Essential Question: How can we manage the change that is inherent in our distance learning efforts?I feel like this week's question was timed perfectly to our change in president. We don't know what the future holds, but we have to be ready for it. I don't think it is very different from our practice in a face-to-face classroom. "But the question we want you to think about—as educators—when you read about technological breakthroughs like this is“so what?” What value if any, can this technology, and the others suggested in this chapter, add to distance education" (Moore & Kearsley 2011)? I was challenged to think about this in relation to science labs. I have used these in class but I have always been present to assist. This would not be the same for a distance class, but I still would need these tools to educate students. "Emerging technologies, online tactile feedback, audio/video and robotic technologies, and even digital scent technologies may provide students with new opportunities for developing hands-on skills that were once mastered in the face-to-face online science course" (Vandermolen 2016). Vandermolen suggests that these online laboratory tools are quickly gaining acceptance as valid alternatives to a face-to-face lab. Especially because you can mess up without fear. You don't have to worry about spilling or breaking something. Now eventually students interested in science need real practice this would be great for introductory courses. I believe online labs will continue to grow in popularity and will become even more realistic. Some examples to check out include:
An area of concern for distance education is the standards they are meeting. There are so many standards and these vary from place to place. If there were common standards, "every institution would save the cost of manufacturing their own, and—just as important—would have raw materials that were of a common standard" (Moore & Kearsley 2011). However with this does come globalization. Globalization can be good but also comes with its downfalls. "Globalization raises many issues. On the one hand it offers the possibility of more choice and so greater freedom and better resources for distance learners. When driven by commercialism there is danger of degradation of both curriculum and instructional programs" (Moore & Kearsley 2011). This is something to be cognizant of as education continues to change with new technology. With all of this in mind teachers also need to be trained on how to apply standards to online courses according to Quiroz, Ritter, Li, Newton, & Palkar (2016). They found that if educators aren't given professional assistance "the outcome is a course that still lacks alignment among assessments and learning objectives." They also found that educators need "support in understanding how to demonstrate the relationship between course activities and learning objectives as well as sharing the purpose of the learning materials and expected response time as it pertains to course." Quiroz, Ritter, Li, Newton, & Palkar use a program called quality matters and assess courses with a common rubric. I could not find the updated version but here is the 4th edition. I think this may be beneficial in guiding my own design of a course for this class. With so much change requires an educator to constantly look for good PD. "Current research and national guidelines recommend that professional development should be authentic, project-based, and standards-based" (Quiroz, Ritter, Li, Newton, & Palkar, 2016). We need to go in willing to try and make mistakes and learn from them. We have to realize that a major goal of distance education needs to involve digital literacy. "Digital literacy goes beyond basic reading and writing skills to encompass being able to input (i.e., type) information into a computer, phone, or other electronic device, and to be able to understand the output of such devices. This includes being able to navigate through screens, operate controls, troubleshoot problems (a big part of technology use), create and process information in multimedia formats, and search for and locate information" (Moore & Kearsley 2011). In an online course you are teaching so much more than just the content and this can be quite the challenge. Sources
Moore, M. G., & Kearsley, G. (2011). Distance education: A systems view of online learning [Kindle Edition]. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Quiroz, R. E., Ritter, N. L., Li, Y., Newton, R. C., & Palkar, T. (2016). Standards Based Design: Teaching K-12 Educators To Build Quality Online Courses. Journal of Online Learning Research. 2 (1), pp. 123-144. Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved November 9, 2016, from http://www.learntechlib.org/c/JOLR Vandermolen, J. (2016, August 29). The Science Lab Makeover: 6 Resources to Consider for Your Online Science Lab - OLC. Retrieved November 10, 2016, from http://onlinelearningconsortium.org/science-lab-makeover-6-resources-consider-online-science-lab/
