Module 2 Post 1 - JSherman

Elements of Distance Education Diffusion

I do agree with George Siemens view that the growing acceptance of distance education today is impacted by global diversity, communication, and collaborative interaction. This blog will focus on communication. Communication has transformed radically over the last two decades. House phones were replaced by cellular phones in the late 1980’s and through the 1990’s to near house phone extinction in the 2000’s. Cell phones have transformed from a mono-functioning voice communication tool to a hand held computer that also is used for placing calls. Similarly written communication has transformed from paper and pencil to key strokes and emails. More recently free online communication tools such as Skype and ooVoo have offered one the ability to real time chat through text or hold a virtual face-to-face via videoconference.

Skype and ooVoo are tools that I use frequently in my personal life as well as professionally in my classroom. It is interesting to think back to my youth and amazement I had when my uncle in Washington, 3,000+ miles from my Pennsylvania home, would call and it sounded as if he was right there in the room with me. My own two children, ages 4 and 3, now talk to their aunts, uncles, and cousins who live outside of Pennsylvania via ooVoo’s free video chatting feature. In my classroom students who are out of class for extended periods of time routinely “Skype into” class and remain current with their studies from home. Steven Anderson, who maintains Web20classroom, briefly discusses Skype in a December 6, 2011 blog. Anderson’s description involves the ease with which Skype will allow educators and administrators to communicate on the go with the mobile features of the program.

Another online communication tool that I am finding useful in my classroom is blogging. I routinely have my student’s blog within our Blackboard classroom. Blogging provides a medium for students to voice their thoughts and practice written communication in a medium less formal then essays. Vicki Davis, the author of the Coolcatteacer blog, also finds blogging to be an effective communication tool. Davis points out the power that peer feedback can have on student work. I would generally agree that students take care to submit their best efforts when they know that their work is going to be on display for and open to feedback from their peers.

Reference

Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). Principles of Distance Education. Baltimore: Author.

Module 1 Post 2 - JSherman

Principles of Distance Education Blog Responses

In Module 1 I have responded to Candice and Lisa. You can click on their names to view their blogs and my responses.

Module 1 Post 1 J.Sherman

The Next Generation of Distance Education

A common theme in this week’s readings and video lectures is that distance education is on the cusp of exploding with growth across all levels of education. Simonson compares distance education today to use of the microcomputer in the early 1980’s in that through consistent promotion the innovation will enter the self-sustaining portion of the s-curve (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). Simonson believes that as distance education reaches its critical mass it will not radically change or replace traditional education (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). Likewise, Huett, Moller, Foshay, and Coleman (2008) believe that distance education (virtual learning) is growing at a rapid rate across multiple levels of education. In a k-12 environment virtual schools are offered in one of two formats: site-based (which is a part of traditional school), or virtual high schools (seen as an alternative to traditional schools).

“Distance education initiatives may serve the least homogenous group of learners of any other modality or learning environment” (Huett, Moller, Foshay, and Coleman, 2008). There are legitimate concerns in education that virtual learning or distance education environments could become a holding tank for undesirable students (Huett, Moller, Foshay, and Coleman, 2008). In order to prevent dumping undesirable students into virtual environments the instructional design of these courses should evolve to highlight the benefits of distance education while maintaining legitimate rigor. The evolution of distance education must also include an influx of instructional design teams that have been trained to create distance education environments.

I do agree with the positions espoused by this week’s readings. I am in particular agreement with the notion that instructional designers need to be specifically trained to create class environments that are intended solely for distance education (Huett, Moller, Foshay, and Coleman, 2008). I strongly believe that paying more attention to design will move distance education towards a level of self-sustainability. Many non-trained designers will try to provide equal activities and experiences for face-to-face and distance education students. It is more realistic to aim for equivalency rather than equality when designing distance education activities (Simonson, 2000).

References

Huett, J. Moller, L., Fosay, W. & Coleman, C. (2008). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 3: K12). Tech Trends, 52(5), 63-67.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). Principles of Distance Education. Baltimore: Author.

Simonson, M. (2000). Making decisions: The use of electronic technology in online classes. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 84, 29–34.