Education is a field that is constantly changing and adopting new best practices. As education has been traditionally a face-to-face setting, distance education has been around for many years in forms such as correspondence classes via mail, television, and even phone calls (Simondon, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009). Now in the 21st century distance learning will become even more prominent with the introduction of online classes and degrees that are being sought entirely from the comfort of ones own sofa.
In the distant and not-so distant future I believe that the perceptions of distance learning will be very different than they are today. Currently, I believe that some people do not give the respect to distance learning that they should. People are often surprised to know that I am seeking a master’s degree through a distance setting, and people are even more surprised to know that my high school is offering distance education courses. The misperceptions of distance learning are often that classes are easy and that there is very little time commitment involved. In the future, I do not think that there will be such a misunderstanding about distance courses because so many people will be involved in them. Distance courses will no longer be very rare, but will be something that students are exposed to at a very young age.
As an instructional designer it is imperative that I am an advocate for distance education. If poor perceptions exist of distance education, than it is my job as an instructional designer to make sure that students are exposed to a course that is academically rigorous and intellectually stimulating. I also have a responsibility as an instructional designer to make sure that I am an advocate for distance learning by welcoming an open dialogue and willingness to expose the general public to some of the work that learners at a distance are doing.
In my current position as a high school special education teacher, I see a very wide opportunity for me to be an advocate for positive chance in distance education. For some of my students, the typical classroom setting does not fit their learning style and academic needs. For many of these students, the ability to be able to complete these classes online at a pace and in a setting that is more conducive to their learning style may be extremely advantageous. As an instructional designer it is imperative that I am a voice for these students and bring this change to the K-12 setting.
Distance learning will change education forever. I believe that there is a clientele and a need for distance learning not only in higher education but in the K-12 setting as well. Giving credence for that and being the best advocate that I possibly can for this change will be an imperative calling.
Reference
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a
Distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Designing for Distance Learning
As a life long learner who has attended several colleges and is working on a second master’s degree, I am always interested in what course offerings prestigious colleges and universities have. For this weeks application, we were asked to look at open source courses that are available on the internet. I was very surprised to learn that many of the most prestigious universities in the country had open source courses that were available for free on the internet. Yale, Stanford and MIT all have classes that are available for free.
For this application, I chose to analyze an open source course from MIT. The course is titled America in Depression and War and is available at http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/history/21h-126-america-in-depression-and-war-spring-2003/index.htm
The course seems to be very thoroughly planned and designed for a distance learner to complete the course independently. The course has very specific readings that are linked together through Amazon.com so that the student may purchase the texts. There are also supplemental resources for students to look at such as primary source documents and photographs from the time period. Specific assignments are also listed as well as a week-by-week timeline of the course.
While I believe that this course is applicable and interesting for someone simply wanting to take a class on this time period, there are a few aspects that are seriously lacking as far as current recommendations for on-line learning. First of all, the class is done completely independently. There is no forum for discussion or student interaction. There is an email address for the teacher, but the student would have to seek out the teacher interaction. I believe that not having a discussion for students to participate in is a distinct fall back of this class. “The threaded discussion is one of the most powerful techniques used in distance education” (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, p. 186, 2007).
The activities that students are asked to do in this course are essay based. Based on the reading requirements that students are asked to complete, they have an essay to build off of. While this is very standard in many face-to-face-classes, I found that in my experience in distance education this is not always true. One of the reasons why I have found distance education to work so well for me is the opportunity for creativity. I have been able to explore with web 2.0 tools and create websites as applications for my learning.
Overall, I believe that this course does not meet the foundational requirements of distance learning because of the lack of student collaboration, however I am certain that this course would be an excellent choice for someone who is simply more interested in a correspondence type of course where they are responsible for the materials and learning completely independently.
Resouces:
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.
For this application, I chose to analyze an open source course from MIT. The course is titled America in Depression and War and is available at http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/history/21h-126-america-in-depression-and-war-spring-2003/index.htm
The course seems to be very thoroughly planned and designed for a distance learner to complete the course independently. The course has very specific readings that are linked together through Amazon.com so that the student may purchase the texts. There are also supplemental resources for students to look at such as primary source documents and photographs from the time period. Specific assignments are also listed as well as a week-by-week timeline of the course.
While I believe that this course is applicable and interesting for someone simply wanting to take a class on this time period, there are a few aspects that are seriously lacking as far as current recommendations for on-line learning. First of all, the class is done completely independently. There is no forum for discussion or student interaction. There is an email address for the teacher, but the student would have to seek out the teacher interaction. I believe that not having a discussion for students to participate in is a distinct fall back of this class. “The threaded discussion is one of the most powerful techniques used in distance education” (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, p. 186, 2007).
