Learner-Centered Theory and Practice in Distance Education: Cases from Higher education, by Thomas M. Duffy and Jamie R. Kirkley (Eds.). (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2004, 453 pages, $45.00)
This book is a result of the U.S. Department of Education-sponsored “Learning Anytime, Anywhere” symposium. The symposium hosted 20 professionals from the learning sciences, education, administration, and the corporate sector who met to discuss issues in the design of learning environment in higher education. The purposes behind the symposium and this volume that follows are twofold, as the editors suggest. The first concern is the lack of discussion of constructivist learning theory guiding the design and development of online learning programs in higher education. The second concern is that model programs in distance education are not sufficiently described in the literature to the point of clarifying theory-to-practice linkages.
To fill that void, Learner-Centered Theory and Practice describes eight distance education programs, two in each of the following sections: “Community Building, Problem-Centered Learning, Innovative Uses of Technology,” and “Scaling Up.” Each chapter describing a program is followed by a reaction that puts an analytical lens on the methods and pedagogy of the program’s distance learning. Included is an edited transcript of the group discussion about the program by members of the symposium.
The programs presented in the “Community Building” section include a master’s degree program in educational technology at Pepperdine University and a master’s in library science at the University of Illinois. The section describes both programs in rich detail, including the synchronous and asynchronous tools that support participant interactions. Central to these interactions is learner dialogue, which both programs frame as relational knowledge that links what students are learning and understanding about themselves and their social and technological environment to other conditions that impact their professional practice. These programs demonstrate that, by engaging in conversations about professional practices, students learn to be reflective and critical of their own work.
The discussant chapters that follow reveal how the pedagogy within these programs is abundantly constructivist. Scott Grabinger, who provides a reaction to the Pepperdine program, does a thorough job of contrasting traditionally behaviorist instructional design with sociocultural instructional design. The exercise shows the importance of authentic online interactions between people, objects, and culture. I regret that Grabinger did not use more adaptive, flexible, and contemporary models of instructional design as contrasts to sociocultural instructional design, which would have helped knowledgeable readers understand the subtle differences between these design approaches. Still, Grabinger increases our appreciation for the role of discourse in the online learning environment.
This segment of the book is unique in its emphasis on dialogue. Yet, there is a lack of explanation of how the discourse itself is an agent of professional change. Perhaps the key is the collaborative reflection process referenced by the authors. Unfortunately, reflection is a concept the authors fail to unpack. It would be helpful to show how reflection is an element of collaboration, an affiliate of dialogue, and a critical step in the process of social learning. Because the give-and-take of dialogue helps discussants frame and reframe problems and their solutions (collegial reflection), it would be helpful to see how the kind of discourse described in these chapters truly relates to the critical theories of their fields. Without these links, we are left to assume the dialogue has more sociallythan theoretically-applied content.
A related concern about the “Community Building” segment is that terminal learning outcomes used in practice are really never explored. The lens of program inquiry remains on program processes. There is a body of research that suggests group conversation and discussion, in and of itself, tends not to be effective at facilitating higher levels of learning. Instead, group discussions often keep both instructors and learners in their comfort zones, resulting in trivialized group conversation (Garrison & Kanuka, 2004; Gunawardena, Lowe, & Anderson, 1997; Kanuka & Anderson, 1998; Klemm & Snell, 1996). Useful contributions can be made to this literature if the evaluations of these degree programs can extend into the real-world work of students to understand if and how dialogue produces conceptual changes in professional practice. Fortunately, this idea is addressed in later segments of the volume.
In a second section, “Problem-Centered Learning,” the authors continue to explore the role of community and dialogue in online learning. Tom Duffy and Jamie Kirkley describe the development of Unext.com’s Cardean University, an online MBA degree program. Cardean’s courses are entirely asynchronous and have a self-paced problem-based learning format. An interesting part of Duffy and Kirkley’s description of this program includes their references to “communities of practice.” In true constructivist form, the authors suggest that it is equally—if not more—important for working adult learners to maintain primary interaction links to their local community—where interaction is grounded in the workplace—than the environment of cyber degree seekers. The idea is reminiscent of Postman’s (1992) criticism that cyber communities realign allegiances to defeat discourse, speech, and shared learning of local communities. The idea is tenable, but may have to make exceptions for teachers and others who often work in isolation from their peers. In those cases, the virtual community may be the best opportunity for meaningful dialogue on professional practice. In her reaction, Lani Gunadwardena suggests that students who expect to collaborate in a problembased learning format should have the benefit of a course designed with community-building as its central concept.
