ETC677 Spring 2009

Common Question I: In the lesson, 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. Here is the first question. a. Please list five most critical elements of distributed learning "strategies" in distance learning.

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

Common Question I: In the lesson, 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. Here is the first question. a. Please list five most critical elements of distributed learning "strategies" in distance learning.

The first critical element in DL is clear outcomes. I think that students need to understand what they should be learning. Second, there needs to be some sort of way of communication, whether synchronous or asynchronous. Students need to be able to communicate with each other and with the professor for clarification and to share ideas. Third, I think that there needs to be some collaboration. Students need to be able to bounce ideas off each other and be able to work with each other to accomplish common tasks. The fourth critical element is to use a variety of learning tools, whether they are in the CMS or using Web 2.0 tools. Reading articles and doing discussions is partially good, but their needs to be more to the learning environment. Lastly, I think there needs to be some way of assessing that learning. There is a common goal amongst all students and they need to know if they accomplished that goal. Assessments tell students if they were successful in learning or not.

MJ, Thanks for the response! You stated: "Students need to be able to bounce ideas off each other and be able to work with each other to accomplish common tasks." Is this collaboration or cooperation?

It is more collaboration. Like the discussions in VISTA, you can have cooperation without actually collaborating. Students have to put ideas on the table and be able to listen, accept, and even modify those ideas to achieve the task at hand. This is more collaboration than cooperation.

Common Question II: How does WetPaint Wiki inhibit and/or enhance your group social interaction and social learning?

We think that WetPaint Wiki can inhibit and enhance group social interactions and learning by: Enhance: * common group workspace * area for collaboration, uploading documents, and threaded discussions * work space is flexible and can be edited by the members * allows peers to collaborate on a project * allows for discussions * Only shows group work, not other works and is private Inhibit: *Can't always tell who replies to whom *Formatting not very reliable * can only work within group space (cannot bring in other Web 2.0 tools to WetPaint) * WetPaint is not within the WebCT "classroom" * must be utilized by all members to be successful *Editing can be a little difficult: may cause confusion as to who is editing * site may be down for "maintanance" : cannot login to work

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

As a group we agree, but it depends on how the teacher/instructor uses the technology. If used effectively: ~ Students likely to me on task more (motivates and engages students in learning). ~accelerates, deepens and enriches basic skills ~contributes to change in schools ~promotes student centered environments Source: http://www.nmsa.org/Research/ResearchSummaries/Summary19/tabid/275/Default.aspx also, -capacity to adapt to local conditions and evolve over time; -creativity and innovation; -crossing of traditional disciplinary and conceptual boundaries; -appreciation of diversity, multiple perspectives and epistemic issues; -community members who are responsible and skilled at diagnosing and addressing their learning needs; These were taken from: http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~bwilson/dlc.html

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

We are going to play the devils advocate here and disagree. I do think that in some situations integrated online technology can be utilized to create a better learning enviroment. However I do not think that it is needed in all instructions. I feel that some times adding this distributed learning could take away from the content learning, because then instructors are not focused on what they are teaching so much as the tool they are using to teach it. This is discussed inds the Assessment portion of Encyclopedia of Distributed Learning by: Ana DiStefano, Kjell Erik Rudestam, and Robert Jay Silverman. The Encyclopedia also discusses briefly in the section on cognitive development another possible issue with distributed learning. The issue is that of isolation that distributed learning can create and how this can affect cognitive development. But as the Encyclopedia says long term results are not known because of the relative newness of distributed learning. I have taken many traditional classes that I feel were just fine without the added element that distributed learning brings. I think in some of those classes the teachers could not have handled a distributed learning element so it would not have been effective, if anything it would have taken away from the class, in fact I have taken some classes where this happend as well and the distributed learning took away from the content.

Thanks for the Wordle art. Based on your wordle art, students are used more frequently than learners. Please justify why? Are studetns the sanme as learners? If yes, why. If not, why not?