The activities that students are asked to do in this course are essay based. Based on the reading requirements that students are asked to complete, they have an essay to build off of. While this is very standard in many face-to-face-classes, I found that in my experience in distance education this is not always true. One of the reasons why I have found distance education to work so well for me is the opportunity for creativity. I have been able to explore with web 2.0 tools and create websites as applications for my learning.
Overall, I believe that this course does not meet the foundational requirements of distance learning because of the lack of student collaboration, however I am certain that this course would be an excellent choice for someone who is simply more interested in a correspondence type of course where they are responsible for the materials and learning completely independently.
Resouces:
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Distance Learning-Application 3
The task this week:
A high school history teacher, located on the west coast of the United States, wants to showcase to her students new exhibits being held at two prominent New York City museums. The teacher wants her students to take a "tour" of the museums and be able to interact with the museum curators, as well as see the art work on display. Afterward, the teacher would like to choose two pieces of artwork from each exhibit and have the students participate in a group critique of the individual work of art. As a novice of distance learning and distance learning technologies, the teacher turned to the school district’s instructional designer for assistance. In the role of the instructional designer, what distance learning technologies would you suggest the teacher use to provide the best learning experience for her students?
As a high school history teacher I try consistently to give my students the most authentic experience possible. I have been in this teacher's shoes of wanting my students to have access to something that technology can make possible. For this teacher, I would recommend 2 different Web 2.0 tools to tackle this problem.
First of all, the teacher wants students to be able to "be" at a museum. This is easier said than done as the teacher will need help from the museums end to make this happen. I believe that a podcast would be an excellent method for integrating a virtual field trip. Students could actually see pieces of art, and listen to the curators. With any luck, the museum would have something like this available, but if not, there are several options that the teacher could do. Through the use of Web 2.0 tools, there are several teacher sites such as classroom2.0 where teachers can collaborate and help each other out. It would be very possible to find a teacher in the New York area to go and film the museum and upload the video to a CMS, in exchange for the West-Coast teacher doing the same thing close to her. (Side note: In my classroom, I constantly am collaborating with a history teacher who lives in North Carolina. We have never met each other face to face, but I collaborate more with him than I do members of my own school department. Finding a teacher to collaborate in the project is extremely feasible.)
The second piece of technology that I would recommend to this teacher to critique a piece of art is a wiki. Using a wiki, the teacher can upload a picture, invite the students to comment and then have a learning discussion where students are able to critique and discuss the piece of art. The beauty of a wiki is that the teacher invites students so each student has their own screen name and so individual tracking is easy. A wiki is also an incredible way to have a discussion with your students, and as a school district instructional designer, I believe that every teacher should have a classroom wiki site.
A high school history teacher, located on the west coast of the United States, wants to showcase to her students new exhibits being held at two prominent New York City museums. The teacher wants her students to take a "tour" of the museums and be able to interact with the museum curators, as well as see the art work on display. Afterward, the teacher would like to choose two pieces of artwork from each exhibit and have the students participate in a group critique of the individual work of art. As a novice of distance learning and distance learning technologies, the teacher turned to the school district’s instructional designer for assistance. In the role of the instructional designer, what distance learning technologies would you suggest the teacher use to provide the best learning experience for her students?
As a high school history teacher I try consistently to give my students the most authentic experience possible. I have been in this teacher's shoes of wanting my students to have access to something that technology can make possible. For this teacher, I would recommend 2 different Web 2.0 tools to tackle this problem.
First of all, the teacher wants students to be able to "be" at a museum. This is easier said than done as the teacher will need help from the museums end to make this happen. I believe that a podcast would be an excellent method for integrating a virtual field trip. Students could actually see pieces of art, and listen to the curators. With any luck, the museum would have something like this available, but if not, there are several options that the teacher could do. Through the use of Web 2.0 tools, there are several teacher sites such as classroom2.0 where teachers can collaborate and help each other out. It would be very possible to find a teacher in the New York area to go and film the museum and upload the video to a CMS, in exchange for the West-Coast teacher doing the same thing close to her. (Side note: In my classroom, I constantly am collaborating with a history teacher who lives in North Carolina. We have never met each other face to face, but I collaborate more with him than I do members of my own school department. Finding a teacher to collaborate in the project is extremely feasible.)
