Skip to main content

Home/ ETAP640/ Group items tagged distance education

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
Irene Watts-Politza

Thirty-two Trends Affecting Distance Education: An Informed Foundation for Strategic Pl... - 1 views

www.westga.edu/...howell63.html

shared by Irene Watts-Politza on 13 Jun 12 - Cached
  • As universities shift toward competency and institutions cater more closely to learners’ specific needs, the distinctions between high school, undergraduate college, and graduate programs will dissolve. “Incentives will be given to students and institutions to move students through at a faster rate [and] the home school movement will lead to a home-college movement” (Dunn, 2000, p. 37). As leaders in the effort to cater to learners’ needs, distance education programs may be a dominant influence in this trend.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
      Irene Watts-Politza on 13 Jun 12
       
      P-20 pipeline
  • Accreditation and program approval will be based more on educational outcomes. Testing programs will be put in place by discipline organizations, federal and state governments, corporations, and testing companies. Large corporations will develop their own approval systems. By 2025, there will not be one national accreditation system, although the U.S. Department of Education will provide a basic safety net for quality. (p. 37; see also Pond, 2003) Distance educators must plan to accommodate this emphasis on accountability if they are to maintain accreditation and meet consumer demands.
  • Much of distance education programs’ success or failure can be attributed to how it is organized.
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • the academically decentralized/administratively centralized model
  • Changes in the institutional landscape may magnify competition among educational providers and allow new models and leaders to emerge.
  • Knowledge proliferation may increase content-breadth demands on higher education, spreading distance education resources ever thinner and complicating development decisions.
  • An NEA survey reported that faculty members’ top concern about distance education was that they will do more work for the same amount of pay, apparently a merited concern.
  • As long as distance education contributions are not considered in tenure and promotion decisions, and as long as professors have their own, traditional ways of delivering their courses, many faculty members will be reluctant to participate in online courses (Oravec, 2003). Concerning this reluctance, Dunn has predicted that many faculty members will revolt against technological course delivery and the emerging expectations their institutions will have of faculty members. Dunn forecast that some of the resistance will even be manifest through unionization and strikes (Dunn, 2000). Some have suggested the labor-intensive and time-consuming demands required to develop online modules as reasons for faculty resistance (Brogden, 2002).
  • The results of de Alva’s 2000 survey support this trend: governors rated “maintaining traditional faculty roles and tenure” as the least desirable characteristic of a twenty-first century university (p. 34).
  • Faculty members tend initially to try to use their conventional classroom methods to teach at a distance and then become frustrated when attempts are unsuccessful (Dasher-Alston & Patton, p. 14). In Green’s (2002) survey of the role
  • Distance education teams include administrators, instructional designers, technologists, and instructors/facilitators (Miller, 2001; Williams, 2003). The functions of instructors and facilitators then include being a “facilitator, teacher, organizer, grader, mentor, role model, counselor, coach, supervisor, problem solver, and liaison” (Riffee, 2003, p. 1; see also Roberson, 2002; Scagnoli, 2001). The role of faculty members in distance education requires “some specialized skills and strategies. Distance education instructors must plan ahead, be highly organized, and communicate with learners in new ways. They need to be accessible to students [and] work in teams when appropriate” (PSU, 1998, p. 4). Distance faculty members must be experts in maintaining communication, because there is increased demand for student interaction in distance learning (NEA, 2000). Finally, they may have to assume more administrative responsibilities than is true in a residential model (PSU, 1998).
  • “Rather than incorporating the responsibility for all technology- and competency-based functions into a single concept of ‘faculty member,’ universities are disaggregating faculty instructional activities and [assigning] them to distinct professionals” (Paulson, 2002, p. 124). Doing this involves a “deliberate division of labor among the faculty, creating new kinds of instructional staff, or deploying nontenure-track instructional staff (such as adjunct faculty, graduate teaching assistants, or undergraduate assistants) in new ways” (Paulson, 2002, p. 126
  • Online students are becoming an entirely new subpopulation of higher-education learners. They are “generally older, have completed more college credit hours and more degree programs, and have a higher all-college GPA than their traditional counterparts” (Diaz, 2002, pp. 1-2). For example, Diaz has noted that online students received twice as many A’s as traditional students and half as many D’s and F’s.
  • One result of the highly competitive e-learning market will be institutions that specialize in meeting particular niches in the market (Gallagher, 2003). Morrison and Barone (2003, p. 4) observed, “We can see the beginnings of the trend toward the unbundling of courses, credits, services, and fee structures.” Dunn foresaw a similar trend, predicting that “courseware producers will sell courses and award credits directly to the end user and thus, through intermediation, bypass the institutional middleman” (Dunn, 2000, p. 37). The transition may also blur the distinction between two- and four-year colleges and universities (Carr, 1999). In this context of greater “portability,” more educational “brokers” (e.g., Western Governor’s University, Excelsior College, Charter Oak State College, etc.) will exist (Pond, 2003). Further, as de Alva has asserted, “Institutional success for any higher education enterprise will depend more on successful marketing, solid quality-assurance and control systems, and effective use of the new media than on production and communication of knowledge” (de Alva, 2000, p. 40).
  • Joan McCabe on 13 Jun 12
     
    Trends that affect distance education. The part that shows how different online students are now is very interesting.
Alicia Fernandez

Heutagogy and lifelong learning: A review of heutagogical practice and self-determined ... - 2 views

www.irrodl.org/...2087

lifelong learning" heutagogy "self-determined learning" andragogy "self-directed learning" "social media" "double-loop learning" "reflection"

shared by Alicia Fernandez on 24 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • Alicia Fernandez on 03 Jun 14
     
