Week 8 - The Future of Distance Learning

Distance Learning is the new wave in education and training. With the invention of the Internet, our society has become smarter. We are able to reference millions of pages of information without ever leaving home. One day there will be people who have never gone to the library to research a topic. These people will have to explain the Dewey Decimal System, calling a house and asking to speak with someone, the Yellow Pages, cursive, and how to fold a map as if they were teaching ancient history.

In the immediate future, we will witness a steady growth in online learning. When I decided on my colleges, location and distance from home was crucial. Recently, location is not a factor since students can access classes remotely. Possibly in twenty plus years we will see universities that are strictly online. A five-star recruit in basketball can attend the University of North Carolina's online program and play. He may never step foot on campus for anything but practice, but remain an eligible student-athlete.

The public perceptions on distance learning is changing due to experience. The online classes are working to always improve and produce great returns. Also, with more people learning from a distance, they are able to experience a positive educational setting and relay the message to others. Personally, I have discussed my online learning experience with many family and friends. I was able to explain the positives and answer questions. It is human nature to fear what you do not know and avoid it. To spread the ideas that online learning is an equivalent to the traditional classroom and expel rumors is how I could be a positive force. In my profession, I can become the dean of our Online Academy and use my knowledge gained from this class to make it better.

I am grateful that I have learned so much about a method that will become very popular in the future. I can be the expert at my school on the subject and help students have a positive learning experience.

There are several main issues the ID needs to think about. First and foremost is time; Second, and sometimes more important, is money. The first things to consider is what resources do you have for an online course and how much money do you need to spend to set the program up. If the budget is minimal, there is a ceiling you will reach for success before you even get started. Do you pay these workers for the amount of time they will spend outside of work? Are the resources and assignments just digital copies the students can access or are they modules working off a CMS? The face-to-face aspect during work, and there needs to be more workers to pick up the slack created by having these trainees learning? There are many different aspects that need to be looked at when starting an online learning classroom.

The original program consisted of a face-to-face training that could have aspects transferred to the online module. This program sounds like it would be Distributed Learning instead of Distance Learning. Distributed Learning is associated with face-to-face instruction that incorporates some type of technology-based learning experience (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek (2012). pg 197) Therefore, discussions can be both online and in person, video, audio, and other aspects can also be a part of both types of classroom. This would just enhance the experience for these learners to promote more synthesis of the material. The adaptation of face-to-face to online requires inventiveness and innovation on the part of the professor (Simonson, et al. (2012). pg 216)

The trainer/ID will now have to worry less about being a classroom manager, and become a student-based manager. For example: He might have had intervals in the classroom for how long he would give the students to learn. Then create a formative assessment to measure their understanding. Now, he no longer has to worry about time as tightly as he has in the past. He is a manager or deadlines and student activities. His focus is changing to make sure his learners are understanding the concepts and the class pays off for the company. He still as a similar amount of worries, but the shift it towards technology and the learner. This should produce better results per time used by using problem-based learning, collaboration, and student-led discussions (Simonson, et al. (2012). pg 204)

To encourage students to collaborate online is probably the hardest job the trainer has once the course is up and running. Communication is an important component of ensuring successful distance learning experiences (Simonson, et al. (2012). pg 205) The trainer can require interaction similar to Walden University, and also break projects/assignments/applications into pieces. Each piece has a separate deadline that allows for peer feedback as well as the trainer's feedback. This requires the learner to interact with their peers and gives their group a more diverse set of ideas.

References

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and Learning at a Distance: Foundations of Distance Education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

EDUC 6135 - Week 5 Assignment

Open Yale Courses

http://oyc.yale.edu/

History

Early Middle Ages

I never knew open courses existed for such reputable schools the likes of Yale and Harvard. So instantly I gravitated to the Yale History department. Since I teach the Middle Ages I naturally decided on that subject. Going into the process, I was going back and forth on what I was going to encounter. On the one hand, anything for free will not be exactly as advertised. There has to be some sort of catch for them to make money on this endeavor. On the other hand, this is Yale not some scam company. What I received was a little of column A and a little of column B. Yes, it is Yale and has some of the greatest thinkers I will view lecturing. No, it isn't a scam; but it also isn't the effort I expected out of Yale.

The website looks very basic at first glance, and that is typically a good thing. They incorporated multimedia and worksheets to gain attention and further the lessons. However, the videos are 30-40 minute lectures. I remember from Dr. Simonson in Week 2's resources: “The universities would try to videotape lectures and lessons to place onto a DVD for reproduction in the distance learning process. This was a failure because it was not equivalent to a classroom setting. Having an identical setting is a fantasy.” (Laureate, 2013) So I was disappointed and feel robbed of the advertised Yale Online learning experience.

Does the course appear to be carefully pre-planned and designed for a distance learning environment? How so?

It does not. It appears to be a website for lectures and minimal additional resources. Our text calls it shovelware, and it is when an institution shovels the course online for the sake of saying they offer online courses, but they do not think much about the process. (Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S., 2012) They do not allow for collaboration, quick feedback, or any type of communication.

Does the course follow the recommendations for online instruction as listed in your course textbook?

There does not seem to be any summative or formative assessments. It may only be 22 lectures with a reading list that makes Johnny 5 nervous. There is an option to take a survey on the course, but that appears to just be an informal evaluation of the course itself. The kiss of death for distance learning courses is the lack of student participation. (Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S., 2012) This Yale course seems to have very little, if any, student participation.

Did the course designer implement course activities that maximize active learning for the students?

Simply put; No. The key to using quality instructional materials is that the appropriate media is selected. (Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S., 2012) It seems the only activities they list are pages in a workbook the learner has to purchase. An example of a vague assignment they list is :

I think the media isn't appropriate for online learning, but they did not strive to place their best product into this open course. I doubt there are many people looking forward to watching 11 hours of lecturing and an additional 1,000 of reading and only complete workbook assignments. Overall, this course might be a good addition as a supplemental resource in my class once in a great while. As an online course, this rates amongst the worst. In Yale's defense, they cannot give their top dollar product's equivalent out for free. They are a business and I am sure that their paid online courses are top notch.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (n.d.). Theory and Distance Learning [Video]. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com Laureatte Education, (n.d.)

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.