Made possible by:
Social Work Education post COVID-19 Course Redesign - Rediscovering new ways of learning and teaching in South Africa.
Revised Authentic eLearning
Authentic learning was originally put forward by Herrington et al., (2010) as a way of situating and simulating real-world contexts using collaborative learning activities, which are very appropriate for teaching group work. The creation of authentic learning environments is suitable for teaching and for enhancing professional education in particular by emphasising and enabling the applied aspects of learning (Barnes & Gachago, 2015).
Herrington maintains a comprehensive site here, that is a good source for additional content.
The elements of Authentic eLearning
1. The development of an authentic context
that reflects how knowledge is used in the real world, thus offering students the opportunity to develop the requisite skills for conducting group work.
2. The development of a complex authentic task
one that is ill-defined (as in the real world), so that students can become used to complexity and explore different paths to finding a solution.
3. Iteration over a sustained time
The development of sub- tasks should be worked on independently and collaboratively over a sustained period to allow for iteration.
4. Multiple perspectives
The next element is that the task should provide students the opportunity to examine a problem in terms of multiple roles and perspectives while working in groups: playing the roles of group leader and group member is a way of facilitating competence in this element.
5. Expert performance
The fifth element is access to expert performance and modelling of processes which may include multiple sources of information from textbooks to expert performances through web-based resources (Herrington & Parker, 2013).
6. Collaboration
The sixth element is the aspect of collaboration where students work with peers to co-construct knowledge.
7. Reflection
The seventh element is that of reflection, which is a golden thread in social work education, to enhance thinking, develop “critical evaluation and self-awareness” and get a better understanding of their “knowledge, skills and attitudes” (Bassot, 2013: 6).
8. Articulation
The eighth element is articulation and presentation so that tacit knowledge is made explicit through debate, role-play, discussion and presentations. and students can debate aspects of new understandings.
9. Scaffolding and integrated assessment
The ninth element is scaffolding and integrated assessment by the educator, as the student develops proficiency. The approach advocates seamless authentic assessment that ensures feedback, so that there is iteration for a final polished product to emerge as an outcome.
An example of this is an educator supported guidance that withdraws when students develop competence. At this stage the supports is removed.
10. Affect or socio-emotional learning
The development of socio-emotional learning this includes learning through mind body connections.
An example would be the development of a river of life exercise shown in this picture.
