E-Learning and Online Teaching

by Stephanie A. Clemons

Abstract

As higher education institutions push for more online courses instructors are faced with issues and challenges related to teaching in the online learning environment. Regardless, of whether higher education’s impetus is fueled by cost-saving measures, or the belief that online courses answer the challenge of rapid tuition increases or changing student body, one issue that continues to resurface, concerning online courses is to how best to deliver the information and facilitate learning for the student.

Issues concerning student learning involve how they accept, retain and process information delivered in a course. This paper briefly defines and describes brain-based learning, a theory that is under investigation in higher education, and offers suggestions on how that theory may be implemented in the delivery of information and facilitation of online classes in higher education. Implications for online educators are also presented.

The brain is “not only the control center of the entire human body, organizing our behaviors and biological functions, but it also is the seat of our humanity. It defines who we are, how we act, and the very nature of our species.” (Slavkin 2004, 38).

KeyWords: Learning models, learners, modalities, online learning and instruction, brain-based learning, higher education.