Part One examines pedagogical issues, and introduces and discusses the main theoretical views, concepts, terms, and methods used in the field. Since most of these terms and concepts are vague and without clear or explicit definition, this book may be viewed as a good attempt at providing readers a systematic understanding of the online education field. The author presents and discusses several issues related to an online educational system: the tutor’s functions and roles, facilitation techniques, assignments, assessment, grading, motivation and problems encountered by teachers and students online, along with the pragmatic realities of increased workload for those teaching online, and how to best to manage this workload. Organizational, social, and cognitive aspects are also taken into account and valuable recommendations are offered.
Four classifications that outline “Online Teaching Methods” provide the book a thread of coherence that binds together the various chapters. The methods are organized according the four communication paradigms used in computer-mediated communication” (p. 92). According to this classification, “teaching methods” are: 1) the online resource paradigm (one-online); 2) the email paradigm (one-to-one); 3) the bulletin board paradigm (one-to-many); and 4) the conferencing paradigm (many-to-many). The author then goes on to distinguish two other categories: “teaching techniques” and “teaching devices.” In this context, Paulsen defines a teaching technique as a “. . . manner of accomplishing teaching objectives. The “teaching techniques” of online database, interviews, correspondence studies, lectures, debates, discussions, etc., are presented and discussed in detail in the chapter “Online Teaching Techniques” (p. 85 – 131). This chapter, which includes references to the literature of notable academics such as Harasim, Rekkedal, Paulsen and Kaye, reports the experiences of 150 online teachers interviewed on their teaching techniques.
The teaching devices used are based on Rapoport’s classification that identified the four main paradigms: information retrieval system, email, bulletin board systems (BBS), and computer meditated communication (CMC). However, I also believe this approach also reveals the key weakness of this book: Communication concepts and theory can be extremely valuable in analysing educational mediated communication, but what we still need a very strong link between technology, educational, and communication sciences. Indeed, the framework of reference used by the author depends on both the “technological point of view” and “an empirical approach,” which are subsequently reinforced by “interviews of teachers.” One might argue that several techniques could share different research methods, and that teaching devices could support several techniques and research methods upon which to base their analysis, and that the proposed classification will yield very rich data which in turn will help practitioners, teachers, course designers, etc., arrive at fully informed decisions. However, what is lacking – at least from my perspective as a researcher concerned with conducting research premised on clearly defined research questions, techniques, methods, and analysis – is a better theoretical base that provides an explanation of “why” the choices were adopted and “why” the results were reached. With a more in-depth focus on the cognitive tools used, I believe that this book could have better described, and thus helped readers more clearly understand, and in greater differentiated detail, the cognitive and social role of learning management systems (LMS), and the impact of technological artefacts on the learning process. My demand for a better theoretical framework is not base on a researcher’s fantasy world: results teased out a sound theoretical approach to data collection and analysis are essential to both direct practice and identify indicators that will lead to a better evaluation of the learning environment.