technology Collaborative will share insights from a formative study of technology-enabled instructional strategies designed to support students’ self-directed learning in online/hybrid STEM courses. The strategies, which include prompts to support planning and goal setting, informational videos with reflection questions, and structured opportunities to engage with peers, have been implemented by instructors at four broad-access colleges and universities across the U.S.
Before joining the Postsecondary Teaching with Technology Collaborative as a fellow, my perspective on education was primarily that of a student: absorbing information without deeply considering the intricacies of teaching. However, this fellowship has been transformative. It has broadened my understanding of the myriad factors that shape effective learning experiences, including teaching methodologies, curriculum design, and peer interactions.
Self-regulated learning (SRL) is critical for student success in online postsecondary education. Many technology-based interventions have been studied to improve SRL skills, but few were situated in broad-access institutions that disproportionately serve systemically marginalized student populations in STEM fields.
In this second blog post of a multi-part series on conversations with edtech developers, researchers, and practitioners, Meaghan Duff, vice president of programs at the Minerva Project, and David Yaskin, CEO coach and consultant at Ed Tech Coaching and founder of Starfish Retention Solutions, discuss how entrepreneurs can think about who their customers are and what needs they should focus on when trying to break into a new market.
This video is related to this blog Part 1: How Can EdTech be a Tool for Equity?
Postsecondary Teaching with Technology Collaborative principal investigator Rebecca Griffiths joins Meaghan Duff and David Yaskin for a discussion centered on scaling evidence-based EdTech in postsecondary education.
In this first blog post of a multi-part series on conversations with edtech developers, researchers, and practitioners, the Collaborative’s principal investigator Rebecca Griffiths spoke with Meaghan Duff, vice president of programs at the Minerva Project, and David Yaskin, CEO coach and consultant at Ed Tech Coaching and founder of Starfish Retention Solutions, about whether and how digital learning products can be designed with equity at the center.
The shift to online learning due to COVID-19 appears here to stay – with a lasting increase in the share of undergraduate students enrolled in online courses. Critical in these online courses is the use of technology. When used effectively, new edtech products can enhance the student experience and instructor effectiveness in a number of ways, including enhancing discussion board interactions, enabling multi-media interactivity, increasing the scaffolding of instruction and materials to meet student needs among many others.
With the huge growth in online courses since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, faculty are increasingly aware that they need to adapt their teaching to the new environment of online instruction. But they may not know how to adapt and, in particular, how to support students’ skills in managing their own learning in online courses.
This Postsecondary Teaching with Technology Collaborative report examines how faculty and staff at nine institutions reconsidered students’ online learning needs in the midst of the pandemic, and it explores how supports were offered to help students strengthen their self-directed learning skills.