    Heutagogy, a form of self-determined learning with practices and principles rooted in andragogy, has recently resurfaced as a learning approach after a decade of limited attention. In a heutagogical approach to teaching and learning, learners are highly autonomous and self-determined and emphasis is placed on development of learner capacity and capability with the goal of producing learners who are well-prepared for the complexities of today's workplace. The approach has been proposed as a theory for applying to emerging technologies in distance education and for guiding distance education practice and the ways in which distance educators develop and deliver instruction using newer technologies such as social media. The renewed interest in heutagogy is partially due to the ubiquitousness of Web 2.0, and the affordances provided by the technology. With its learner-centered design, Web 2.0 offers an environment that supports a heutagogical approach, most importantly by supporting development of learner-generated content and learner self-directedness in information discovery and in defining the learning path. Based on an extensive review of the current literature and research, this article defines and discusses the concepts of andragogy and heutagogy and describes the role of Web 2.0 in supporting a heutagogical learning approach. Examples of institutional programs that have incorporated heutagogical approaches are also presented; based on these examples and research results, course design elements that are characteristic of heutagogy are identified. The article provides a basis for discussion and research into heutagogy as a theory for guiding the use of new technologies in distance education.
Sue Rappazzo

Teaching at an Internet Distance-----MERLOT - 1 views

web.archive.org/...tid_report.html

merlot elearning virtual education teaching Module 4

shared by Sue Rappazzo on 10 Jul 10 - Cached
Kelly Hermann liked it
  • Several of our speakers were able to shed light on the cause of this rising tide of faculty opposition to computer mediated instruction. Andrew Feenberg of San Diego State University summarizes the situation in the opening paragraph of his "Distance Learning: Promise or Threat" (1999) article: "Once the stepchild of the academy, distance learning is finally taken seriously. But not in precisely the way early innovators like myself had hoped. It is not faculty who are in the forefront of the movement to network education. Instead politicians, university administrations and computer and telecommunications companies have decided there is money in it. But proposals for a radical "retooling" of the university emanating from these sources are guaranteed to provoke instant faculty hostility."
    • Kelly Hermann
      Kelly Hermann on 19 Jul 10
       
      As a red-head, I'm just glad they didn't use the phrase "red-headed stepchild." LOL
  • The implementation of online education shows both promise and peril. Computer mediated instruction may indeed introduce new and highly effective teaching paradigms, but high-quality teaching is not always assured. Administrative decisions made without due consideration to pedagogy, or worse, with policies or technology that hampers quality, may cause much wasted time, money and effort of both faculty and students.
  • In training, a particular package of knowledge is imparted to an individual so that he or she can assume work within a system, as the firefighters do for example. According to Noble, training and education are appropriately distinguished in terms of autonomy (Noble, 1999). In becoming trained, an individual relinquishes autonomy. The purpose of education, as compared to training, is to impart autonomy to the student. In teaching students to think critically, we say in effect "Student, know thyself." Education is not just the transmission of knowledge, important as that is, but also has to do with the transformation of persons (and the development of critical thinking skills).
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • Does good teaching in the classroom translate to good teaching online? If so, what elements can be translated and which ones can't or shouldn't?
  • "The shared mantra of the faculty and staff during the development of this document was that "good teaching is good teaching!" An Emerging Set of Guiding Principles... is less about distance education and more about what makes for an effective educational experience, regardless of where or when it is delivered."
  • Good practice encourages student-faculty contact. Good practice encourages cooperation among students. Good practice encourages active learning. Good practice gives prompt feedback. Good practice emphasizes time on task. Good practice communicates high expectations. Good practice respects diverse talents and ways of learning.
  • Frequent student-faculty contact in and out of class is the most important factor in student motivation and involvement. Faculty concern helps students get through rough times and keep on working. Knowing a few faculty members well enhances students' intellectual commitment and encourages them to think about their own values and future plans.
  • At first glance, teaching a class without the ability to see and hear the students in person appears daunting. The enlightened, quizzical, or stony facial expressions, the sighs of distress or gasps of wonder, and even the less-than-subtle raised hands or interjected queries that constitute immediate feedback to a lecture, discussion, or clinical situation are absent. Yet the proponents of online instruction will argue that these obstacles can be overcome, and that the online format has its own advantages. In the online experiences documented in the "Net.Learning" (www.pbs.org/netlearning/home.html) videotape, which our seminar viewed early in the year, Peggy Lant of the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo presented a striking example that occurred in her class' online discussion of civil war. One student's comments were especially gripping as she had just survived a civil war in her home country. Shy students who have trouble participating in a classroom discussion are said to feel more comfortable in an online setting. The ability to sit and think as one composes a question or comment also can raise the quality of the discussion. Susan Montgomery at the University of Michigan has developed an interactive website that addresses diverse learning styles through the use of multimedia (Montgomery, 1998).
  • Teachers, trainers, and professors with years of experience in classrooms report that computer networking encourages the high-quality interaction and sharing that is at the heart of education. ...(The) characteristics of online classes... generally result in students' contributing material that is much better than something they would say off the top of their heads in a face-to-face class. There is a converse side, however. Just after the passage above, Harasim cautions (Harasim et al. 1995) On the other hand, unless the teacher facilitates the networking activities skillfully, serious problems may develop. A conference may turn into a monologue of lecture-type material to which very few responses are made. It may become a disorganized mountain of information that is confusing and overwhelming for the participants. It may even break down socially into name calling rather than building a sense of community.
  • At what cost is this high degree of interaction, the need for which we suspect is student motivation and the professor's (online) attentiveness, achieved? In the previous section it was noted that charismatic professors of large (several hundred student) classes might indeed reach and motivate the students in the back row by intangible displays of attentiveness. Online, attentiveness must be tangible, and may involve more effort than in a face-to-face setting. These considerations imply an inherent limitation of online class size; size is determined by the amount of effort required to form a "community of learners."
  • Small class sizes and the linear dependence of effort on student numbers are indicative of the high level of interaction needed for high quality online teaching
  • The best way to maintain the connection [between online education and the values of traditional education] is through ensuring that distance learning is 'delivered' not just by CD ROMs, but by living teachers, fully qualified and interested in doing so online ... [P]repackaged material will be seen to replace not the teacher as a mentor and guide but the lecture and the textbook. Interaction with the professor will continue to be the centerpiece of education, no matter what the medium.
  • and Ronald Owston, who points out (Owston, 1997) "...we cannot simply ask 'Do students learn better with the Web as compared to traditional classroom instruction?' We have to realize that no medium, in and of itself, will likely improve learning in a significant way when it is used to deliver instruction. Nor is it realistic to expect the Web, when used as a tool, to develop in students any unique skills."
  • Facilitating Online Courses: A Checklist for Action The key concept in network teaching is to facilitate collaborative learning, not to deliver a course in a fixed and rigid, one-way format. Do not lecture. Be clear about expectations of the participants. Be flexible and patient. Be responsive. Do not overload. Monitor and prompt for participation. For assignments, set up small groups and assign tasks to them. Be a process facilitator. Write weaving comments every week or two... Organize the interaction. Set rules and standards for good netiquette (network etiquette)... Establish clear norms for participation and procedures for grading... Assign individuals or small groups to play the role of teacher and of moderator for portions of the course. Close and purge moribund conferences in stages... Adopt a flexible approach toward curriculum integration on global networks.
  • Sue Rappazzo on 10 Jul 10
     
