Today, we continue OnPoint, our bi-weekly series from Jason Ohler, an international keynote speaker, teacher, writer, researcher and Professor Emeritus of Educational Technology, who has been teaching online since 1982.
The following post is excerpt from Jason's latest book, and highlights one of the many guidelines for teaching an effective online class and engaging people socially via electronic means. The book, Digital Community, Digital Citizen (you can check it out here), explores how the internet and technology affect the very nature of learning, relationships, and schooling in the digital age.
This is part of a series about guidelines for effective online teaching.
- Part 1: An Introduction
- Part 2: Communication Venues
- Part 3: Teach the Unfamiliar In Terms of the Familiar
- Part 4: Use Many Social Setting Metaphors
Thanks for reading
- Brad
Guideline 5- Use Multimodality When Developing Online Communities
There is a general sense among educators that learning will appeal to more students if we offer them multiple pathways to the same information. Therefore, in much the same way that you want to use as many of Hall’s (1966) communication venues as possible, you want to use as many kinds of media as possible. Some kids are more visual learners, others more acoustic, others more tactile, and so on. But just as importantly, the more senses you appeal to, the more your online community begins to look like real world community.
The value in a multimodal approach to education is that it reflects real life, which is inherently multimodal as well.
- Jason
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