It begins...

It has been a month since my father died, and it is a month out from when the course starts. So, I think I am ready to start going through all of my notes for this course and plan the experience.

A few months ago I had an interesting conversation with Raymond Wlodkowski (well-known author of texts on enhancing adults motivation to learn, and diversity in the classroom) regarding my application of his motivational framework to online courses. This sort of spun off into a discussion about course structure, and how structured to be. I tend to be very structured with online courses (which lead to me creating a 22 page syllabus for my on-campus Adult Education and Learning course...yikes!). At this point, I believe I have been too structured, too complex, too cluttered. So, with this course I want to be minimalist, natural, organic. I'm not sure it is possible for me to do that, but what gives me hope is that I used to teach that way...before teaching online.

Here is the flaw in my thinking about online course design, I believe. The courses I create are for graduate students (or, at least, post-undergraduate). But, my thinking has been that the audience for online programs and courses are not as self-directed as they need to be, that the demands on their time cause a distraction from engaging in the coursework. And, therefore, that I needed to provide layers of structure, and deadlines, and directions in order to scaffold the missing self-direction and wave a red flag to garner attention.

But, here's the reality. Adult learners are self-directed, are motivated. They just may not be self-direct and motivated to do what I want them to do. This has everything to do with relevance (and, of course, their need to balance the many demands on their time and energy). If the learning activity isn't relevant to them, then they are less engaged in the activity. If they do see the relevance, and can find the time and energy to make it happen, then they will engage. My job is to create learning activities that have the potential of being seen as relevant and, thus, engaging. I can't force this to happen with layers of structure, and deadlines, and directions. There is no magic number or size of red flags I can wave to make this happen.

So, throughout this design process, I am going to keep reflecting on what I used to do when teaching face-to-face in a classroom -- what my attitude about the learning-teaching exchange was, what I valued in terms of flow and structure -- and see if I can come up with an approach that reflects a valuing of adult learners' intrinsic motivation to engage. My approach will be as minimalist as appropriate (without leading everyone to confusion), and I will try to create learning opportunities for students that are inviting and not forced.

Let's see what happens...