The second piece of technology that I would recommend to this teacher to critique a piece of art is a wiki. Using a wiki, the teacher can upload a picture, invite the students to comment and then have a learning discussion where students are able to critique and discuss the piece of art. The beauty of a wiki is that the teacher invites students so each student has their own screen name and so individual tracking is easy. A wiki is also an incredible way to have a discussion with your students, and as a school district instructional designer, I believe that every teacher should have a classroom wiki site.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Distance Learning-Application #1
Distance Learning
Distance Learning has evolved from letter form and telecommunications to the instant access that we enjoy today. In the multimedia program, “Distance Learning Timeline Continuum” distance learning over the years was examined. Distance learning in the 1800’s included people responding to newspapers and then having mail correspondance between two parties. Eventually, select colleges were given permission to offer degrees through courses that were taken through mail correspondance. Soon, distance learning was offered by radio broadcasts, with actual lectures being given over the radio and students participating by mailing work to their instructors.
Eventually, as technology advanced class work and resources were offered through both telephone communications and through television. In the early 1990’s the concept of on-line classes was developed. Students had the opportunity to access class information on-line, chat and discuss with people in their class online and submit assignments to the instructor online. Now, entire degree programs can be done online with the ease of being able to access information instantly whenever and wherever a student chooses to.
My personal vision of distance learning was not very in depth. I had not even thought about the correspondance courses being part of distance education, even though I completed several during my undergraduate degree. I was stunned to find out that distance learning has been going on since the 1800’s. I think that is a testament to the importance of education that people are constantly willing to try anything to better themselves through education! There is also substancial reading about the importance of distance education in both Europe and the United States (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright & Zvacek, 2009).
I have always believed that distance learning is a convenient and accssbile form of education that people can truly use for an authentic purpose. Now, there is so much choice available that a person can truly decide what degree or program is right for them, and choose what exact degree they wish to pursue. Of course there are still general education requirements, but I believe that through distance learning, education is so much more accessible for people. My revised vision of distance education is that this is a viable and important learning forum for many people and it can be accessed in a variety of forms. There is no one size fits all version of distance learning and there are many options available for getting the education that a person needs.
I believe that distance learning is going to be the future of education. As a high school teacher, I see the benefits for distance learning extending down to K-12 education. For students who are not thriving in the general education classroom, this is a wonderful alternative. I also see distance learning being able to group gifted students together for advanced classes and discussion. Sometimes, these students are not challenged to their fullest extent because they are already meeting the standards that are expected of them. Through distance education, these students can get the support and the challenge that they need.
Reference:
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.
Distance Learning has evolved from letter form and telecommunications to the instant access that we enjoy today. In the multimedia program, “Distance Learning Timeline Continuum” distance learning over the years was examined. Distance learning in the 1800’s included people responding to newspapers and then having mail correspondance between two parties. Eventually, select colleges were given permission to offer degrees through courses that were taken through mail correspondance. Soon, distance learning was offered by radio broadcasts, with actual lectures being given over the radio and students participating by mailing work to their instructors.
Eventually, as technology advanced class work and resources were offered through both telephone communications and through television. In the early 1990’s the concept of on-line classes was developed. Students had the opportunity to access class information on-line, chat and discuss with people in their class online and submit assignments to the instructor online. Now, entire degree programs can be done online with the ease of being able to access information instantly whenever and wherever a student chooses to.
My personal vision of distance learning was not very in depth. I had not even thought about the correspondance courses being part of distance education, even though I completed several during my undergraduate degree. I was stunned to find out that distance learning has been going on since the 1800’s. I think that is a testament to the importance of education that people are constantly willing to try anything to better themselves through education! There is also substancial reading about the importance of distance education in both Europe and the United States (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright & Zvacek, 2009).
I have always believed that distance learning is a convenient and accssbile form of education that people can truly use for an authentic purpose. Now, there is so much choice available that a person can truly decide what degree or program is right for them, and choose what exact degree they wish to pursue. Of course there are still general education requirements, but I believe that through distance learning, education is so much more accessible for people. My revised vision of distance education is that this is a viable and important learning forum for many people and it can be accessed in a variety of forms. There is no one size fits all version of distance learning and there are many options available for getting the education that a person needs.
I believe that distance learning is going to be the future of education. As a high school teacher, I see the benefits for distance learning extending down to K-12 education. For students who are not thriving in the general education classroom, this is a wonderful alternative. I also see distance learning being able to group gifted students together for advanced classes and discussion. Sometimes, these students are not challenged to their fullest extent because they are already meeting the standards that are expected of them. Through distance education, these students can get the support and the challenge that they need.
Reference:
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.
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