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Essential Question: What lessons can we take from Global Distance Learning Efforts?I did not realize how far back distance education went. There have been a lot of advances in technology but some of the framework still remains the same. Moore & Kearsely (2011) discuss so many varying options for different countries. Some of the top that stuck out were that at UKOU the tuition is low ($7500 for a baccalaureate degree) and that there are not any prerequisites to get in. I believe education should be available to all who desire it. I think it is also beneficial to have programs that offer 4 year degrees that are fully online. I know that the Korean National Open University (KNOU) now has this capability. Some countries that have fantastic distance programs also have the support of their government. I think that countries that place a high priority on education are seeing bigger results. For example "Norway is also now among world leaders in a new innovation, the setting up of learning networks. The most prominent of these, founded in 2007, is a network called Studiesenteret that provides learning programs in 80 municipalities and seven university colleges." Norvig (2012) talks about a setup that allowed for success in his class. He tried for the 1 on 1 tutoring approach in their videos. This means that he filmed a video as if he were actually tutoring a student. He aimed for videos under 10 minutes an embedded questions. "Students learn best when they are actively practicing." These questions were open ended to provide more application outside of the learning modules. Finally he set due dates to keep students on track. These are easy practice to implement and ones that I plan to use. His audience was over 160,000 students with 20,000 completing the class. When education is global there can be some challenges. One of the top challenges is cultural misunderstandings. Shirvani, Scorza, Alkhathlan, & García (2011) found that in developing countries one is likely to find one or more of the following conditions:
There are so many ways to approach distance education and I don't believe there is one correct way. I think looking at all of these examples just makes me realize that it is important for students to find a program that works for them. Sources
Moore, M. G., & Kearsley, G. (2011). Distance education: A systems view of online learning [Kindle Edition]. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Norvig, Peter. [TED]. (2012 June 18) The 100,000-student classroom. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYclUdcsdeo Shirvani, H., Scorza, J., Alkhathlan, K., & García, F. L. (2011, November 27). GLOBAL: The challenges of global online education. Retrieved November 04, 2016, from http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20111125211420618 Essential Question: What would you require of instructors who taught a course you designed? Why?Online education has grown so quickly and not enough training has been provided to online instructors. For many this has led to poorly developed and implemented classes. To avoid this there are some best practices that could help instructors. One resource I would direct an instructor to is a checklist ("Before the online course begins..." 2016). I personally love lists, and this would work really well to be sure an instructor is set up to run a class successfully. There are just so many tips and tricks and this list is a nice way to stay focused. Moore & Kearsley (2011) give a lot of tips in Chapter 6. Here are my favorite suggestions:
A good course has good communication and interactions. So in order to achieve this you need to plan for good discussions. Morrison (2012) gives the following suggestions for creating good discussions:
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Before the online course begins . . . (2016, August 21). Retrieved October 28, 2016, from https://www2.uwstout.edu/content/profdev/teachingonline/before.html Moore, M. G., & Kearsley, G. (2011). Distance education: A systems view of online learning [Kindle Edition]. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Morrison, D. (2012, June 22). How to Get Students to Participate in Online Discussions. Retrieved October 27, 2016, from https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/how-to-get-students-to-participate-in-online-discussions/ Essential Question: How can we support students in being successful in our online course?"St. Pierre and Olsen (1991) found that the following factors contributed to student satisfaction in independent study courses: (1) the opportunity to apply knowledge, (2) prompt return of assignments, (3) conversations with the instructor, (4) relevant course content, and (5) a good study guide. Conversely, Hara and Kling (1999) reported the student frustrations in Web-based courses were caused by: (1) lack of prompt feedback from instructors, (2) ambiguous instructions for assignments, and (3) technical problems" (Moore & Kearsley 2011). I find these guidelines to be very true in my own experience. If things are clear and you get frustrated it is hard to get the help you need because you don't ever meet with anyone in person. I became curious about best practice for online educators as I read this week. Here are some of the best practices I found:
Overall, distance education can be very successful if implemented correctly. "One of the unique benefits of distance education is that it is able to provide access to education for many students who would not otherwise have the opportunity. This includes rural populations, disabled individuals, parents with children at home, and the elderly" (Moore & Kearsley 2011). For me distance education has been very beneficial. I am studying something I am interested in. I would not be able to pursue more education if it weren't for distance education until I moved closer to a university. Distance education has allowed me to stay at the same school while I further my education. Sources
