The document discusses three generations of online pedagogy: cognitive behaviourist, social constructivist, and connectivist, emphasizing the need for continuous improvement in online education. It outlines the evolution of online learning models and presents challenges related to scalability, student engagement, and institutional adaptation to new learning environments. The conclusion highlights that a strategic combination of these pedagogies can enhance the effectiveness of teaching and improve learning experiences for students.

1. Getting the Right Mix
Social and Scalable through Three
Generations of Online Pedagogy
Terry Anderson, PhD and Professor
Centre for Distance Education

2. Values
• We can (and must) continuously improve the
quality, effectiveness, appeal, cost and time
efficiency of the learning experience.
• Student control and freedom is integral to 21st
century life-long education and learning.
• Continuing education opportunity is a basic
human right.

3. Online Conference Pioneer!
Anderson, L., & Anderson, T. (2009). Online professional development conferences: An
effective, economical and eco-friendly option Canadian Journal of Learning Technology, 35(2).
http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/viewArticle/521/254.
Anderson, T., & Mason, R. (1993). The Bangkok Project:
New tool for professional development. American Journal
of Distance Education, 7(2), 5-18.

4. Athabasca University,
Alberta, Canada
* Athabasca University
34,000 students, 700 courses
100% distance education
Graduate and
Undergraduate programs
Master & Doctorate
Distance Education
Only USA Regionally
Accredited University
in Canada
*Athabasca
University
All courses 3% off TODAY for Americans!

5. Outline
• Generations of Online Education Pedagogy
– Cognitive Behaviourist
• xMOOCs
– Social Constructivist
• sMOOCs and the Online Classroom
– Connectivist
• cMOOCs
• Interactional Equivalency and Costs
• Beyond the LMS
– Athabasca Landing boutique social network
• Net Presence??

6. Theory!

7. ThreeOnline Learning Pedagogy
1. Behaviourist/Cognitive
– Self Paced, Individual
study
2. Social Constructivist –
Groups, LMS
3. Connectivist – Networks
and Sets
Anderson, T., &Dron, J. (2011). Three generations of
distance education pedagogy.
IRRODL, 12(3), 80-97

8. 1. Behavioural/Cognitive Pedagogies
• “tell ‘em what you’re
gonna tell ‘em,
• tell ‘em
• then tell ‘em what you
told ‘em”
Direct Instruction

9. Gagne’s Events of Instruction (1965)
1. Gain learners' attention
2. Inform learner of objectives
3. Stimulate recall of previous information
4. Present stimulus material
5. Provide learner guidance
6. Elicit performance
7. Provide Feedback
8. Assess performance
9. Enhance transfer opportunities
Instructional Systems Design (ISD)

10. Enhanced by the “cognitive
revolution”
• Chunking
• Cognitive Load
• Working Memory
• Multiple Representations
• Split-attention effect
• Variability Effect
• Multi-media effect
– (Sorden, 2005)
“learning as acquiring and using conceptual and cognitive structures”
Greeno, Collins and Resnick, 1996

11. Technologies of Ist generation
• CAI, text books, One way Lectures, Video and
audio broadcast

12. American xMoocs
(example)
• MOOC History by Alys
From
http://prezi.com/754uv3qpe_0k/mooc-
history/ a MOOC History by Alyssa Martin

13. xMOOCs
• Disruptive
• Scalable
• The next newest thing.
• Access
• Analytics

14. xMOOC Pedagogy
Gen. 1 - Cognitive Behaviourist
• Medium to high quality content
– Screen captures, video lectures, videos
• Machine scoring of quizzes and assignments
• Assessment (machine scoring and peer) and
emergent accreditation
– Badges, challenge exams for credit, PLAR

15. • Completion Rates??
Duke University/ CoursEra
2012
Bioelectricity: A Quantitative
Approach
Promoted to millions through
Coursera
12,000 Registered, Paced
4,000 no shows first week
313 (4%) from 37 countries
completed
Clow, D. (2013). MOOCs and the funnel of participation.

