Abstracts
Utilizing Visual and Auditory Tools to Engage the 21st Century eLearner
Tuesday 5 May 2009, 1430 - 1500
Presenter: Kathleen Bacer
Azusa Pacific University, USA
Presenter Biography
Dr. Kathleen Bacer is currently a professor and creator/director of Azusa Pacific University’s Online Master of Arts in Educational Technology program. Her expertise stems from 19 years of K-8 classroom teaching and 10+ years of training teachers at the university level. She is known for her innovative and creative techniques.
Abstract
Critical to any teaching/learning environment is the ability to engage and connect the learner not only to the content, but also to the instructor and other learners. While this is essential for any learning community, the online community poses a different set of challenges as the dynamics of the human interface are changed and facilitated by methods of telecommunication rather than the physical presence/interactions of students and teachers. Many of the current online learning environments continue to be laden with text-driven lectures, discussions, emails, written tests, and assignments. Whether this takes place asynchronously or synchronously, the lack of audio and visual clues can create a sense of silence in which an increased awareness of not seeing or hearing the other learners can create learning obstacles. This occurs predominantly with text driven synchronous engagements. With the emergence of Web 2.0 technologies, educators can now implement powerful resources to create interactive virtual spaces that can transform static, text-driven learning environments into dynamic, multimedia-rich, and collaborative experiences. The focus of this paper is geared towards educators teaching in a completely online learning environment, and will expound upon the utilization of selected Web 2.0 tools that facilitate the participatory and collaboration process from a visual and auditory perspective. Topics will include innovative techniques in the effective use of auditory and visual tools to engage the 21st century eLearner.
