THE CULTURE OF ONLINE LEARNING: STUDENTS AT CENTER

Logging into an online lesson for the first time is like walking into unknown terrain. Navigation may be difficult, and the climate uncertain. Mere survival in the new environment is, for some, a real issue.

Whether or not the new learner will find the right path to move through and complete the lesson is dependent on a supportive climate as well as lesson design.

An online teacher can set a welcoming tone and provide tools of support, but students need more. Many seek socialization as a way of centering themselves within the culture of online learning. Their engagement may be with one another, at first, and take another level as lesson content requires movement together through a task.

Think of students as climbers, navigating a rock face together, with life lines connecting them to one another as each finds the toeholds to move forward. Each student experience is unique and personal, but sharing the climb through preparation, performance, and reflection has its benefits. The shared experience not only motivates completion but enlarges the discovery and assimilation of the new.

The idea of “Center” is related to the concept of community. One goes to college and finds a place to hang out with other students in a Student Center or Commons or a place by another name. New housing developments across the USA boast Town Centers, clusters of cafes and other places for people to gather for socialization.

We can learn about teaching from other metaphors as well. The idea of centering is important in the process of working with clay on a potter’s wheel. At first the clay is a wobbly mass, resistant to direction, seeming out of control. But the clay gives in to the wheel’s momentum and allows itself to be shaped by the supportive hands around it. That moment of centering, which involves finding a center of gravity, shapes the clay into something new.

To teach effectively online—whether one lesson or a course—is to understand how to provide our students with an online experience of centering which propels them toward success.