For John Stinson, the virtual walls of Ohio University’s online MBA program clearly mark the boundaries of community. In fact, so vested is this program in the notion of community that significant efforts have been made to engage learners in after-graduation dialogue and interaction. The success of this effort, however, has been modest. The distinctive attribute of this online degree program is its effort to build curricular experiences around unique problem-based projects for the learner cohort. Program progress is not marked by the completion of courses, but by satisfying the requirements of nine distinct problem-oriented projects (e.g., “Developing Strategy” and “Global Competition and International Trade”). Because these projects mirror professional practice and are contemporary in the problems they address, organizers report more learner motivation, engagement, and persistence. In reaction, Bob Wisher attempts to identify some desperately-needed program outcomes that speak to the program’s utility in terms of impact on professional practice and development of human capital.
The third section of the book addresses “Innovative Uses of Technology” for learning. This section makes a notable attempt to bring to light specific learning outcomes that can be attributed to technology-supported instruction. The first chapter in this section, written by John Bransford et al., describes the AMIGO project. The project organizes course topics around challenge modules to encourage more interactive, inquiry-based learning. Though all programs described in the book are blended learning programs, the AMIGO project is the first that suggests application of Web-based learning modules for both traditional and online learning environments. The goal of these modules is to make adaptive experts of learners who are willing and able to struggle with open-ended problems whose solutions encourage higher-quality transfer of professional skills sets. This chapter also discusses in a particularly illuminating way the role of student assessment and the importance of selfassessment as a means for developing metacognitive insights in learners. In reaction, Anderson focuses on the issue of quality in online learning and examines knowledge-centered education, learner-centered education, assessment, and the hidden curriculum of the quality theme.
The “Innovative Uses of Technology” section’s second program introduces a series of three teacher education programs Purdue University and its partners use to investigate key understandings and abilities in math, science, language, and literacy. Students build these attributes by participating in modeling activities in which they invent, refine, and extend their own understanding as they reason their way through a problem. The distance element of this program focuses on file sharing so that small groups can work together to construct complex artifacts and tools relevant to their projects. Unique to this project is the equal participation of heterogeneous group members, including professors, researchers, graduate students, undergraduate preservice teaching students, and inservice mentor teachers. Reactant Matt Champagne addresses the lack of evaluation of this and other projects and proposes an embedded assessment model suitable for these conditions.
The last of the “Scaling Up” case studies introduces efforts across the 53 State University of New York (SUNY) institutions to make online learning a systematic part of their services to students. What’s notable about the SUNY model of online delivery is its uniform and comprehensive approach to developing faculty skills in online course delivery. This professional development program for online faculty covers everything from facilitating asynchronous dialogue to instructional design within SUNY’s unique course management system. The first part of this chapter alone would be an excellent primer for the novice online cyber teacher. The case study concludes with a valiant effort at self-study, but selfreport methods and a narrow sampling frame severely limit the utility of these results.
The book concludes with chapters addressing distance education from policy and business perspectives. Sally Johnstone points to some of the many online learning considerations at the local, state, and national levels, while Jim Botkin explores the role of private enterprise in developing distance education solutions.
In summary, the reaction chapters are refreshing in their constructive criticism of the programs described, such as when Schlagler points out that there is a heavy dependence on transcript data in the study of online interactions among online learners, or when Franklin exposes an online program’s shortcomings by failing to link formative evaluation data to ongoing curriculum design considerations. Interestingly, by the third case study, I found myself reacting as a virtual symposium member as I read the discussion transcripts. I was becoming familiar enough with the participants and their positions to expect them to advocate or challenge a point, and when they didn’t, I verbally impassioned them to speak up on the matter. This is but one of but several advantages of having these transcripts printed. The book is a long but important read for institutions that have expanded to the distance education environment, or are developing strategies for doing so. Each section is selfcontained and can be read independently of the other sections. Any one of the case study chapters will provide a focused perspective on how constructivist pedagogies can be implemented in higher education online programs. The diverse contexts the chapters present provide readers with a variety of lenses through which student-centered learning can be viewed.
It is difficult to reduce to a few simplistic ideas the richness of the lessons the case studies present in this volume, but for academics, instructors, and instructional designers, the following trends are worth noting:
Problem-based and collaborative pedagogies are becoming a staple of quality distance education.
Innovators are rethinking and expanding the notion of learning communities to include external participants.
There is an effort to identify terminal learning outcomes that have transferred to the workplace.
Programs still struggle with evaluation strategies, with some only able to focus the evaluative lens on programmatic issues using limited data collection and analysis strategies, and fewer working to understand what it means when knowledge manifests itself in authentic professional activities.
All these programs are anchored by a constructivist framework that places an emphasis on student interactions with colearners and their environment.
This volume emphasizes that preparing to engage learners at a distance involves systematic thought about essential learning outcomes. The authors capably illustrate how these prospective outcomes are the basis for effective design approaches that use the unique capabilities of computer networks and applications to help groups of learners assimilate new ideas into their professional practice. This book should be a part of every distance education program’s resource library.
