Distance Education in Transition - Master of Distance Education ...

Moderating a Virtual Seminar
(5) When the students are asked to write a paper for evaluating purposes it is up to
them to decide which of the proposed topics would suit them. They may also be
entirely free to decide on the topic themselves. In the last analysis autonomous
learning should encourage and enable students to evaluate their learning themselves.
But in this particular case institutional regulations have to be observed and the
paper must be graded by the teacher.
(6) At the end of the virtual seminar the students are asked to do a comprehensive selfevaluation.
Neither the teacher nor the other participants of the seminar are informed
about the results.
This approach can be criticized on the ground that it is unwise and surely problematic to
implant a model of this kind into a teaching and learning system which is closely
regulated by a university government and shaped by tradition. The chances are that this
will lead to an inevitable clash of pedagogical values and will require difficult negotiations
with university officials. However, the difficulties are no longer insurmountable, because
most universities are involved in a process of structural transition and are becoming
more and more interested in online learning.
Learning how to Develop a Strategy of Self-Learning
Although distance learners have already developed a self-learning attitude and certain
self-learning activities, the situation in online learning requires the intensification and
enhancement of such pedagogical elements. The goal is to bring about real autonomous
and self-regulated learning. Students used to expository teaching and receptive learning
must become aware of the new learning model, which is much more demanding and
means much more work but may be also much more rewarding. This means that a
process of self-reflection must lead to a change of attitude. This is the precondition for a
re-definition of learning online. This process is a radical one, because independent
learning is the opposite of dependent learning. Consequently, many elements of the
pedagogical structure have to be changed. It stands to reason that traditional students
must be motivated and supported when they start learning in this way, although this
appears to be a paradox. Furthermore, they can be challenged by tasks which do not
induce them to receive, store and reproduce content matter, but to set and reach learning
goals themselves, to search, find and evaluate information themselves which may be
relevant for solving learning tasks. Active self-learning can develop in this way.
Learning how to Use Communication for Learning Purposes
It is important for students to realize that the possibilities of communicating differ from
those in real seminars as they are manifold and basically a-synchronous. They are
manifold because the students can profit from an increased number of technological
vehicles and channels (as well as software) for this purpose (e.g. chat rooms, e-mails,
mailing lists, newsgroups) and can also communicate with an increased number of
partners. Of course, communicating with the moderator of the seminar and other
individual class mates is in the foreground. But there are more possibilities and students
must become aware of them and learn how to use them as a routine. They can
communicate with a selected group of students or with all students in the seminar in a
multilateral way. They can discuss a problem with a given student and know that all
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