Perspectives of Teaching in a Digital Age

 

The present analysis is about the book The Theory and Practice of Online Teaching and 

Learning: A Guide for Academic Professionals published by Routledge.com/education. The 

purpose of this book is to provide an insight of teaching online benefits through an inspection 

of a series of books covering all the issues on teaching development along with digital tools. 

Considering that getting acquainted with teaching online development highly contributes to 

enhance the learning process and the growing demand of this issue, this book provides the 

basics and the opportunities to go beyond the subject matter by providing explicit sources to 

aim at within quite a readable format that incites readers to delve into it. 

The introduction presents an overview of the six chapters which deal with the main topics 

of the books together with the authors’ biography. Much less expected this structure  might 

sound to the reader since it seems quite unusual. Regarding the contents of the book, the 

first chapter contains excerpts taken from the book Teaching Online: A Practical Guide. 

It provides considerations of teaching online in contrast to teaching onsite highlighting the 

benefits of teaching online practices and new connections of the world. Even though the 

authors cited in this book state a number of advantages teachers can be benefited from  

online instruction, it would have been pertinent to include more details on actually how online 

course planning may differ from a traditional one. 

A chapter which deserves attention to is the third one which is sourced from the book 

E-tivities: The Key to Active Online Learning. In this chapter there is a description of the 

introduction, purposes and design of ‘e-tivities’, as were called by the cited author Salmon 

(2013) referring to the frameworks which will enable learners to take active part in online 

teaching and learning individually and in groups. Here readers will encounter a clear account 

of what e-tivities are, their value in distant teaching, the roles involved in every participant, 

among other features. However, more practical suggestions on how to implement e-tivities 

with clearer examples could have been added. 

Another section that is considered worth mentioning in this analysis is the last chapter 

based on the book Teaching as a Design Science: Building Pedagogical Patterns for 

Learning and Technology which examines the relationship between technology and  

education as well as the use of technology for educational purposes. Especially noteworthy is 

the rationale for considering teaching not only as a theoretical science related to natural or 

social studies, but as part of the design sciences, like engineering. Thus, there is a 

contribution to building principles that entail practicality and creativity; as it was cited in the 

book, Simon (1969) states that the natural sciences are concerned with how things are 

whereas design on the other hand is concerned with how things ought to be. 

All things considered, this book offers a friendly layout in terms of content organization 

and balance all through the chapters. Likewise, the detailed account of the books inspecting 

the state-of-the-art subject of online teaching, allows the readership to obtain a complete 

panorama of the different features involved in this matter with proper source of each book 

along with their authors. And despite themes like online course planning and e-tivities might 

lack more explicit examples, the rest of the chapters provide a clear development of the 

topics which make a book well worth reading for those who want to go beyond the grounds of 

the latest issue in education: teaching and learning online.

References

Laurillard, D. (2012). Teaching as a design science: Building pedagogical patterns for learning and technology.

Ko, S., & Rossen, S. (2010). Teaching online: A practical guide (3rd ed.). Routledge.

Routledge, (n.d.) The Theory and Practice of Online Teaching and Learning: A Guide for Academic Professionals. Retrieved from: https://www.routledge.com/education?utm_campaign=SBU2_EAL_4MX_8CM_2EDU_CMG15_FBI-1405 

Salmon, G. (2013). E-tivities: The key to active online learning. Routledge.

Simon (1969) cited in The Theory and Practice of online Teaching and Learning: A Guide for Academic Professionals. Routledge n.d.)