Boettcher, J. V. (2013, May 20). Ten Best Practices for Teaching Online Quick Guide for New Online faculty. Retrieved October 19, 2016, from http://www.designingforlearning.info/services/writing/ecoach/tenbest.html Moore, M. G., & Kearsley, G. (2011). Distance education: A systems view of online learning [Kindle Edition]. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Sayre, J. (2014, January 08). Building a Successful In‐District Online Program | Edutopia. Retrieved October 20, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/building-in-district-online-program-jennifer-sayre Essential Question: What assistive or adaptive tools could be helpful as I create my online courses?I think this is a tough question. I might be able to answer it now but my answer will probably be quickly changed. Technology is constantly changing and we must continually be searching online for new technologies that may assist in out classroom. Moore & Kearsely (2011) make a good point that we don't need to know everything we just need to know enough "to be able to ask intelligent questions, make suggestions, know when something isn’t working as it should, and above all know the limits and the potential of each of the technologies." Below is a chart from Moore and Kearsley (2011) that I find to be extremely beneficial. I think I would want to reference this to be sure I am using the right technology to get the material to students. "Our challenge as educators is to be creative in deciding what is the best medium or mixture of media for a specific course or program, and what is the most appropriate technology for delivering it." (Moore & Kearsley 2011) In evaluating which technologies will be beneficial I will keep Bates (1990) principles as referenced in Moore & Kearsley (2011) in my mind. He uses the acronym ACTIONS to present these factors. I see so many benefits to the wide range of technologies available. The difficulty is finding what is useful due to the abundance of materials. You also have to figure out which works the best because there are so many of the same technology. You have to find the one that works best for you and the student. 21 Chrome Extensions for Struggling Students and Special Needs provided a great list of extensions to use. I found SpeakIt! (reads any website), Move It (gives you an exercise to do for each interval you set it for), and SentiSum: Smart Summarizer (summarizes the website) to be at the top of my list to try. I will probably use SpeakIt! first because many students I have shut down when they have to read a lot. This may prove to really help them. On 8 Helpful Assistive Technology Tools For Your Classroom I was reminded of closed captioning and subtitles. The article talked about using it with deaf students but I have found it to be equally as important with ELL students. They actually remind me to use it. I find that they are able to comprehend so much more when they can hear it and see it. There are so many things I want to try out. In creating my class I will have to be careful to not go overboard in trying out new things and I will also have to try to not only stick with one thing. It is will be a hard balancing act for sure. Sources
8 Helpful Assistive Technology Tools For Your Classroom. (2013, May 15). Retrieved October 13, 2016, from http://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/technology/8-helpful-assistive-technology-tools-for-your-classroom/ Curts, E. (2016, October 08). 21 Chrome Extensions for Struggling Students and Special Needs. Retrieved October 14, 2016, from http://www.controlaltachieve.com/2016/10/special-needs-extensions.html Moore, M. G., & Kearsley, G. (2011). Distance education: A systems view of online learning [Kindle Edition]. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Essential Question: How do instructional design stages help us understand online teaching?First lets start with the process of making a course. Above is an diagram that help puts it all together. This is similar to ADDIE which was mentioned by Moore & Kearsley (2011) and then elaborated on by Gordon (n.d). ADDIE is more popular and has been used for longer but is very similar to the above process.
This brings me up to the next point on development teams. A course with better content usually has more than one author. There are two main types of development teams noted by Moore & Kearsley (2011): the“author–editor”model and the “course team”model. The author-editor model is cheaper and quicker to develop whereas the course team model is more expensive and labor intensive, taking more time to fully develop. Also the author-editor model has the knowledge of few while the course team model combines the knowledge of many experts, making content superior. After you have decided on the best approach to your development team you must start to assign roles and sketch out your course. This is where I found the most useful information. There were so many good tips, that could even be applied to face-to-face classrooms, and I will share some of my favorites.
