What is happening in my first year pre-service teachers’ online learning environment?

Abstract

Online learning environment is a complex and dynamic learning space for learners to experience social and cognitive processes of knowledge and meaning construction. It has brought about educators’ re-designing of instructional approaches for the emerging constructivist environment Heinich, Molenda, Russell & Smaldino, 2002),translating classroom-based instructions to the Web, incorporating of asynchronous and synchronous communication as well as evaluating web-based instruction (Lynch, 2002). This study investigated 19 pre-service teachers’ learning in an online learning environment. These teachers’ online activities were analysed using their individual written reflection logs (end of the module) and a planned forum of discussion notes (out of the three planned forums). Out of the 17 emerging facilitation strategies used by these teachers in this planned forum, 3 highly rated strategies were: Initiating discussions (15.22%), prompting (14.13%) and summarising discussions (10.87%). These teachers also reported 20 facilitation strategies learnt (either by observing their peers’ action taken or acquiring on their own through readings as well as trials and errors) and of which 3 were highly rated: Asking questions (14.71%), summarising (12.75%) and demonstrating leadership (9.8%). It was also found that teacher-facilitators used more strategies than the five strategies introduced to them and they also learnt other facilitation strategies from observing their peers rather than those that they used to facilitate.