Reflection: The Future of Distance Learning

(Auld & Pantelidi, 1999)

At the conclusion of each course I am taking at Walden University, I am required to write a brief reflection on the course. This reflection is for the ”Distance Learning” class I just completed.

Reflecting on perceptions of distance learning in our society brings to mind an informal survey I recently took of friends on Facebook. I invited negative responses, but friends with negative attitudes are not likely to express them to me. On the other hand, I have friends who enjoy debating contrary opinions.

Respondents seemed to agree that the rigor and value of education, whether online or face-to-face, relates to the commitment and effort of the student more than it depends on how instruction is delivered. (Neuhauser, 2002) One respondent discussed the perceived rigor of online learning versus the perceived rigor of face-to-face learning, stating that both appear to be equivalent, but questioning whether online learning is as effective because of an assumed lack of student-teacher interaction. This assumed lack of interaction with online learning seemed to permeate the discussion. A couple of respondents made the point that physical contact between students and between student and teacher has social value that transcends its educational importance. There was also discussion that some subjects that require hands-on activity cannot be adequately taught online.

I agreed with respondents about the need for need for interaction with students. “Teaching" without interaction is really just self-study. Interaction is a necessary element of education, but the separation of distance and time that distinguishes distance learning allows for a level of learner involvement and direction that is rarely possible in a traditional face-to-face setting. (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009d)

Respondents felt instructor interaction and learner motivation are important features of learning in any format. Issues unrelated to education such as work schedules would be the primary reason a student should consider online education versus education offered in a face-to-face format. These opinions were consistent with principles discussed in our course text. (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009d)

The consensus of the discussion was that distance learning is more appropriate for some learners than for others and for some subjects than for others, however studies of self-identified visual, auditory, and tactile (hands-on) learners have shown no significant difference in success with online learning versus face-to-face learning. (Neuhauser, 2002)

What do you think the perceptions of distance learning will be in the future (in 5–10 years; 10–20 years)?

            Adult learners clearly benefit equally from distance education as from face-to-face education. The evidence concerning K-12 learners is not as abundant, nor is it as clearly established. (Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones) It seems clear that an evolution toward more online and blended (face-to-face education supplemented with online learning resources) will be the continued trend in the near future. It is my expectation that the trend will be for more blended learning in earlier grades.

            It seems unlikely online learning will ever fully replace face-to-face learning, especially for early grades, and especially for the learning of “hands on” skills that require human contact, but I expect to see continued expansion of online and blended learning in most fields of study, especially in secondary education and beyond.

How can you as an instructional designer be a proponent for improving societal perceptions of distance learning?

            I believe in keeping a balanced view of the appropriate use of distance learning, realizing that no one format or vehicle of education is inherently superior to another. Distance learning certainly has a place in public education. I expect to see its expansion primarily in the area of blended learning supplements to classroom courses, and for the education of those who for numerous reasons cannot or choose not to participate in public school classroom education. (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009a)

How will you be a positive force for continuous improvement in the field of distance education?

            I believe it is important for people to understand that distance education is just as effective as face-to-face education in most scenarios, and that blended education has been demonstrated to be generally superior to either of the formats. (Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones)

What are your thoughts on the future of using multimedia to enhance and deliver instructional content?

            It is my opinion that multimedia can enhance learning, but the “core” of a well-designed instructional plan depends on much more than multimedia. It depends on providing learners with the information and the context with which to construct their own understanding, individually, and as part of a group. Learning is enhanced when it involves social interaction, whether that interaction is real, or whether multimedia simulates that interaction. Different kinds of learners need different kinds of instruction, and multimedia can help provide this necessary variety, but it is not possible to meet the needs of every learner. Learners are ultimately responsible to construct their own understanding, using the resources that have been provided. Multimedia provides resources that can be more effective than text and images alone. (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009b)

Resources:

Auld, L, & Pantelidi, V. (1999). The virtual reality and education laboratory at east Carolina university. The Journal, 27(4), 48-55. Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/Articles/1999/11/01/The-Virtual-Reality-and-Education-Laboratory-at-East-Carolina-University.aspx

Means, B., Toyama, Y., Murphy, R., Bakia, M., & Jones, K. (2010, September). Evaluation of Evidence-Based practices in online learning: A meta-analysis and review of online learning studies. Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development-U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf

Neuhauser, C. (2002). Learning style and effectiveness of online and Face-to-Face instruction. The American Journal of Distance Education, 16(2), 99-113. Retrieved from http://www.personal.psu.edu/khk122/woty/LearnerCharacteristics/Neuhauser%202002.pdf

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

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009b). Foundations of distance education. In Teaching and learning ata distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

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

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

DISTANCE LEARNING CONVERSION: BEST PRACTICES GUIDE

From time to time, various classes in the course I am taking at Walden University require me to write blog entries as a way to demonstrate my ability to apply what I am learning to a practical issue. In my current class,”Distance Learning,” I am required to write a best practices guide for converting existing face-to-face courses to a distance-learning or blended (face-to-face with distance learning elements) format.

