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

The Pedagogical Flexibility of the Virtual University
� Completing interactive multimedia modules of pre-prepared learning programmes
� Reading set books and academic articles in the discipline to be studied
� Active participation in virtual seminars
� Virtual tutoring
� Virtual communication with fellow students, tutors, and faculty members
� Regular self-assessment by communicating with the central computer
� Human and automatic assessment of assignments
� Periodical consultation with faculty members – virtual and face-to-face
� A project of self-regulated learning
� Oral examination in a virtual video conference
The “Learning by Research” Model
The digitised learning environment in a virtual university has potential for developing,
practising and stabilising the concept of the autonomous learner. This concept means
that the focus is no longer on the teacher, but on the learner. The pedagogy of higher
education is no longer concerned with how the methods of teaching can be improved
but rather with how learners can be motivated and empowered to teach themselves in a
better way. This means that learning environments must be developed which induce
them to self-learning. The digitised learning environment does this in a spectacular way.
Possible components of this model could be:
� Personal meetings with a faculty member for counselling and motivating and for
negotiating a general sense of direction (once or twice per semester, continued
virtually)
� Personal meetings with a tutor to negotiate a preliminary study plan (continued
virtually)
� Acquisition of the recommend literature (in digitised and real form) and searches
for relevant information
� Continued communication with fellow students, tutors, faculty members via e-mail
� Establishment of a knowledge-building community (with students in the same
university or in other universities)
� Studying interactive multimedia modules from the same university or from other
universities
� Participation in virtual seminars
� Carrying out small research projects individually and in collaboration
This model applies the well-known concepts of learning by activation (learning by
doing), individualisation, self-direction, exploration, and of “learning by discovery”
(Bruner, 1961). The ultimate model to be aspired to is that of the independent scholar
doing research. Academic study is to be considered a reflection of this; it should consist
of a series of successive approaches to reach this model.
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