Salah Musameh

The role of the tutor in the design and implementation of collaborative learning in an online course: a case study of an undergraduate course for educational technology students

This research is concerned with the role of the teacher in the process of developing and implementing an online course. Systematic investigation will be carried out into the design and implementation of an undergraduate course using online technology at the University of Bahrain.

 

Traditional methods of lecturing and studying are common in higher education institutes in Bahrain and many other countries around the world. The traditional model views the teacher as an expert in a subject matter whose role is to directly transit knowledge to the student, who is seen as the novice. Assessment of students’ learning is based mainly on recall through answering a set of questions at the end of every course. A number of writers have questioned this process because it does not support independent learning and critical thinking.

 

The objectives of higher education should be more ambitious than just the transfer of a knowledge base. Among the fundamental aims of the University of Bahrain is the encouragement of independent thinking and personal initiative on the part of students. In the U K the Dearing report stated that the purpose of higher education is to create and enhance a learning society and lifelong learning. The needs of learners and those of wider societies in the twenty first century are not well met through current pedagogies in higher education.

 

E- learning technologies are proposed by many researchers as a way to develop teaching and learning in a more interactive fashion and to provide learning communities which offer deeper meaningful learning experiences. Adopting a case study methodology (Yin, 2003; Cohen and Manion, 1994), my research will investigate the opportunities provided by E-learning technologies to support collaborative online course design and implementation.