Reflection

If a teacher would have told me that when I grow up I would be able to get a college degree using a computer and the World Wide Web, I would have asked “What is the World Wide Web?” The vast majority of people today know what the World Wide Web is and how to navigate through it. However, that was not the case when I was a little girl. Our society has come along way since then. It is now possible to get an education, a job, work that job, and stay in touch with friends without ever stepping foot out of the house. While most people are not doing the later, they are receiving more and more degrees through distance learning.

                As distance learning grows, it is met with skeptics. Some of those skeptical people never had experiences with distance learning. They based their opinions off of what they believed distance learning could not accomplish. They feel that online learning is not as effective has face to face learning. Other skeptics have tried distance learning and had a negative experience. Thomas H. Benton wrote an article for The Chronicle of Higher Education that was titled “Online Learning: Reaching Out to the Skeptics”. In his article he mentions a teacher, Elayne Clift, who taught online one time and it resulted in a negative experience. Instead of evaluating why her experience was unsuccessful and giving it another try she blamed distance learning itself. In Clift’s article titled “I’ll Never Do It Again” she states that in distance learning there is a lack of immediate feedback in communication, quality of education is compromised, and more.

                Even with the skeptics out there, distance learning has grown. People are becoming more a more experienced with new online communication tools. According to Dr. Siemens, this is proving people with a great deal of comfort in distance learning. Even some of those skeptics who praised face to face learning online are starting to realize that effective and productive communication can take place in distance learning. In the future there will be an increased use of multimedia, games, and simulations in distance learning. Schools and courses will connect people from different backgrounds globally. Business and governments will use distance learning methods as a primary way to communicate. As a teacher, I have already taken two Staff Development courses online. It is more convenient for the teachers and saves the county money.

                As a future instructional designer I have a role in proving skeptics wrong. It will be my job to take the opinions and concerns of skeptics and design and develop an answer to their problem.  For example, in researching information for this reflection I learned that some people are skeptical because they feel inadequate when it comes to the technology of distance learning. As an instructional designer, I can create multimedia that explains how to navigate through the courses. I can also provide information about how to use a search engine and how to send and respond to emails.  If instructional designers don’t start listening to the concerns that others verbalize there will always be skeptics. I have to make sure that all learning styles are covered and that facilitators are involved in the learning process. It is important that those who decide to take the journey in distance learning know that even though it is more of a self-study concept, they are not alone and support is always provided. In Elayne Clift’s article she stated that the term “virtual community” is an oxy moron. As an instructional designer, I can prove other wise.

Resources:

Benton, Thomas A. (September 18, 2009). Online Learning: Reaching Out to the Skeptics. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from: http://chronicle.com/article/Online-Learning-Reaching-Out/48375/

Clift, Elayne.  (May 21, 2009). I’ll Never Do It Again. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from: http://chronicle.com/article/Ill-Never-Do-It-Again/44250

Multimedia Program (2010). The Future of Distance Education. Retrieved December, 26. 2010 from Walden University, Web site: http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4603379&Survey=1&47=6447410&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1

Converting from traditional to distance learning

A training manager has been frustrated with the quality of communication among trainees in his face-to-face training sessions and wants to try something new. With his supervisor’s permission, the trainer plans to convert all current training modules to a blended learning format, which would provide trainees and trainers the opportunity to interact with each other and learn the material in both a face-to-face and online environment. In addition, he is considering putting all of his training materials on a server so that the trainees have access to resources and assignments at all times.

Much of what educators know about the classroom still applies in distance learning (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009). The trainer must keep the learners in mind as the training switches from a traditional class to a hybrid one.  In order for the conversion to be successful the trainer has to careful plan the hybrid program so that all of the learner’s needs continue to be met while enhancing the quality of communication within the training sessions. 

By converting the training session from traditional to distance learning the trainer is making the course student centered instead of teacher centered. Just by doing this, the trainer is demanding that the students become more engaged in the learning process. The quality of communication will increase through discussions because the responses will require the learners to show their understanding of the content. In a traditional setting some learners can get by with making one or two comments or saying nothing at all while others carry on the face to face discussions. The discussions are graded thus learners have to become accountable for participation. The trainer will become a facilitator in the discussions instead of the lead. The trainer can post comments and questions to the students posting to help encourage communication. The trainer can also help connect ideas that the students express and bring a well rounded view to the postings.

Below is an outline to help the trainer convert to a distance learning environment

I. Pre-Planning Strategies

a. Evaluate the communication issue that currently exist

b. Establish desired quality of communication

c. Determine the effective aspects of the current training session

d. Generate objectives for a hybrid course

e. Determine learner’s needs in a distance learning environment

f. Create a story board

II. Content

a. Decide what multimedia is most effective for the training sessions

b. Decide on discussion topics and create a rubric

c. Construct assignments for online and in class and create a rubric

            d. Create a syllabus for the training session.

 Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009).Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Open Courses

Open source software is intended to allow course content to be freely shared and improved upon. (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, Zvacek 2009) This week we were asked to chose an open course website and review it. I chose to review SpanishPod101.com. I chose this website because out of all the other open courses that offered Spanish courses I found that this one was set up in a way that I actually felt that if I decided to take this course I could learn from it. Some of the other course provided references, materials, and assignments, but it gave the impression that unless I was at that site to be able to participate in the actual class I was not going to reap the full benefit.

 I also noticed that SpanishPod101.com had many of the recommendations that were discussed in Chapter 5 of our textbook Teaching and Learning at a Distance. The very first question that is asked when signing up for a free account is what level of Spanish knowledge do you have. Analysis of the students’ cognitive abilities allows the students to be able to relate to the lesson. I am at the intermediate level. Once I was signed up all my lessons and activities met me at my level. I did not have to start at the very beginning and go through all the basics that I have already mastered.  The site also has several different ways of keeping the lessons interactive and meeting the needs of all learners. There are videos, flashcards, lesson guides and audio lessons. The open course is very user friendly and can easily be navigated through by novice computer users. The instructional designer did a very good job designing the layout of the module and making all the information easy to locate. 

SpanishPod101.com

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., and Zvacek, S., (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education., 4thEd., Boston: Pearson.