[ATTW-L] online learning double bind

[Maurice Williams]

Hi y'all.

I have a quandary with an online learning course, and, given that so many
of us in tech comm build their careers around online learning, I thought
I'd ask the experts.

My school recently introduced an online version of its first-year writing
program. So, this semester is the very first time it's been unveiled.
Students seem to be having trouble with it, though. Part of the trouble
seems to be that the course isn't self-sufficient. So, while there are
obviously instructions and rubrics and even videos that deliver lectures on
course content, the online course doesn't offer any instruction for *how*
students ought to write the papers. Thus, what seems to happening is,
teachers are having to create more content explicating how to write the
papers, additional content that seems to be conflicting with the
instructions for what's expected of them (what the designers imagined).

My question is this. Is it expected of a teacher who's teaching an online
class to create more content with the aim of walking the students through
the procedures of the course (say, videos for how to approach a paper, and
what order to write it in)? Or, should a course be designed such that those
videos are built in from the beginning? that is, so that there is no
conflict between the two sets of expectations (between the designer and the
teacher)?

Coming from a tech comm point of view, my assumption is that good design
puts everything in one place; the design ought to aim to give the user
everything she needs when it becomes relevant, that is, without having to
change locations or wander over an interface. But then the trouble is, such
a design reduces whoever is teaching the course to just a grader. And isn't
that kind of deterministic?

I'm almost tempted to say that this problem mirrors the debate sketched out
by Heather Christiansen and Tharon Howard (2017): that is, between
constructivism and accommodationism in the context of user experience.
Should the teacher be responsible for accommodating the content to the
users? In that case, it seems, the teacher would take ownership over the
course and scrap a not insignificant portion of the original designer's
intent in the process. Or, inversely, should a course work to construct a
smooth subjectivity for its user? and thereby to render a lot of
supplementary teaching unnecessary? basically reducing the teacher to a
grader in the process?

Or, is it dishonest to even think that it is even possible to eliminate the
teacher's subjectivity in the process? that is, because, no matter what,
the teacher will be inserting his or her own subjectivity into the process?
that is, aren't there two sets of instructions no matter what? since the
teacher's expectations will, no matter what, be out of sync with the
designer's wishes?

I don't know if the whole accommodationism versus constructivism thing was
helpful. My mind just went there...

Maurice
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