    Love the step child reference!
  • ...3 more comments...
  • Sue Rappazzo on 10 Jul 10
     
    Have I not struggled with this throughout this course?!
  • Sue Rappazzo on 10 Jul 10
     
    Joy and I talked about this in discussions. I am now struggling with making a project mgr. aware of this at work. The vendor training online was boring so lets deliver it all in person. Junk is Junk online or in person!
  • Sue Rappazzo on 10 Jul 10
     
    That body language we mentioned in discussions this week in ETAP687
  • Sue Rappazzo on 10 Jul 10
     
    MERLOT-Teaching at internet distance
  • Sue Rappazzo on 10 Jul 10
     
    module 4 merlot
Irene Watts-Politza

Three generations of distance education pedagogy | Anderson | The International Review ... - 0 views

www.irrodl.org/...1663

asynchronous learning community of inquiry model COI pedagogy

shared by Irene Watts-Politza on 03 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • Another notable trend is towards more object-based, contextual, or activity-based models of learning. It is not so much a question of building and sustaining networks as of finding the appropriate sets of things and people
  • and activities. CloudWorks, a product of the OU-UK, is an example of this new trend, in which objects of discourse are more important than, or at least distinct from, the networks that enable them (Galley, Conole, Dalziel, & Ghiglione, 2010).
  • The next step in this cycle would seem to be, logically, to enable those sets to talk back to us: to find us, guide us, and influence our learning journeys. This represents a new and different form of communication, one in which the crowd, composed of multiple intelligences, behaves as an intentional single entity.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • PageRank algorithm behind a Google search works in exactly this way, taking multiple intelligent choices and combining them to provide ranked search results (Brin & Page, 2000).
  • it is not individuals, groups, or networks that help us to learn but a faceless intelligence that is partly made of human actions, partly of a machine’s.
  • We and others have described these entities in the past as collectives (Segaran, 2007).
  • Despite the ubiquity of such systems, what still remains unclear is how best to exploit them in learning. However, it seems at least possible that the next generation of distance education pedagogy will be enabled by technologies that make effective use of collectives.
  • learners and teacher collaborate to create the content of study, and in the process re-create that content for future use by others. Assessment in connectivist pedagogy combines self-reflection with teacher assessment of the contributions to the current and future courses. These contributions may be reflections, critical comments, learning objects and resources, and other digital artifacts of knowledge creation, dissemination, and problem solving.
  • Teaching presence in connectivist learning environments also focuses on teaching by example. The teachers’ construction of learning artifacts, critical contributions to class and external discussion, capacity to make connections across discipline and context boundaries, and the sum of their net presence serve to model connectivist presence and learning.
  • Irene Watts-Politza on 03 Jun 12
     
    Special Issue - Connectivism: Design and Delivery of Social Networked Learning Terry Anderson and Jon Dron Athabasca University, Canada Abstract. This paper defines and examines three generations of distance education pedagogy.
  • Irene Watts-Politza on 05 Jun 12
     
    Connectivism: Design and Delivery of Social Networked Learning Terry Anderson and Jon Dron Athabasca University, This paper defines and examines three generations of distance education pedagogy.
  • Irene Watts-Politza on 06 Jun 12
     
    Three Generations of Distance Education Pedagogy [Print Version] Special Issue - Connectivism: Design and Delivery of Social Networked Learning Terry Anderson and Jon Dron Athabasca University, Canada
Alicia Fernandez