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Block, J. (2015, October 20). Designing Learning That Matters. Retrieved October 06, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/designing-learning-that-matters-joshua-block Gordon, A. (n.d.). Instructional Design Roles and Responsibilities. Retrieved October 06, 2016, from http://instructionaldesign.gordoncomputer.com/IDRoles.html Moore, M. G., & Kearsley, G. (2011). Distance education: A systems view of online learning [Kindle Edition]. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Essential Question: What is the role of discourse, collaboration and technology for distributed learning in online courses?"The Internet revolution is the fourth and most recent shift in human development and is the basis for the 21st-century Knowledge Age" (Harasim 2012). Education is changing so fast. Education used to be thought of as a transmission of knowledge for teacher to student but now education is moving away from this. Educators are realizing the importance of collaboration and discourse to really help students connect with content. This theory is called online collaborative learning (OCL). This theory holds a lot of promise with the growth in online learning with Knowledge Age students. Harasim (2012) advocates that students want to find better ways to solve a problem rather than following the instruction. This is a big change from previous education models. More than that is that students are starting to see advantages of online learning. “The real promise of online education, experts say, is providing learning experiences that are more tailored to individual students than is possible in classrooms. That enables more ‘learning by doing’, which many students find more engaging and useful” (Harasim 2012). We must engage students if we have any hope at teaching them. Providing opportunities for collaboration are key. "Collaborative learning discourse and processes contribute to the growth of understanding and knowledge in a cyclical or spiral manner (not linear), progressing and improving through experience, discussion and new information over time" (Harasim 2012). Connectivism is another learning theory that can be connected to OCL. "As knowledge continues to grow and evolve, access to what is needed is more important than what the learner currently possesses" (Siemens 2004). We are starting to realize that it is not important to know everything but more important to know how to find the answers we desire to know. "Connecting specialized information sets, and the connections that enable us to learn more are more important than our current state of knowing" (Siemens 2004). A way to see connectivism in action is through a MOOC. MOOCs help to remove barriers in education. With a MOOC anyone who wants to join this community and grow their knowledge is welcome. "A MOOC provides the means for connecting, interacting, and sharing across diverse cultures, attitudes, and skill sets in short order and with low cost. A MOOC differs from more established models of online education in its scale and openness" (McAuley, Stewart, Siemens, Cormier 2010). There are some major benefits of online education, but it is not for everyone. Harasim (2012) list some of attributes that can be both positive and negative:
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Harasim, L. (2012). Learning Theory and Online Technologies [Kindle Edition]. New York, NY: Routledge. McAuley, A., Stewart, B., Siemens, G., & Cormier, D. (2010). The MOOC Model For Digital Practice:. Retrieved September 22, 2016, from http://www.edukwest.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/MOOC_Final.pdf Siemens, G. (2004, December 12). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. Retrieved September 22, 2016, from http://www.ingedewaard.net/ Wood, C. (2005, March 23). The Virtual Classroom Redefines Education. Retrieved September 23, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/online-education-virtual-classrooms Essential Question: How do learning theories manifest themselves in online courses?I think in any online course you would see bits of all 3 of the learning theories from our reading: behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. These are not the only 3 learning theories out there, but theses are 3 of the most dominant learning theories. I believe much of education is shifting towards constructivism, but the other 3 are still valid and widely used. "There are a variety of methods that serve different learning needs. It’s the skilled and intuitive educator that analyzes a learning situation, leverages the resources at his or her disposal and is able to analyze the situation and design the very best learning experience for his or her student" (Morrison 2014) Behaviorist learning theory focuses on a stimulus and response. "Skinner explored how a direct stimulus led to a positive response that created a behavioral change" (Harasim 2012). So many online programs include badges and rewards to keep students engaged and willing to learn. Skinner found that "a behavior followed by the reinforcing stimulus results in increased probability of that behavior occurring in the future, whereas a behavior no longer followed by the reinforcing stimulus results in a decreased probability of that behavior" (Harasim 2012). So these badges reinforce the learner to keep learning. ClassDojo and Classcraft are 2 other behavior modification tools for teachers. These tools allow teacher to either give points to students for good behavior and take