2 How can educational theories help you take your teaching online?

Figure 2 Four theories help us to understand best approach to teaching online

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A photographic image of a person working on a laptop and sat at a desk. They are positioned in the background, and slightly out of focus. Only their arms and part of their upper body is visable, from the side. In the foreground is a textbook which rests on the desk and is open with a pair of spectacles placed on the pages.

Figure 2 Four theories help us to understand best approach to teaching online

There are many theories associated with education, and it is not the role of this course to discuss them all. However, when referring to online education and its advantages to learners, four theories are often discussed and can help us to understand how to go about teaching online. These are behaviourism, cognitivism, constructivism and connectivism. The principles of effective online teaching outlined in Section 1 are informed by these theories.

We are not going to delve deeply into the four theories, but it can be useful to know the general ideas behind them when considering moving into the online teaching environment.