From Pedagogy to Andragogy and Heutagogy: Thinking Distance Education and Self-Directed... - 4 views

papers.ssrn.com/...papers.cfm

andragogy heutagogy self-directed learning active learning

shared by Alicia Fernandez on 02 Jul 13 - No Cached
  • Alicia Fernandez on 06 Jun 14
     
    Education has historically been a core concept in societies. Over the years we have seen founders of educational thought compromise with dated economic and social trends. Locke, Dewey, Piaget, Montessori are only some of the 'contemporary' contributors in the field. It is very difficult for the educational paradigm of the industrial age to serve the so called 'Universal Electronic Campus' of the 'digital age' as there is a movement from campus based learning to web-based distance education.
  • Alicia Fernandez on 07 Jun 14
     
    Education has historically been a core concept in societies. Over the years we have seen founders of educational thought compromise with dated economic and social trends. Locke, Dewey, Piaget, Montessori are only some of the 'contemporary' contributors in the field. It is very difficult for the educational paradigm of the industrial age to serve the so called 'Universal Electronic Campus' of the 'digital age' as there is a movement from campus based learning to web-based distance education.
alexandra m. pickett

Issues in Distance Learning - 1 views

carbon.cudenver.edu/...issues.html

distancelearning

shared by alexandra m. pickett on 28 May 08 - Cached
  • This review of literature and current information related to distance learning is an expansion and update of Schlosser and Anderson's (1994) literature review for the Iowa model of distance education. Additional reports were obtained through the Pacific Mountain Network, the ERIC database, electronic communications via Internet with administrators of open universities and open learning agencies throughout the world, collections of manuscripts and documents in the Department of Instructional Technology and Special Education at the University of Colorado at Denver, and personal communications with distance education developers at professional conferences as well as school districts in the Greater Denver area. It is intended as a companion piece to Sherry and Morse's (1995) Needs Assessment for Distance Education, as well as background information for other projects in telecommunications and distance learning.
    • alexandra m. pickett
      alexandra m. pickett on 31 May 08
       
      this is an early lit review on distance learning that i thought you would find interesting.
Irene Watts-Politza

Teachers' Invisible Presence in Net-based Distance Education | Hult | The International... - 0 views

www.irrodl.org/...838

distance education teachers university research teacher presence

shared by Irene Watts-Politza on 07 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • The stance taken in this paper, then, is constructivist – that conversation is learning in the making.
  • Any conversation, that is, draws on heteroglossia (Bakhtin’s neologism) – pools of different ideas whose elements, when exchanged, foster learning. According to Bakhtin, every utterance has a double significance. It is an expression of a 'unitary [common] language' used to conduct the conversation and, at the same time, it builds on the 'social and historical' differences embedded in the heteroglossia (1981, p. 272).
    • Irene Watts-Politza
      Irene Watts-Politza on 07 Jun 12
       
      This is what happens in a discussion thread.
  • Yuri Lotman,
  • ...28 more annotations...
  • described conversations as multi-authored texts rather than as multi-voiced heteroglossia (see Bakhtin, 1994,
  • texts “fulfill at least two basic functions:
  • fulfilled best when the codes of the speaker and the listener most completely coincide and, consequently, when the text has the maximum degree of univocality” (1988, p. 34). The generation of new meanings occurs when there are differences between the speaker and the listener. Texts used in educational exchanges cease:
  • online adult education is not the delivery of texts but, rather, the creation and insertion of ‘thinking devices’ into conversation.
  • For this article we have concentrated on teacher and student views of teachers’ role orientations in online courses.
  • our intention has been to identify and clarify teaching ‘saliences’ that have emerged in online adult education in Sweden. In a wider sense, however, our analysis is also a response to the question: ‘Whatever happened to teaching in the learning society?’
  • the posting data support the claim that the teachers adopted an initiating role.
  • Greater activity:
  • Greater influence on topic:
  • Faster response times:
  • When asked about their views, all students felt that teachers played a central role in supporting Net-based learning. Indeed, some of them suggested that moderation in online settings of adult education is more important than in face-to-face settings.
  • Orientations to Teaching
  • Activity Orientation
  • In this perspective, teachers gave students tasks that activated them and, thereby, fostered their understanding of subject matter.
  • offered students tips about articles, books and Internet sites
  • Some students spoke about being activated by stimulating tasks that led them to engage with the Web and libraries, with one of them adding ‘seeking by your self is a pre-condition for learning.’ Active searching also meant that students came into contact with information which extended their learning beyond the task itself.
  • None of the teachers, however, was entirely satisfied with their dialogic or conference practice. Levels of engagement, dialogue, and initiative-taking were not as high as they had hoped. In response, they tried to promote conversation by encouraging students to react to each other’s postings, by organising tasks where cooperation and interaction was needed, or by introducing new aspects and questions when discussion faltered.
  • Further, teachers reported that they also tried to act as models of good behaviour by giving swift replies to student postings and by making their own postings appropriate yet concise.
  • In contrast to the teachers most of the student group were satisfied with the course conversations.
  • A few
  • felt that sharing different aspects of the subject matter with the teacher and fellow students raised fresh questions. It made them reach beyond the book, evoking learning and thinking along new pathways. Even if they thought that well-chosen tasks were the most effective way of fostering dialogue, they also expected the course leader to participate fully, developing new themes if student postings declined, and remaining alert to student proposals that might enhance the interchange of ideas and knowledge.
  • Many students emphasised the importance of teaching that corroborated or validated their learning.
  • None of the teachers, however, spontaneously offered this view as their primary role or orientation. Nevertheless, when asked whether they had any correspondence with students through private mailboxes rather than ‘conferences’ and ‘cafes,’ some of them said that they occasionally responded privately to correct misinterpretations.
  • This task raises many questions about teaching, highlighting the difference, for example, between instructionist and constructionist paradigms for learning (Wilensky, 1991). Would a too well-planned course be instructionist, thus constraining student influence and the pursuit of democracy? In their postings, teachers in this study felt that there was no necessary contradiction – that well-planned courses could, indeed, strengthen student influence. Nevertheless, busy distance education students, according to the teachers, often appreciate instructionist courses with clearly stated activities and tasks, even if the students are left with limited opportunities to ‘construct their own relationships with the objects of knowledge’ (Wilensky, 1991, p. 202).
  • Teacher’s invisible presence is exemplified in taking a stand-by role and/ or being reluctant to intervene. ‘The [teachers’] silence should be deafening,’ one teacher recommended. Although most of the teachers agreed that well-planned courses do not inhibit course dialogue, the fact that in their own online course deliberations they set aside time to discuss this issue may reflect ambivalence in their stance. The question of when and how teachers should intervene remains impossible to resolve, except in practice.
  • three different aspects of teaching,
  • a second conclusion – that the promotion of learning in an open environment requires an animating or steering presence. Such teaching, however, is not a process of instruction. And for this reason the word teacher may no longer be appropriate. In English, the word tutor is commonly used in adult education, because it has connotations of ‘supervision’ and ‘guardianship’ as well as ‘instruction’ (see Oxford English Dictionary). More recently, Salmon has suggested ‘e-moderating,’ but even moderation carries instructionist connotations – to exercise a controlling influence over; to regulate, restrain, control, rule (OED) – that may not be appropriate to all forms of liberal education. In the context of mainland Europe, the word pedagogue may be appropriate since, etymologically, pedagogue denotes someone engaged in 'drawing out.'
  • Intellectual development, however, can be an intra- as well as an inter-personal phenomenon. That is, learning may not come directly from teachers but rather from their absent or invisible presence. Online pedagogues, therefore, can be present in different ways. They may be present in person, participating in learning conversations. They may constitute an absent presence that, nonetheless, is embodied in the learning resources directed towards students (e.g., the selected readings or activities). Or pedagogues may exist merely as inner voices, inherited from the language of others, that (invisibly) steer the desires, self-regulation, and self-direction of learners. Indeed, this last pedagogic position ‘auto-didacticism,’ has always been central to the post-Enlightenment ideals of liberal adult education.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
      Irene Watts-Politza on 07 Jun 12
       
