4.3 Setting up a Digital Learning Environment

It is possible to think of the learner as a person who merely listens and/or reads, but of course, there is much more: a learner may be called upon to complete tasks and solve problems, answering questions that as we have seen in the previous modules have great relevance from a Backward Design perspective. At a more advanced level, it is possible to propose exploring simulations and other interactive resources or collaborating with peers to produce a shared artefact.

Online communication between teacher and students, or among students, can be asynchronous only - via forums or other similar means, like social networking sites - or synchronous only - via face-to-face or online meetings in realtime. Most of the time, a learning environment features a bit of both: realtime meetings can be recorded and accessed later, forum discussions extend into personal instant messaging channels, etc.

Differentiation in this area means mixing the synchronous and asynchronous, in presence and online. This benefits the variability of learners in the sense that it makes it easier for them to work at their own pace, investing their cognitive resources in what needs more effort.

Another way to differentiate the learning environment is again related to feedback, a component we have addressed in Module 3. Feedback can be automated - when it comes directly from the activities proposed to students, like tests and quizzes - but it can also come from human interaction, from the teacher or from the peers.