16. MOOC Patterns of Engagement
Cluster
Breakdown
High School
MOOC
Under Grad
MOOC
Graduate
MOOC
Course
Auditing
6% 6% 9%
Completing 27% 8% 5%
Disengaging 28% 12% 6%
Sampling 39% 74% 80%
“Learners in MOOCs who do not adhere to traditional expectations, centered
around regular assessment and culminating in a certificate of completion, count
towards the high attrition rates that receive outsized media attention.”
High Satisf.
Low Satisf.
Kizilcec, R. F., Piech, C., & Schneider, E. (2013). Deconstructing Disengagement: Analyzing Learner
Subpopulations in Massive Open Online Courses. Third International Conference on Learning Analytics and
Knowledge (LAK ’13 Leuven, Belgium) https://landing.athabascau.ca/file/download/279413

17. • Addition of certificates (CourseEra signature
path with invigilated exams, keystoke
recognition etc)
“the completion rate is 70-80% for users who paid
for certificates”
Coursera http://en.paperblog.com/a-deep-dive-into-coursera-s-economics-493919/

18. NOT Just MOOCs- Flipped Classroom

19. • http://ed.ted.com/about#flipThisVideo
http://terrya.edublogs.org/http://terrya.edublogs.org/
http://ed.ted.com/about#flipThisVideo

20. xMOOC Challenges to
Traditional Schools
• Are our course really better or worse than those
from Stanford?
• How interactive/supportive are our instructors?
• Do we accredit seat time, courses, or learning?
• Will our students choose our fees over free?
• Is American learning (knowledge) the same as
Canadian learning?
• Can we develop a business model from free
MOOCs?
• Will these put me out of a job?

21. Educational Challenges to
Institutions of Networks
• “Large decreases in
transaction costs create
activities that can't be
taken on by businesses, or
indeed by an institution,
because no matter how
cheap it becomes to
perform a particular
activity, there isn't
enough payoff to support
the cost incurred by being
an institution in the first
place.” Clay Shirky, 2008

22. 1st Gen Cognitive Behavioural
Pedagogy Summary
• Scalable
• Few requirements or opportunities for social
learning
• Ideal for what type or level of learning?
• Are we training learners who can succeed with
this type of learning?

23. 23
2nd Generation
Constructivist Pedagogy
• Group Orientated
• Membership and exclusion, closed
• Not scalable - max 50 students/course
• Classrooms - at a distance
• Hierarchies of control
• Focus on collaboration and shared purpose
group

24. 2nd Generation - Constructivist
• Online Learning Current model – continued
strong growth in US and globally
• Major employer of adjuncts
32% of higher education students now take at least one course online.

25. Constructivist Learning in Groups
• Long history of research
and study
• Established sets of tools
– Classrooms
– Learning Management
Systems (LMS)
– Synchronous (chat, video
& net conferencing)
– Email, wikis, blogs
• Need to develop face to
face, mediated and
blended group learning
skills
Garrison, R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical thinking in text-based
environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and
Higher Education, 2(2), 87-105.

26. Jon Dron& Anderson, T. (2012) Freedom and Control in Learning Spaces.
Networked Learning, Maastricht

27. Scaling Up Constructivist MOOC
Athabasca Example
• Openness in Education 2012 – George
Siemens and Rory McGreal – Athabasca
University
• cMOOC format, with Moodle bolt on
• Instructors focused on Moodle group (paying
customers)
• Never reached critical mass in cMOOC

28. Can MOOCs use Social Constructivism
and still Scale up?
• Meet Ups (online and Face-to-face)
• Threaded discussions
• Challenge to maintain instructor presence
Teacher Presence: Using Introductory Videos in Online and Hybrid Courses

29. 2nd Generation
Summary - Constructivism
• Hard to scale
• Restrictions in time
• Strong capacity for social learning

30. 3rd Generation: Connectivist Learning

31. Connectivism
• “connectivism is the thesis that knowledge is
distributed across a network of connections,
and therefore that learning consists of the
ability to construct and traverse those
networks.” Stephen Downes 2007

32. Connectivist Knowledge
• Is created by linking to appropriate people and
objects
• May be created and stored in non human devices
• Is as much about capacity as current competence
• Assumes the ubiquitous Internet
• Is emergent

33. See Alan Levine’s Keynote
TCC42JTCC42JTCC42J

34. Connectivist MOOC
cMOOC
David Cormier’s “What is a MOOC”? Youtube

35. Disruptions of Connectivism
• Demands net proficiency of
students and teachers
• Openness is scary
• New roles for teachers and
students
• Artifact ownership,
persistence
• Too manic for some

