E-Learning And Pedagogical Model

The future of e-learning and pedagogical models

Pedagogy is the discipline that deals with the theory and practice of education; it thus concerns the study of how best to teach. Spanning broad range of practice, its aim range from furthering liberal education (the general development of human potential) to the narrower specifics of vocational education (the imparting and acquisition of specific skills). Mark k. Smith explores the origins of pedagogy and the often overlooked traditions of thinking and practice associated with it. He argues that a focus on teaching as a specialist role is best understood in other ways. Pedagogy needs to be explored through the thinking and practice of those educators who looks to accompany learners; care for

The model places emphasis on learning as a back-and-forth exchange of ideas, “a continual iteration between teachers and learners, and between the levels of theory and practice” and is applicable to both face-to-face and e-learning contexts. The instructor is given a privileged position in this model because he or she is responsible for defining the concepts to be taught and for designing the tasks to be completed by students. The purpose of the Conversational Framework is to ensure the proper use of technology in the pursuit of learning outcomes. Technology must be used to support pedagogy rather than replace it and the Conversational Framework challenges technology to deliver an enhanced learning experience (Laurillard,

The benefits of this model of e-learning are that students are freed from the “constraints of time, space and physical context” (Pachler & Daly, 2011, p. 65) that would normally apply to classroom discussion and are able to respond to the presentation of ideas—from their instructor or their peers—at their own pace. The consequences of such an arrangement are that students enter an asynchronous “conversation” with enhanced opportunities for constructing knowledge and begin the process of resolving divergent ideas by sorting through the meanings made available to them by their peers. Thus, Computer-Mediated Communication is a literate practice that encourages the development of academic discourse via the exchange, organization, and re-organization of ideas—key factors in supporting the active and collaborative learning at the heart of socio-constructivist theories (Keengwe, Onchwari, & Agamba,