I’m in the midst of commenting on grad students’ lit reviews submitted electronically. This is our online class for the week. Many students profusely thank me for “helping” them. I reply that what I’m doing is teaching.
Of course this is a different paradigm of teaching, one made possible by e-learning. Specifically what I do is use comments to engage the students in conversation with a more knowledgeable other, by which I mean me the professor, MKO in the jargon.
I’m still digesting Walqui & van Lier’s chapters on Vygotsky.
Walqui, A., & Van Lier, L. (2010). Scaffolding the academic success of adolescent English language learners. San Francisco, CA: WestEd.
E-learning has enormous potential if used in this way.