Online adult student education
Introduction
The online education boom is related to the technological developments that since 1990 introduced personal computers, allowing to integrate multimedia elements: video, audio, texts, images and virtual reality. Similarly, the improvement of communication transmission through broadband has allowed the use of new didactic resources, such as real -time video, collaborative work, and synchronous and asynchronous discussion forums. (Eyzaguirre et al., 2004)
Virtual or online education is a distance education system and modality in which the teaching -learning process is carried out through the use of computer technologies and telecommunications, asynchronously (without the teacher and the student beingfind in the same space and time), although occasionally they can be related synchronously. (Gutiérrez, 2004)
Technologically, virtual education is based on LMS tools (Learning Management System) and LCMS (Learning Content Management System), but from the pedagogical perspective, it requires the consideration of conceptual principles and pedagogical bases that respond to the particular nature of the teaching -learning processwhich takes place in virtuality conditions. In general, the analysis of this educational modality is based on certain pedagogical approaches, while considering the new functions of the teacher and the student, as well as the specificities of the process of teaching and learning mediated by educational technologies.
In this essay, the objective is proposed: critically analyzing the pedagogical basis of the online education of the adult student. The main pedagogical bases and the methodology of virtual education are analyzed, specifically in adult students, characterizing the aspects related to the roles that teachers and students play as main actors in the educational process.
Developing
The theoretical approaches that support online education are diverse, among which are connectivism, constructivism, gestalt and cognitivism.
Starting from the integration of principles developed by other conceptual approaches, the connectivist perspective defines learning as applicable knowledge, focused on connecting specialized information sets;where the connections that allow learning to be more important than the current state of knowledge. Some of the principles of connectivism that we consider relevant to online education are the following: *Learning and knowledge depend on the diversity of opinions. It is based on the aggregation of various views, often opposed. *Learning that is defined as applicable knowledge can reside in non -human devices. *To facilitate continuous learning it is necessary to promote and maintain connections. *A key skill is the ability to see the connections between areas, ideas and concepts. *The purpose of all connectivist learning activities is the update of precise and current knowledge. *Decision making is by itself a learning process, where the act of choosing what to learn and the meaning of the information that is received is carried out in a dynamic reality. (Siemens, 2004)
With regard to the roles of the teacher and the student, online education involves significant changes. Specifically, the teacher becomes a facilitator and learning mediator, guiding the student, through the use of technological tools, in processes related to the search, selection, appropriation, analysis and synthesis of the information, to comply with the instructions of the course of the course. Similarly, the teacher must maintain an active presence both cognitive and social in the virtual stage (García Cabrero and others, 2018), in which he usually spends much more time to the effective development of the class than used in theclassroom education.
The teacher’s activity is expressed in three fundamental phases: forecast, conduction and evaluation. In the first one you must carefully plan the design and structure of the course, select the approaches and activities to be developed by the students, which have great relevance in the virtual environment. In the second you must manage the progression of learning, through a didactic interaction and communication processes that favor the motivation of apprentices and their performance;While in the last one selects and designs the most appropriate forms to assess self-regulated and collaborative learning of students. (García Cabrero et al., 2018)
For its part, the student’s role is fundamental in online education, which requires greater autonomy and self-regulation of the learning process. Autonomy refers to the ability to make decisions that allow regulating the learning process itself to enable compliance with goals in the context of specific conditions that define learning achievements (Badía, 2001, cited in Sierra, 2011);Faculty that is closely related to the principles of connectivism above;as well as with metacognition and another psychological process of the emotional field: motivation, which has great relevance in virtual education, since the student usually feels alone and needs constant guidance and attention. The integration of these three processes: autonomy, metacognition and motivation, constitute in our opinion a fundamental triad to understand online learning, so they must be especially stimulated in this educational modality.
As for the didactic strategies in online education, these must be consistent with the aforementioned processes, so we consider that the “active methodologies of teaching -learning” are especially relevant in this type of education, such as: Inverted classroom, learning, learningBased on projects, problem -based learning, among others;that place students as protagonists of learning, stimulate collaborative work between them and demand the application of knowledge to significant and complex problems of reality, for which they must "make decisions", an aspect that contributes to autonomous learning from perspectiveConnectivist.
Finally, learning evaluation assumes peculiar characteristics in the virtual environment, where formative evaluation acquires a fundamental weight. This type of evaluation aims to improve the learning process, rather than measure it. In it, feedback acquires special relevance;So it should be given priority over the qualification and be much more detailed than in face -to -face education, considering both cognitive and motivational aspects. Cognitive help the student value how they are making learning and what changes should make;while the motivational stimulate the satisfaction of the apprentice and encourage him to progress in it (Servín, 2020). The rubrics are especially successful in this type of evaluation, as they offer an early feedback. Some platforms such as Microsoft Teams include tools for the elaboration of rubrics.
In the same way, in the online evaluation the relevance of the “tasks” designed by the teacher is essential, which must be in accordance with the specificities of the process of teaching and learning in this modality, encompassing the dosed contents and focusing on theDevelopment of knowledge (application of knowledge), not to memorize content. Among the tools for online learning evaluation are forums, wikis, questionnaires, blogs, among others;that allow collaborative work, unavoidable in this educational modality.
conclusion
Online education has specific pedagogical bases, which exceed technological conditions and are related to actors in the educational process and their role, didactic methodologies, and in general, with the process of teaching and learning mediated by technologies, as a totality. In it, the structure of the course, the constant master-student interaction, the methodologies and didactic strategies and the evaluation process;Elements that are integrated in a systemic and synergistic way to favor the autonomous learning of the student and the achievement of competences, fundamental aspects of this modality of education.
References
- Eyzaguirre, r., Pérez, v., Mayta, r., Ruiz, e., And Álvarez, and. (2004). Virtual Education based on Information Technologies. Industrial Data Magazine 7 (2), 58-69. Recovered from: https: // www.Redalyc.org/pdf/816/81670210.PDF
- García Cabrero, B., Luna, e., Ponce, s. Cisneros, e.J., Lamb, g., Espinosa, and. And Garcia, M.H. (2018). Teaching skills in virtual environments: a model for evaluation. Ried, Ibero -American Magazine of Distance Education, 21 (1), pp. 343-365. DOI: http: // dx.doi.org/10.5944/Ried.twenty-one.1.18816
- Gutiérrez, j. A. (2004). Definition of a pedagogical model for virtual education in CES. Thesis in option to the Master’s degree in university direction. University of the Andes. Recovered from: https: // repository.Uniandes.Edu.CO/BITSTREAM/HANDLE/1992/10280/U250609.PDF?sequence = 1
- Servín, j. (2020). Evaluation of learning in virtual environments. Second International Academic Symposium: From face -to -face to the virtual in education. YouTube, July 27, 2020. Recovered from: https: // www.Youtube.com/watch?v = v2osj2tkpce & feature = youtu.Be & app = desktop
- Siemens, g. (2004). Connectivism: a learning theory for the digital era. Semantic Scholar. Recovered from: http: // ataneu.XTEC.cat/wikiform/wikiexport/_media/courses/tic/s1x1/modul_3/connectivism.PDF
- Sierra, c.S. (2011). Virtual education as a favoring autonomous learning. Panorama, 5 (9). Recovered from: https: // journal.Polygran.Edu.CO/INDEX.PHP/PANORAMA/ARTICLE/VIEW/37/28
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