Ideally, a distance learning course should be designed from the beginning as a distance learning course. Principles of sound instructional design require knowing the learner, knowing the learning environment, knowing the subject content, and planning instruction with all of these perspectives continuously in mind. If a course is to be effectively converted to a distance learning format or a blended format, the process must not ignore these perspectives. (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Susan, 2009)

Instructional development happens in cycles of Analysis, Design and Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. Conversion of a course from a face-to-face format to an online or blended format will require repeated iterations of these steps until the process is complete. It is not realistic to assume that an existing course can be effectively converted to a different presentation format without these proven design stages and adjustment. In each design step give consideration to:

• Continuously connect old learning with new using social interaction between learners and the facilitator.
• Triangulate on learning objectives with a variety of instructional media.
• Know the learner. Know the environment. Know the topic.
• Create a pleasant and professional learning environment.
• Use what works, not what’s new.
• Balance variety and economy.

(Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Susan, 2009)

Click here to see the full guide.

Reference:

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Susan, Z. (2009). Instructional design for distance education. In Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

The Impact of Open Courses

David J. Malan

From time to time, various classes in the course I am taking at Walden University require me to write blog entries as a way to demonstrate my ability to apply what I am learning to a practical issue. In my current class,”Distance Learning,” I am required to write an evaluation of an open course website, which provides access to a college-level course free of charge, but without credit. (“Designing for Distance Learning: Part I - Application”)

Several options were offered for this week’s evaluation (verbatum):

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology Open Course: A free and open educational resource for educators, students, and self-learners around the world.http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html
• Stanford on iTunes U: A public site that includes courses and faculty lectures.http://itunes.stanford.edu/
• Open Yale Courses: A free open website offering a number of introductory courses taught by Yale University professors. http://oyc.yale.edu/
• Open Culture http://www.openculture.com/

(“Designing for Distance Learning: Part I – Resources”)

I looked over all of the options that were offered, and I found a number of the courses interesting. However, since I recently audited an open course online, I felt better prepared to write about the course I audited, “Building Dynamic Websites.” (Malan, 2009)

The course consisted of two one-hour video lectures over 12 weeks, with downloadable slides, three project assignments, and a Google discussion group (http://groups.google.com/group/cs75-discuss) for asynchronous discussion. This course can be taken free as an open course, or it may be taken as a graded distance learning course for credit through Harvard Exension School  (http://www.extension.harvard.edu/register/).

I found the course beneficial, but I deviated from the course activities quite a bit. I did not do any of the projects. I did read about the projects and I “lurked” in the Google discussion area. Because of the way I interacted with the course, I felt like an outsider (because I was an outsider). I watched some of the videos with other members of my family and I discussed ideas from the videos with them. I viewed the course videos in iTunes, taking notes, and stopping and starting the videos frequently as I looked up resources or tried out various ideas using the “try it yourself  editor” at http://www.w3schools.com/.  I found the combination of lecture videos and the hands-on activites from w3schools to be an effective way for me to update my own web-development skills.

Probably the most important benefit I gained from the course was an introduction to various open-source development and troubleshooting tools that were referenced in the course. During the course, I set up  my own website with which I could experiment with ideas in a “live” environment. My website (www.1loyd.com) was created as I tried out ideas discussed in these lecture videos.

I would have to say this course, while well-designed for a lecture hall, appears to have been developed as a standard face-to-face course. The syllabus was well-designed. It laid out the course schedule, resources, and learning objectives in a way that made it easy for learners to take charge of their own learning. Lectures at Harvard Hall were recorded and distributed online with downloadable notes, slides, and source code. However, offering this course online appears to have been an afterthought. No provision, other than the Google discussion group, was made for online learner evaluation and feedback from the instructor. It does not appear the course was altered in any way for use by distance learners, other than the addition of the Google discussion group, which certainly would have been a positive supplement for face-to-face learners, but was poorly implemented as a distance learning tool, because it was provided as a supplement, and not as a central part of the course. Two-way discussion providing learner feedback is a central feature of distance learning, especially in the absense of any other kind of formative evaluation. (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Susan, 2009)

The material in this course could be easily refactored as an online course. Much of the extraneous classroom discussion could occur in a dedicated classroom discussion forum. Video segments from lectures could be used in a series of videos, however those video clips should be very short, each introduced to the viewer an intimate studeo format. The clips should be three to ten minutes in length, (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009) and the total time for all lectures should be 20 to 30 minutes per week.

References:

EDUC-6135-2 Distance learning. (n.d.). Designing for Distance Learning: Part I - Application. Walden University. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4603379&Survey=1&47=6447422&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1&BrswrOK=1&PrevRef=http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn%3FCourseID%3D4603379%26Survey%3D1%2647%3D6447422%26ClientNodeID%3D984650%26coursenav%3D1&submit1=Continue

EDUC-6135-2 Distance learning. (n.d.). Designing for Distance Learning: Part I – Resources. Walden University. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4603379&Survey=1&47=6447422&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1&BrswrOK=1&PrevRef=http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn%3FCourseID%3D4603379%26Survey%3D1%2647%3D6447422%26ClientNodeID%3D984650%26coursenav%3D1&submit1=Continue

Malan, D. J. (2009). Computer science E-75: Building dynamic websites. Harvard Extension School. Retrieved from  http://cs75.tv/2009/fall/#l=lectures&r=about&v=lectures/0/lecture0

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Susan, Z. (2009). Instructional design for distance education. In Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.