      Here's the money.
  • Irene Watts-Politza on 07 Jun 12
     
    Swedish study of university student and professor attitudes toward satisfaction with and definition of teacher presence in online adult learning. Implications for course design with respect to knowing one's audience.
Amy M

Adult Learning Activities | California Distance Learning Project - 0 views

www.cdlponline.org/index.cfm

shared by Amy M on 24 Jun 12 - Cached
  • From Low Tech to the Internet
  • The California Distance Learning Project (CDLP) defines distance learning as follows. "Distance Learning (DL) is an instructional delivery system that connects learners with educational resources. DL provides educational access to learners not enrolled in educational institutions and can augment the learning opportunities of current students. The implementation of DL is a process that uses available resources and will evolve to incorporate emerging technologies."
  • Amy M on 24 Jun 12
     
    TYpes of distance learning; low tech to high tech
Alicia Fernandez

The Use of Alternative Social Networking Sites in Higher Educational Settings: A Case S... - 0 views

www.ncolr.org/...9.2.4.pdf

online learning social presence social networking 'Ning

shared by Alicia Fernandez on 02 Jul 14 - No Cached
  • Alicia Fernandez on 02 Jul 14
     
    Study suggests that education -based SNSs can be used most effectively in distance education courses as a technological tool for improved online communications among students in higher distance education courses.
Alicia Fernandez

TOWARDS AN EFFECTIVE USE OF AUDIO CONFERENCING IN DISTANCE LANGUAGE COURSES - 0 views

llt.msu.edu/...default.html

distance language learning audio conferencing audio graphic conferencing

shared by Alicia Fernandez on 19 Jun 14 - Cached
  • Alicia Fernandez on 19 Jun 14
     
    In order to respond to learners' need for more flexible speaking opportunities and to overcome the geographical challenge of students spread over the United Kingdom and continental Western Europe, the Open University recently introduced Internet-based, real-time audio conferencing, thus making a groundbreaking move in the distance learning and teaching of languages. Since February 2002, online tutorials for language courses have been offered using Lyceum, an Internet-based audio-graphics conferencing tool developed in house. Our research is based on the first Open University course ever to deliver tutorials solely online, a level 2 German course, and this article considers some of the challenges of implementing online tuition. As a starting point, we present the pedagogical rationale underpinning the virtual learning and teaching environment. Then we examine the process of development and implementation of online tuition in terms of activity design, tutor training, and student support. A number of methodological tools such as logbooks, questionnaires, and observations were used to gather data. The findings of this paper highlight the complexity of the organisational as well as the pedagogical framework that contributes to the effective use of online tuition via audio conferencing systems in a distance education setting.
J Robin Ward