36. Connectivist Learning
Persistence
Accessibility
Network
Effects
“Connectivying” your course
http://terrya.edublogs.org/2012/12/18/connectivy-your-course/

37. Jon Dron& Anderson, T. (2012) Freedom and Control in Learning Spaces.
Networked Learning, Maastricht

38. NOT Learning in a Bubble

39. Networks add diversity to learning
“People who live in
the intersection of
social worlds are at
higher risk of having
good ideas” Burt,
2005, p. 90

40. If you want to learn how to fix a pipe, solve a
partial differential equation, write software,
you are seconds away from know-how via
YouTube, Wikipedia and search engines. Access
to technology and access to knowledge,
however, isn’t enough. Learning is a social,
active, and ongoing process.
What does a motivated group of self-learners
need to know to agree on a subject or skill, find
and qualify the best learning resources about that
topic, select and use appropriate communication
media to co-learn it?
http://peeragogy.org/

41. cMOOCs different learning outcomes for different learners

42. 3rd Generation - Connectivism
Summary
• Maximizes learner control and freedoms
• Demands high levels of network literacy
• Ideal training for life-long learning
• May be too much freedom- little capacity to
delegate control

43. The Interaction Equivalency Theorem
by Anderson (2003)
• Thesis 1. Deep and meaningful formal learning is supported
as long as one of the three forms of interaction (student–
teacher; student–student; student–content) is at a high level.
The other two may be offered at minimal levels, or even
eliminated, without degrading the educational experience.
• Thesis 2. High levels of more than one of these three modes
will likely provide a more satisfying educational experience,
although these experiences may not be as cost- or time
effective as less interactive learning sequences.
Interaction Equivalency (eQuiv) Website http://equivalencytheorem.info/

44. Cognitive Behaviourist Pedagogy
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Student-Student Student-Teacher Student-Content
Interaction
Interaction
xMOOC Model

45. • “Why on earth would you write an
essay for an automated grader?”
Debbie Morrison
http://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/

46. Social Constructivist Pedagogy
0
2
4
6
8
10
Student-Student Student-Teacher Student-Content
Interaction
Interaction
Social Constructivist or Small MOOC Model

47. Connectivist Pedagogy
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Student-Student Student-Teacher Student-Content
Interaction
Interaction
cMOOC Model

48. Summary
• Three generations of pedagogy
• All can work,
• which works best for whom?
• Mix and Match
– Case Study Athabasca Landing

49. Beyond the LMS
Social networking in a boutique network
https://Landing. athabascau.ca

50. Walled Gardens (with windows)
• Connectivist learning thrives in safe learning
spaces with windows allowing
randomness, external participation and public
presentation

51. What is the Landing?
• A private space for Athabasca
University – students, staff, alumni
• A public place for sharing knowledge
• A user controlled creative space
• Boutique social network
• Networking, blogging, photos, micro
blogging, polls, calendars, groups
and more
• Built on elgg.org platform

55. Landing Provides
• User control
• Personal Learning Environment
• Persistence

56. Net Presence
Goodier, S., &Czerniewicz, L. (2013). Academics’ online presence: A four-step guide to taking control of your visibility.
University of Capetown. http://openuct.uct.ac.za/sites/default/files/Online%20Visibility%20Guidelines.pdf.

57. What Type of Networked Academic Persona
Have you Created?
Barbour, K., & Marshall, D. (2012). The academic online: Constructing persona through
the World Wide Web. First Monday, 17(9).
http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3969/3292.

58. • "MOOCs may well be the last stand in defense
of academic freedom if knowledge is to
increasingly belong in the public domain, and
not increasingly become a commodity.
• This is our academic challenge. We must own
and use MOOCs to elevate general public
knowledge to be an effective civic moderator
of wealth, power and belief.”
• Professor Renner, University of South Florida.
Renner, E. (2013, March 3). Can MOOCs save academic freedom. Edudemic. Retrieved from
http://edudemic.com/2013/03/moocs-academic-freedom/

59. www.aupress.ca
Canada’s first
Open Access
press!!

60. Conclusion
• All three generations are useful for teaching
and for Learning
• 1St and 3rd are likely scalable
• 2nd nourishes both weak and strong ties
• The networked educator uses strategic
combinations of all three pedagogies to
improve learning and make most effective use
of student time.

61. Terry Anderson terrya@athabascau.ca
Blog: terrya.edublogs.org
Your comments and questions
most welcomed!