Group items tagged

"This paper defines and examines three generations of distance education pedagogy. Unlike earlier classifications of distance education based on the technology used..."

This paper defines and examines three generations of distance education pedagogy. Unlike earlier classifications of distance education based on the technology used, this analysis focuses on the pedagogy that defines the learning experiences encapsulated in the learning design. The three generations of cognitive-behaviourist, social constructivist, and connectivist pedagogy are examined, using the familiar community of inquiry model (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000) with its focus on social, cognitive, and teaching presences. Although this typology of pedagogies could also be usefully applied to campus-based education, the need for and practice of openness and explicitness in distance education content and process makes the work especially relevant to distance education designers, teachers, and developers. The article concludes that high-quality distance education exploits all three generations as determined by the learning content, context, and learning expectations.

"DEHub and ODLAA will host the Education 2011-2021: Global challenges and perspectives of blended and distance learning Summit at the Dockside Venue, Darling Harbour, Sydney, from 15-18 February, 2011"

Education, and in particular higher education, has seen rapid change as learning institutions have had to adapt to the opportunities provided by the Internet to move more of their teaching online1 and to become more flexible in how they operate. It might be tempting to think that such a period of change would lead to a time of consolidation and agreement about approaches and models of operation that suit the 21st century. New technologies continue to appear,2 however, and the changes in attitude indicated by the integration of online activities and social approaches within our lives are accelerating rather than slowing down. How should institutions react to these changes? One part of the answer seems to be to embrace some of the philosophy of the Internet3 and reevaluate how to approach the relationship between those providing education and those seeking to learn. Routes to self-improvement that have no financial links between those providing resources and those using them are becoming more common,4 and the motivation for engaging with formal education as a way to gain recognition of learning is starting to seem less clear.5 What is becoming clear across all business sectors is that maintaining a closed approach leads to missing out on ways to connect with people and locks organizations into less innovative approaches.6 Higher education needs to prepare itself to exist in a more open future, either by accepting that current modes of operation will increasingly provide only one version of education or by embracing openness and the implications for change entailed. In this article we look at what happens when a more open approach to learning is adopted at an institutional level. There has been a gradual increase in universities opening up the content that they provide to their learners. Drawing on the model of open-source software, where explicit permission to freely use and modify code has developed a software industry that rivals commercial approaches, a proposed

"The manifesto for teaching online was a key output from the Student Writing project at the University of Edinburgh. It is a series of brief statements that attempt to capture what is generative and productive about online teaching, course design, writing, assessment and community. It is, and may remain, a living document that is reviewed and reworked periodically with colleagues, students and amongst the programme team of the MSc in E-learning programme. Its primary purpose is to spark discussion, and to articulate a position about e-learning that informs the work of the project team, and the MSc in E-learning programme more broadly. This position is best summarised by the first of the manifesto statements: Distance is a positive principle, not a deficit. Online can be the privileged mode."

Post arguing that teachers should keep a professional distance from their students. I think I profoundly disagree with this post, not around the act of staying distant but about the power differential built into his argument. Acting ethically and modelling good and realistic practice in life is more fundamental to a useful educational stance. This post refers I think to non-adults and emotional transference is something that teachers need to be conscious of. I'm not arguing that teachers should friend all their pupils online, rather that his reasons for this are flawed.

The mythology of more data = more knowledge.

"For as long as eLearning has been around, it has been haunted by the voices of those who aim to criticize its authenticity, viability, and quality. But is it true? Do students of traditional institutions boast more success than those who've chosen distance learning? It's time for some of these myths to die."

Rationale, pedagogy and links for using audio in HE. Note elements of intimacy, reducing transactional distances.

"It's a general overview of the eMM work in universities, and probably a good introduction to the eMM for those who don't want to search through the website." Stephen Marshall

"The study has been framed under the following guiding question: What skills, supports and processes are required by learners in the new ICT distance learning environments to ensure successful learner outcomes?"

"IRRODL (the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning) has just published a very special issue focused on connectivism."

Retrospective analysis of existing curriculum according to an activity taxonomy

Another vision of the 'spare room': "The Media Zoo provides a supportive, experimental environment for University staff to facilitate transfer of understanding of the design of learning activities using learning technologies."

Schuman's piece deriding the Mooc movement based on Thrun's 'pivot'. It's crap journalism but it's the article getting all the comments. As an academic maybe she should read Hattie before bigging up her own contribution to learning.

"The DUCKLING project - funded by JISC - at the University of Leicester develops advanced delivery, presentation and assessment processes to enhance the work-based learning experience for students studying remotely."

Special edition of journal on Open Educational Resources

Making digital learning normal at Dublin City Uni.