Preparing Instructors for Quality Online Instruction - 1 views

www.westga.edu/...yang81.htm

shared by J Robin Ward on 12 Jun 10 - Cached
  • The major concerns are centering on the following questions: What will be the new role for instructors in online education? How will students' learning outcomes be assured and improved in online learning environment? How will effective communication and interaction be established with students in the absence of face-to-face instruction? How will instructors motivate students to learn in the online learning environment?
  • Instructors have many concerns about online education. Their primary concern is how online education changes their roles and responsibilities, and how they can adapt to this change. Online education is widely accepted as student-centered education, and the traditional education is regarded as professor-centered education. Due to a shift to online education, the instructor's role has become more of a facilitator than a traditional lecturer. Therefore, the traditional professor-centered educational environment and student-centered online educational environment will have many differences. Besides their role shifting, the role of the virtual instructor is to select and filter information for student consideration, to provide thought-provoking questions, and to facilitate well-considered discussion (Kettner-Polley, 1999).
  • Clark (2002) pointed out that online learner must be a constructivist learner. This suggests that the learner must be active in the process, cognitively complex and motivated. According to Clark , motivating factors in the learning process include self-reference, personal goals, control and autonomy . Howland & Moore's (2002) study examined 48 students' experiences in online environments. Their results confirmed that the students who were the most positive in their perceptions of online learning were those with attributes consistent with constructivist learners. The most positive students were more independent, proactive and responsible for their learning.
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • Alley and Jansak (2001) have also identified 10 keys to quality online learning. The authors suggested that online courses will be high quality when they are student-centered and when: Knowledge is constructed, not transmitted. Students can take full responsibility for their own learning. Students are motivated to want to learn. The course provides “mental white space” for reflection. Learning activities appropriately match student learning styles. Experiential, active learning augments the Web site learning environment, Solitary and interpersonal learning activities are interspersed. Inaccurate prior learning is identified and corrected. “Spiral learning” provides for revisiting and expanding prior lessons, The master teacher is able to guide the overall learning process. (p. 6-17)
  • nstructors may lack sufficient information on how well learners actually perform
  • how to appropriately use technology to serve an instructional purpose tends
  • they have to face the challenge of lack of direct interpersonal contact with students
  • the instructor to motivate students to adjust their roles when becoming an online learner
  • Since face to face instruction is usually eliminated in online classes, i
  • While arguments have been made in opposition to online education, there are proponents who are in support of this mode of instruction. They suggest that the lack of face-to-face interaction can be substituted by online discussions in bulletin board systems, online video conferences or on listservs (Blake, 2000). Online education can also promote students' critical thinking skills, deep learning, collaborative learning, and problem-solving skills (Ascough, 2002; Rosie, 2000). Donlevy (2003) asserted that online education may help schools expand curricula offerings with less cost and can help graduates gain important technology skills to improve their marketability. Proponents also argue that online education can encourage non-discriminatory teaching and learning practices since the teachers and students, as well as students and their classmates typically do not meet face-to-face. Palloff and Pratt (1999) have concluded that because students cannot tell the race, gender, physical characteristics of each other and their teachers, online education presents a bias-free teaching and learning environment for instructors and students.
  • academic dishonesty of online learners (Muirhead, 2000)
    • J Robin Ward
      J Robin Ward on 02 Jun 14
       
      This is one of the topics I expressed interest in -- need to take a look at the source.
  • several factors that may deter faculty from teaching online.
  • lack of professional prestige
    • J Robin Ward
      J Robin Ward on 02 Jun 14
       
      Similar to Rogers 2003.
  • While many critics have suggested that there is no sure way to hold students accountable for academic dishonesty, Heberling (2002) concluded that while maintaining academic integrity in the online instructional setting may be a challenging, many strategies may be employed to detect and prevent plagiarism, such as reversing an Internet search, tracking back to an original source.
  • 10 keys to quality online learning
  • Knowledge is constructed, not transmitted. Students can take full responsibility for their own learning. Students are motivated to want to learn. The course provides “mental white space” for reflection. Learning activities appropriately match student learning styles. Experiential, active learning augments the Web site learning environment, Solitary and interpersonal learning activities are interspersed. Inaccurate prior learning is identified and corrected. “Spiral learning” provides for revisiting and expanding prior lessons, The master teacher is able to guide the overall learning process. (p. 6-17)
  • Alley and Jansak (2001)
Lauren D

Distance Learning: Promises, Problems, and Possibilities - 0 views

www.westga.edu/...valentine53.html

technology online web2.0 distance_learning education

shared by Lauren D on 19 Jun 12 - Cached
  • Bates (1995) suggests that newer technologies are not inherently better than old ones and many of the lessons learned from the application of older technologies will still apply to any newer technology. Again, the instructor should be trained to take advantage of both their experience and being able to adapt that experience to the new environment of distance learning.  The instructors must be trained “not only to use technology, but also to shift the way in which they organize and deliver material” (Palloff & Pratt, 2000, pg. 3). 
  • In a 1995 study, Olenski et al., found that technicians could indirectly influence the learning environment by “orientating participants to the technology, reducing the anxiety of the participants” (including the instructor), “and by advising the instructor on instructional techniques”(pg. 3).  This type of role, if viewed negatively by the instructor, can have a huge impact on the quality of the presentation, yet many times the instructor and the technicians do not meet until the initial class meeting
  • The technology will undoubtedly keep improving and the price will drop, as technology is prone to do once it comes into general use.  Already we see improvement in the delivery systems of compressed video and computer assisted instruction.  Despite student problems with distance learning, studies indicate they are relatively satisfied with what they are receiving.
  • Lauren D on 19 Jun 12
     
