Creating the classroom environment for asynchronous e-learning

Abstract

In higher education, the trend continues to shift from traditional teaching methods to student-centered strategies that are known to promote learning. At the same time, the integration of online education into the mainstream of higher education is intensifying. This paper addresses the problem of adapting classroom strategies for asynchronous online learning, so as to derive a learning model that combines the flexibility of online education with effective classroom-based strategies. The paper prescribes methods for putting into practice, for online education, active learning strategies that have been proven to be effective in the traditional classroom environment. First, the paper presents an overview of various active learning strategies and common classroom activities. Next, it introduces an array of open technologies and standards relating to learning resources, collaboration and learning experience management, and media markup languages. Then, it describes methods, which are based on the open technologies and standards, for effecting the learning strategies and common classroom activities in asynchronous online learning. This line of research (devising methods to augment the flexibility and other advantages of asynchronous online learning with classroom strategies that are known to enhance learning) has the potential for changing the face of online education.