Removing Educational Barriers: e-Learning Opportunities

Removing Educational Barriers: e-Learning Opportunities Cyberspace provides learning opportunities that can add to your classroom activities by removing the barriers of cost, time, and location1. Access to information The amount and diversity of information that can be found on the Internet eclipses the largest libraries humanity has ever built. This information is collectively and continuously created, verified, and updated by contributors from all over the world. This enables you to focus less on finding content and more on the best way for your students to learn. Virtual field trips Field trips can be difficult and costly to manage. Virtual replicas of real-world sites such as geographic locations, museums, and national monuments can make these experiences more accessible to all students. Find the available locations related to your domain and plan the activity beforehand to make the experience more fruitful for your students. Connected classrooms Collaborative projects can yield problem-based and collective learning opportunities. By using live documents, discussion forums, chats, and audio conferencing, your students can collaborate with peers from other classrooms, schools, and even countries. All that remains is for you to connect with other educators to create partnerships. Webinars, online conferences, and performances Virtually broadcasted seminars can connect you and your students with experts in your field in real time. Today, even ongoing academic conferences and live artistic performances can be attended virtually. Follow social media announcements and mail lists to take advantage of these opportunities. Continuous learning with MOOCs Massive open online courses (MOOCs) provide learning opportunities for all ages and fields. You can use them to support your students’ niche interests, or your own professional development, by staying up to date. Enroll in a class and learn how you can support your students’ various needs and get up to date with new instructional strategies and technologies. Personal blogs Blogs can be used to keep learning journals, and they can even serve as student portfolios. Using their blogs, your students can create their own learning communities. You can offer your writing assessments in the form of blog posts to build this habit and improve your students’ digital communication skills. You can also use blogs yourself as a professional development journal. Professional learning networks Cyberspace also has platforms and resources for you to focus on your professional development as an educator. Like your students and their peers, you can collaborate with other teachers or even experts from other fields to learn and achieve more. You can conduct action research, discuss various educational issues, or share lesson plans and resources. Use e-learning opportunities to surpass the walls of your classroom, school, and even the boundaries of geography. References 1. Virtual Field Trips: An Online Learning Experience, https://secure.onlinelearningconsortium.org/effective_practices/virtual-field-trips-online-learning-experience