    Bates (1995) suggests that newer technologies are not inherently better than old ones and many of the lessons learned from the application of older technologies will still apply to any newer technology. Again, the instructor should be trained to take advantage of both their experience and being able to adapt that experience to the new environment of distance learning. The instructors must be trained "not only to use technology, but also to shift the way in which they organize and deliver material" (Palloff & Pratt, 2000, pg. 3).
Gary Bedenharn

Athabasca University : Canada's Leader in Online & Distance Education - 0 views

www.athabascau.ca

university education distance e-learning learning disability

shared by Gary Bedenharn on 24 Jun 12 - Cached
  • Gary Bedenharn on 24 Jun 12
     
    Online and distance education They have done research on access education to the people with disability.
Anneke Chodan

Students' Distress with Distance Education - Noriko Hara and Rob Kling (Center for Soci... - 0 views

scholarworks.iu.edu/...wp00-01B.html

distance education technical difficulties students

shared by Anneke Chodan on 06 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • Irene Watts-Politza on 06 Jun 12
     
    Many advocates of computer-mediated distance education emphasize its positive aspects and understate the kinds of communicative and technical capabilities and work required by students and faculty.
  • Anneke Chodan on 12 Jun 12
     
    Small study of the frustrations faced by students who were new to distance learning.
Mary Huffman

Validated Competencies for Distance Teaching - 0 views

ehis.ebscohost.com.libproxy.albany.edu/...detail

shared by Mary Huffman on 15 Jun 13 - No Cached
  • Mary Huffman on 15 Jun 13
     
    Darabi, A. B. (2006). Validated Competencies for Distance Teaching. Distance Education, 27(1), 105-122.
Amy M

Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0 (EDUCAUSE Review) | EDUC... - 0 views

www.educause.edu/...162420

shared by Amy M on 28 May 09 - Cached
  • 30 million people today qualified to enter a university who have no place to go. During the next decade, this 30 million will grow to 100 million. To meet this staggering demand, a major university needs to be created each week.
  • Open Educational Resources (OER) movement, which has provided free access to a wide range of courses and other educational materials to anyone who wants to use them.
  • Web 2.0,
    • jessica mascle
      jessica mascle on 28 May 09
       
      ?
    • Amy M
      Amy M on 04 Jun 12
       
      Web 1.0 was individuals accessing information.  Web 2.0 is the "social web."  Users focusing on social interaction rather than just getting conent.
  • ...26 more annotations...
  • from access to information toward access to other people.
  • What do we mean by “social learning”?
  • e that our understanding of content is socially constructed through conversations about that content and through grounded interactions, especially with others, around problems or actions. The focus is not so much on what we are learning but on how we are learning.5
  • Students in these groups can ask questions to clarify areas of uncertainty or confusion, can improve their grasp of the material by hearing the answers to questions from fellow students, and perhaps most powerfully, can take on the role of teacher to help other group members benefit from their understanding (one of the best ways to learn something is, after all, to teach it to others).
    • Shoubang Jian
      Shoubang Jian on 03 Jun 10
       
      The dichotomy between Cartesian and Social Learning is problematic, and this is one of the reasons why. If Social Learning still comes down to group learning from each other, it remains unclear what would be the "alternative" model of learning/teaching between group users, if not substance/pedagogy.
  • But viewing learning as the process of joining a community of practice reverses this pattern and allows new students to engage in “learning to be” even as they are mastering the content of a field.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
      Irene Watts-Politza on 02 Jun 12
       
      Schools of Ed/teacher prep programs are being charged with providing "clinically rich" programs that engage candidates more actively, earlier, and more frequently in their program of study. This is proving to be difficult to actualize in the current wave of APPR uncertainty.
  • apprenticeship
  • open source movement
    • Shoubang Jian
      Shoubang Jian on 03 Jun 10
       
      Open Source Project may be a model for building up knowledge base among devoted users who are willing to follow the "path" set by predecessors. It is quite another issue whether it is a model for education.
  • Digital StudyHall (DSH)
    • Shoubang Jian
      Shoubang Jian on 03 Jun 10
       
      It's not clear in what sense this DSH method is an example of social learning.
  • We now need a new approach to learning—one characterized by a demand-pull rather than the traditional supply-push mode of building up an inventory of knowledge in students’ heads. Demand-pull learning shifts the focus to enabling participation in flows of action, where the focus is both on “learning to be” through enculturation into a practice as well as on collateral learning.
  • open participatory learning ecosystems
    • b malczyk
      b malczyk on 30 May 12
       
      Not only is it a matter of "if" such campuses are a possibility, but "should" such campuses be a priority. If online and distance education can yield at least comparable results to traditional academic settings, then their ease of accessibility and lower overhead costs warrant further exploration as a viable possibility.
  • “I think, therefore I am,” and from the assumption that knowledge is something that is transferred to the student via various pedagogical strategies, the social view of learning says, “We participate, therefore we are
  • provided students with opportunities to observe and then to emulate how experts function
    • b malczyk
      b malczyk on 30 May 12
       
      How does the open source idea fit with fields like medicine or chemistry where knowledge is less "socially constricted"? 
    • Amy M
      Amy M on 04 Jun 12
       
      Open Source/Access research.  One of the problems right now is that the NIH or fed government will pay for research, but the public then had to pay for the results of that research.  We are paying for the same research twice.  Open Access Journals (see Harvard Memo) hopes to change this.
  • seeking the knowledge when it is needed in order to carry out a particular situated task.
    • b malczyk
      b malczyk on 30 May 12
       
