In George Siemens' video presentation, he claims that one of the main things we need to do to help with the diffusion of distance education is to bridge the comfort gap so that students can feel empowered as they enter the world of DE. I feel that communication has evolved so much over the past few years in the online environment that it could be at the root of the collaboration and global issues. Different people from all over the world can be present in a meeting using some of the new tools of the 21st century. Using iphones, smartphones, laptops, and other technology devices, people can have discussions and share experiences. Voices are just as clear now as if the people are in the room together, skype allows people to look at each other and interact with each other. Tools can be used to help with visualization and communication efforts soon become collaborative efforts, reaching globally.
Jessica Barr blogged about the capabilities of building relationships through remote access prior to meeting someone in a study abroad program. Students felt as theough they had travelled together thanks to the capabilities of this type of communication. This blog can be accessed at http://www.dontwasteyourtime.co.uk/conferences/designs-on-elearning-del12-student-showcase-my-digital-life/
Many people travel abroad, create relationships, and complete learning projects with students from other countries, but Jessica is right about how the new remote communcation access can build these relationships as students who have never met F2F can share so many experiences through these new technologies. On the Edutopia blog, http://www.edutopia.org/blog-teaching Jessie Thaler speaks of using a blog for his 8th grade students to write essays and journal entries. He claims that this gives them real motivation to write knowing that others besides their teacher will be reading their work. This will open a whole new door for communication with the students as they comment on their writing, converse with the teachers and peers about the writing, and learn to communicate in different ways. I think this is a great idea and feel that it certainly is an improvement over the handwritten essay, the drop box, and the typed papers.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Compare and Contrast Articles and Video
The articles by Moller, Huett, Foshay and Coleman and Dr. Simonson both share the same view regarding the potential growth that is expected regarding Distance Education. In the second of three articles, the authors claim that “the growth of online distance learning (elearning) is explosive in almost all sectors”(2008) and in Simonson’s video, he states that “we can expect exponential growth of distance education to continue”(2008). So, both resources used terms that demonstrate expectations of amazing growth potential and expectations, and I concur with this as I have seen the emergence and acceptance of this type of education evolve over a short period of time. Apparently, it is to become part of our lives in every aspect of education and I certainly like the way Dr. Simonson used the word “nurture” in his video as he spoke of the place we are concerning DE. Both resources include reference to the fact that this will be incorporated into our traditional education without replacing it, however the articles go into great detail about the practices and effects on the online educator issues, which I found extremely interesting. The job of an online instructor in a new Distance Education program can be very isolating and some of the problems certainly require adjustments. I agree with their descriptions of these issues and would like to see some of their solutions and suggestions implemented into more online programs. There were some very positive steps toward resolving these issues of adjustment required in an online learning program and I am anxious to see these progressions.
Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W. & Coleman, C. (2008, September/October). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 3: K12). TechTrends, 52(5), 63–67.
Simonson, M. (Presenter). (2008). Distance Education: the Next Generation. Laureate Education, Inc.
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