Group items tagged

I will ask each group several common questions and specific question on your group treatise paper. These questions can be responded by any of your group members as an individual opinion or as group response. It is your group decision. Please list five most critical elements of distributed learning system in distance learning.

Group 5 collaboration via elluminate answers as follows: 1. Knowing the stakeholders 2. Choosing the right authoring tool 3. Basing instruction on the best pedagogical model (constructivist / connectivist) 4. Delivering instruction with appropriate strategies for online learning (collaboration, portfolio, discussion, etc). 5. Appropriate assessment tools (rubrics, peer review, self-reflection, etc).

Most of people probably would agree that all instructions should have integrated online technology. Do you agree or disagree? Why? Please at least provide three reasons with good literatures to support your arguments.

During our group discussion on this topic, we can to the conclusion that integrating technology in the classroom is something we all should do, but it is still something that we have not fully embraced quite yet. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE, 2007) and the National Council of the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE, 2002) advocate the use of technology in education and suggest students should be provided opportunities to engage in technology-supported activities that enhance their learning experiences. Obviously the use of technology in the classroom is recommended, but there is a period of transition for most teachers. Unfortunately this period of transition is taking longer than most would have hoped. Old educational approaches based on traditional thinking aimed at specialization and standardization, are no longer appropriate. An education system needs to reflect the needs of the learner, be contextually relevant and prepare the learner for a changing society (Esbin, 2002). During our discussion we came up with a list of all the great things that incorporating technology into classroom instructions could provide. They are listed below, and represent what we came up with in just a few minutes of brainstorming. Integrated technology pros: 1. Links to relevant resources and web pages. 2. Ability to reach out to students beyond the classroom. 3. 21st century skills require 21st century technologies 4. More access to content beyond book and lecture. 5. Practice at distance learning. 6. Information is available anytime, anywhere 7. Convenience In order to move forward in a student-centered learning environment the learners will have to engage in different activities (Bhattacharya, 2009). If we expect these students to compete in a world that is so connected, we should provide them an opportunity to practice these skills. Integrating technology into the classroom is a benefit to the teacher as much as it is to the s

In distributed learning assessment (collaborative learning), it is very difficult to know who is doing the course work. How do we know the actual students are doing the course work and how can we assess?

Group 5 elluminate collaborative answer is as follows: This is very difficult to determine. Online work should be combined with some synchronous interaction involving voice and even better, video to determine that written work matches with student's capability.

I meet with my online students by phone or in Elluminate at least monthly and ask them questions about their learning while viewing samples of their work. It is still very hard to tell!