      Knowledge that is obtained when "needed" then answers the famous question many high school students ask their teachers, "When will I ever use this?" 
    • Irene Watts-Politza
      Irene Watts-Politza on 02 Jun 12
       
      I grew to see high school as a time for exposure to all disciplines in order to find what best suited one in preparation for college or the workplace. Now I am wondering if the multiplicity of disciplines will be "tailored" to fit the personal interests of the learner. Will differentiating for all eradicate the question Ben mentions?
  • all student writing was done on public blogs
    • b malczyk
      b malczyk on 31 May 12
       
      This form of education was also based on what could be called an industrial style of education. They education system became an extension of industry--students were passed along on the assembly line from one course to the next, year after year and came out a finished produce with similar skills and altitudes as their peers. Now education has and can become more narrow and niche based and less industrial.
  • This involves acquiring the practices and the norms of established practitioners in that field or acculturating into a community of practice.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
      Irene Watts-Politza on 02 Jun 12
       
      This is the model embraced by most teacher ed programs.
    • Amy M
      Amy M on 04 Jun 12
       
      Which has its advantages and disadvantages. 
  • In this open environment, both the content and the process by which it is created are equally visible, thereby enabling a new kind of critical reading—almost a new form of literacy—that invites the reader to join in the consideration of what information is reliable and/or important.
  • And at the third level, any participant in Second Life could review the lectures and other course materials online at no cost. This experiment suggests one way that the social life of Internet-based virtual education can coexist with and extend traditional education.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
      Irene Watts-Politza on 02 Jun 12
       
      Will the professions embrace as colleague one who excels in a non-credit course of study or will opportunities continue to be closed to those who don't present the "right" credentials?
  • Through these continuing connections, the University of Michigan students can extend the discussions, debates, bull sessions, and study groups that naturally arise on campus to include their broader networks. Even though these extended connections were not developed to serve educational purposes, they amplify the impact that the university is having while also benefiting students on campus.14 If King is right, it makes sense for colleges and universities to consider how they can leverage these new connections through the variety of social software platforms that are being established for other reasons.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
      Irene Watts-Politza on 02 Jun 12
       
      I am wondering if "leveraging" these networks will become a basis for funding in the case of state colleges and universities.
  • he site’s developers note: “We fundamentally believe that the new electronic environment and its tools enable us to revive the humanistic spirit of communal and collaboratively ‘playful’ learning of which the Decameron itself is the utmost expression.”
    • Irene Watts-Politza
      Irene Watts-Politza on 02 Jun 12
       
      The notion of 'playful' learning is my ideal; this seems to be at odds with the test drill environment I am currently observing in grades 3 - 6. Currently, it seems as though there are two tracks developing in "Learning 2.0": assessment-driven and learner-driven.
  • As more of learning becomes Internet-based, a similar pattern seems to be occurring. Whereas traditional schools offer a finite number of courses of study, the “catalog” of subjects that can be learned online is almost unlimited. There are already several thousand sets of course materials and modules online, and more are being added regularly. Furthermore, for any topic that a student is passionate about, there is likely to be an online niche community of practice of others who share that passion.
  • that will support active, passion-based learning: Learning 2.0. This new form of learning begins with the knowledge and practices acquired in school but is equally suited for continuous, lifelong learning that extends beyond formal schooling.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
      Irene Watts-Politza on 02 Jun 12
       
      Surely the content and skills currently being taught and assessed Pk-12 must give way to a new set of literacies.
  • In addition to supporting lecture-style teaching, Terra Incognita includes the capability for small groups of students who want to work together to easily “break off” from the central classroom before rejoining the entire class. Instructors can “visit” or send messages to any of the breakout groups and can summon them to rejoin the larger group.
  • CyberOne Classroom in Second Life
  • Jeanne Cousineau on 28 May 09
     
    Social View of Learning
Maree Michaud-Sacks

Beyond Andragogy : Some Explorations for Distance Learning Design | Burge | T... - 0 views

www.jofde.ca/...220

distance learning learner centered design

shared by Maree Michaud-Sacks on 10 Jun 13 - No Cached
  • Maree Michaud-Sacks on 10 Jun 13
     
    This article goes into the background of andragogy and implications for distance learning
  • Maree Michaud-Sacks on 11 Jun 13
     
    Proposes the framework of the 4 R's for learner centered practices: Responsibility Relevance Relationships Rewards
Gary Bedenharn

Developing a Nursing Course for Distance Education - 0 views

www.westga.edu/...oneill14.html

developing nursing distance education distance education

shared by Gary Bedenharn on 29 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • Gary Bedenharn on 29 Jun 12
     
    Study of the three key ideas for success in an online nursing course.
Danielle Melia

http://www.osuokcprofdev.net/facultyfocusreports/strategiesforincreasingonlinestudentre... - 0 views

www.osuokcprofdev.net/...singonlinestudentretention.pdf

education learning teaching online

shared by Danielle Melia on 15 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • Danielle Melia on 15 Jun 12
     
    Featuring a collection of top articles from Distance Education Report, this new Faculty Focus special report provides practical strategies for improving online student retention, engagement and satisfaction. Articles include: * 11 Tips for Improving Retention of Distance Learning Students * Understanding the Impact of Attrition on Your School * Taking a Holistic View of Student Retention * Eight Suggestions to Help You Get Your Retention Act Together Now * Online Mentoring Builds Retention * Nine Truths about Recruitment and Retention * Finding Helpful Patterns in Student Engagement
1 - 20 of 123 Next › Last »
Showing 20▼ items per page