Active Learning

E-learning courses provides cultural, intellectual, social, practical, and financial benefits for using technology and applications for learning. It moves from a teacher-centered lecture delivery of content towards student-centered learning of interactive called active learning or constructivism. This presentation will showcase an e-learning course prototype for scaffolding the engagement of English language learners to produce a writing process essay online in Canvas Infostructure’s Learning Management System (LMS) at: https://canvas.instructure.com/courses/1533123.

This prototype was created with the interest of potentially using it for teaching English at the university level as a foreign language to undergraduate Japanese students. The LMS consolidates online writing process software tools, with not only descriptions of the writing stage, but that also provides tools to accomplish each stage of Process Writing: Planning, Drafting Revising, and Editing.

Development of the course began with course learning outcomes and student learning objectives:

1. Expose students to the writing process,
2. Scaffold selection of appropriate writing strategies,
3. Encourage E-learning skills in Canvas LMS and online websites.

These course outcomes aligned the student learning objectives and assessments. Personalized learning, visual communication, and Universal Design for Learning were considered in design and development of the course. To address these concerns learners are afforded multiple ways to show competency by using unique technology or methods to create exemplars, choice in control content and flexibility, multimedia and text-based content, and personalized conversations, and clear guidelines and rubrics for grading criteria and assessment.