Richard Ng gave an interesting tea talk on Online Supplemental Learning (OSI). The presentation is based on a paper that was presented at the AAOU2008 conference held in Tianjin, China last October. The paper won a sliver award. The attendees were a mixed group: Deans, Professors and our younger academicians including a couple of instructional designers and an editor from OUM.
Interesting approach to help overcome student weakness in basic mathematics - online supplemental instruction. The OSI model of instruction would include Pre-instructional Workshop, Coaching and Mentoring, and Short Video Clips on You-Tube. The model allows for collaborative work and clearly increases synergy in the discussion forums. Selected learners become mentors and provide help and guidance to the weaker learners; not a too far-fetched concept, since we have long heard of peer-tutoring. So it was g
ood to see how it worked successfully online. When learners help others, it helps reinforce what they know and what they have learned. Being able to get help from the mentors, i.e. coursemates, will also help reduce the anxiety level of the weaker students who normally will not ask questions or ask for help. Keep in mind though that this does not mean that the tutors will no longer be doing anything. In fact, the tutors have to play an active role in coming up with the activities or assignments suited for collaborative learning. And it is the tutor who has carefully selected the learners who have the potential to be good mentors.
The addition of short video-clips on You-Tube further helps students grasp topics that are slightly more difficult to understand just by reading. They get the benefit of seeing how problems are worked out with or without the audio, as many times as needed to understand t
he methods used, and they can do it at their own time.
The OSI approach seems applicable to any course offered at OUM. According to our speaker, there is still more to be done, but one of the steps to be taken next will be to educate and train the OUM tutors nationwide on using OSI in their courses.
We thank Mr. Richard Ng for taking the time to share his work with us and we commend him and his team for their achievement.
Interesting approach to help overcome student weakness in basic mathematics - online supplemental instruction. The OSI model of instruction would include Pre-instructional Workshop, Coaching and Mentoring, and Short Video Clips on You-Tube. The model allows for collaborative work and clearly increases synergy in the discussion forums. Selected learners become mentors and provide help and guidance to the weaker learners; not a too far-fetched concept, since we have long heard of peer-tutoring. So it was g
ood to see how it worked successfully online. When learners help others, it helps reinforce what they know and what they have learned. Being able to get help from the mentors, i.e. coursemates, will also help reduce the anxiety level of the weaker students who normally will not ask questions or ask for help. Keep in mind though that this does not mean that the tutors will no longer be doing anything. In fact, the tutors have to play an active role in coming up with the activities or assignments suited for collaborative learning. And it is the tutor who has carefully selected the learners who have the potential to be good mentors.The addition of short video-clips on You-Tube further helps students grasp topics that are slightly more difficult to understand just by reading. They get the benefit of seeing how problems are worked out with or without the audio, as many times as needed to understand t
he methods used, and they can do it at their own time.The OSI approach seems applicable to any course offered at OUM. According to our speaker, there is still more to be done, but one of the steps to be taken next will be to educate and train the OUM tutors nationwide on using OSI in their courses.
We thank Mr. Richard Ng for taking the time to share his work with us and we commend him and his team for their achievement.
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