away points for behavior that is out of line. Technology has come so far from the "Drill and practice, and 'electronic page turning,' both associated with CAI, were the earliest forms of educational software" (Harasim 2012). "Cognitivism is concerned with identifying and describing mental processes that affect learning, thinking and behavior, and the conditions that influence those mental processes" (Bates 2014). According to Harasim (2012) cognitivism came about because behaviorism did not explain the brain. Cognitivists wanted to to know why we did what we did. This is how cognitivism became known as the "mind as a processor of information, much like a computer" (Harasim 2012). This is a huge application to online courses. We must know how the brain processes information in order to develop courses that will allow learners to engage in course content and develop our skills at a higher level than we were when we entered the class. Below is an image of some of Bloom's taxonomy on the different parts of cognitivism. With cognitivism there are lower level types of thinking and higher level thinking as well. You need both to successfully make sense of new concepts. The constructivist learning theory is very easy to incorporate in online courses unless it is an online lecture course. If students are given tasks then they must complete the task in their own way. It is up to the student to make their own meaning through "problem solving, experiential and/or social learning experiences" (Morrison 2014). Constructivist pedagogies have been characterized by terms like active learning, learning-by-doing or learning-by-making, scaffolded learning and collaboration. (Harasim 2012). From these terms it is easy to tell that this is a student centered philosophy. I have been trying to incorporate this theory into my teaching more and more. It is so hard as a teacher to allow students this much freedom. As a teacher we have specific goals in mind and these are harder to be sure they are met when the student is behind the wheel. Sources
Bates, T. (2014, July 29). Learning theories and online learning. Retrieved September 16, 2016, from http://www.tonybates.ca/2014/07/29/learning-theories-and-online-learning/ Harasim, L. (2012). Learning Theory and Online Technologies [Kindle Edition]. New York, NY: Routledge. Morrison, D. (2014, January 31). Why Educators Need to Know Learning Theory. Retrieved September 15, 2016, from https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2014/01/31/why-educators-need-to-know-learning-theory/ ESSENTIAL QUESTION: WHAT THEORIES OR RESEARCH CAN INFORM YOUR CURRENT PRACTICE OF DISTANCE LEARNING?The term distance education is defined as "the universe of teaching learning relationships characterized by separation between learners and teachers" according to Moore (2011). In other words, this means that the teacher is separate from the learner. So how can this be a good thing to have the teacher separate from the learner? "Moore (2011) was attracted by this idea of learner independence and the possibility that distance could actually be a positive force, in helping adult learners, individually and in groups, to have greater control of their learning and more independence from the control of educational institutions." If the teacher is not there the learner learns to be independent and learn on their own. However this does lead to transactional distance. Transactional distance says that "physical separation leads to psychological and communication gaps, a space potential misunderstanding between the inputs of instructor and those of the learner" (Moore, n.d.). Even with a face-to-face class there can be transactional distance. There are 2 variables to consider when looking at transactional distance: dialogue and structure. "Dialogue describes the interaction between the teacher and learner when one gives instruction and the other responds", and "structure expresses the rigidity or flexibility of the program's educational objectives, teaching strategies and evaluation methods" (Moore, n.d.). For me this was the biggest takeaway that could be applied to my classroom, even though "Hopper (2000) found that students who reported a perception of high transactional distance did not think it impeded their achievement or satisfaction with their learning experience" (Moore, 2011). I think because of the face-to-face aspect of my classes distance should be low. Students need to feel connected. In a distance class students know there will be distance but with face-to-face it is expected that distance is low. Distance education offers a lot of potential but so little research has been done and most research only focuses on distance education in relation to a face-to-face classroom. There has not been much that has been studied with distance education in relation to other distance classes. Right now it is "no more than a hodgepodge of ideas and practices taken from traditional classroom settings and imposed on learners who just happen to be separated physically from an instructor" ( Sources
13.3 Theory Of Distance Education. (2001, August 3). Retrieved September 09, 2016, from http://www.aect.org/edtech/ed1/13/13-03.html Moore, M. G., & Kearsley, G. (2011). Distance education: A systems view of online learning [Kindle Edition]. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Moore, M. G. (n.d.). Theory of Transactional Distance. Retrieved September 9, 2016, from http://faculty.jou.ufl.edu/mleslie/spring96/moore.html |
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