It seems like only yesterday that collaborations consisted of a group of people meeting in a physical location discussing topics in an attempt to draw closer to a paramount answer but distance education has amended this modeled. As stated by Seiman, more people are accepting the idea of participating in distance education (Laureate, 2008). As distance education continues to flourish, new methods of collaboration are being developed and experienced in order to effectively communicate with one another. In a face to face environment, you are only able to communicate with the participants that are in the room with you. Collaborating in distance education allows participants to communicate outside of their normal parameters. Participants are able to communicate with people around the world synchronously (Laureate, 2008).
As technology continues to take over our schools, business, and homes, collaboration becomes an essential skill to acquire. Technology has completely changed the way individuals communicate with one another. We are equipped with on-line tools like Wiki’s, Blogging, voice stream, You Tube, and Google Docs that all serve the purpose of providing collaboration.
Reference:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Distance education: Higher education, K12, and the corporate world featuring Dr. Michael Simonson. United States: [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4199707&Survey=1&47=4862829&ClientNodeID=984645&coursenav=1&bhcp=1
Monday, June 28, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The Next Generations of Distance Education -1
Question: After reading the three articles by Moller, Huett, Foshay and Coleman, and listening to the Simonson video programs, compare and contrast the reasons these authors believe there is a need to develop distance education to the next generation. Do you agree with their positions? Why or why not?
Training Arena
It sounds to me that one reason the authors believe there is a need to evolve distance education is because some of the current training developments are lacking in instructional design. As stated in The Evolution of Distance Education: Implications for Instructional Design on the Potential of the Web. Properly skilled trainers may not be aware of the specialized e-learning designs and development skills (Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J., 2008)
Higher Education
When reading the articles, I found it very interesting that because distance education programs have the capability of serving local and abroad learners schools are often in competition. Now the quality of the instructional design becomes questionable and not a vast concern (Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J., 2008).. Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, May/June) provides us with a thought provoking statement” We’d better stake out our claim before all the good territory is gone; we’ll worry about effectively mining it later.” Is this the kind of message higher educational systems want to portray about the quality of distance education?
K-12
Online learning for K-12 has not flourished like higher education and the training arena. When reading the article, I found out that the funding for K-12 brings about an eye raising assumption (Huett, J, Moller, L., Foshay, W., &. Coleman, C , 2008 ). As discussed by Huett, J, Moller, L., Foshay, W., &. Coleman, C (2008, September/October), funding for online programs are established directly by the state government or funding is provided to local schools to create. This type of distribution of funds implies that face to face and online instruction delivery is equally effective (Huett, J, Moller, L., Foshay, W., &. Coleman, C , 2008 ). According to Simonson (2008), Equivalency theory is based upon the idea that education when it is practiced at a distance should not be identical to education that is practiced in a face to face environment.
Ultimately distance education provides a service of convenience to those who indulge in it. In the training arena, corporate entities are able to reduce their training and delivery cost by providing online training. They save on travel, lodging, and facility cost (Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J., 2008). In addition, distant learning has become the answer to professionals that desire to continue their education. Distance education provides them with the convenience of not having to spend countless hours sitting in a classroom. Lastly, distance education provides school districts with the convenience of being able to provide alternative services to meet the No Child Left Behind Act (Huett, J, Moller, L., Foshay, W., &. Coleman, C ,2008 ) Huett, J, Moller, L., Foshay, W., &. Coleman, C (2008, September/October) states, “Rather than hire new teachers, some rural schools offer online courses, allowing highly qualified teachers to instruct students in locations where teaching shortages exist.”
My opinion
As we move toward more technological advanced types of education, like traditional education it is imperative that the quality of the program and instruction supersede everything else. In order to provide a quality program, instructors need to be trained accordingly. As discussed by Huett, J, Moller, L., Foshay, W., &. Coleman, C (2008, September/October), expecting teachers to be instructors, content experts, distance education instructional designers, and technology experts is asking too much.” There needs to be a separations, so that instructors do not have multiple functions (Huett, J, Moller, L., Foshay, W., &. Coleman, C, 2008). Until this transpires, the quality of instruction can always be questioned.
Reference:
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.
Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, May/June). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 1: Training and Development). TechTrends, 52(3), 70–75.
Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, July/August). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 2: Higher Education). TechTrends, 52(4), 66–70.
Simonson, M. ( 2008). Distance Education: The Next Generation. (Vodcast). Laureate Education, Inc. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4199707&Survey=1&47=3719264&ClientNodeID=984645&coursenav=1&bhcp=1
Training Arena
It sounds to me that one reason the authors believe there is a need to evolve distance education is because some of the current training developments are lacking in instructional design. As stated in The Evolution of Distance Education: Implications for Instructional Design on the Potential of the Web. Properly skilled trainers may not be aware of the specialized e-learning designs and development skills (Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J., 2008)
Higher Education
When reading the articles, I found it very interesting that because distance education programs have the capability of serving local and abroad learners schools are often in competition. Now the quality of the instructional design becomes questionable and not a vast concern (Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J., 2008).. Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, May/June) provides us with a thought provoking statement” We’d better stake out our claim before all the good territory is gone; we’ll worry about effectively mining it later.” Is this the kind of message higher educational systems want to portray about the quality of distance education?
K-12
Online learning for K-12 has not flourished like higher education and the training arena. When reading the article, I found out that the funding for K-12 brings about an eye raising assumption (Huett, J, Moller, L., Foshay, W., &. Coleman, C , 2008 ). As discussed by Huett, J, Moller, L., Foshay, W., &. Coleman, C (2008, September/October), funding for online programs are established directly by the state government or funding is provided to local schools to create. This type of distribution of funds implies that face to face and online instruction delivery is equally effective (Huett, J, Moller, L., Foshay, W., &. Coleman, C , 2008 ). According to Simonson (2008), Equivalency theory is based upon the idea that education when it is practiced at a distance should not be identical to education that is practiced in a face to face environment.
Ultimately distance education provides a service of convenience to those who indulge in it. In the training arena, corporate entities are able to reduce their training and delivery cost by providing online training. They save on travel, lodging, and facility cost (Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J., 2008). In addition, distant learning has become the answer to professionals that desire to continue their education. Distance education provides them with the convenience of not having to spend countless hours sitting in a classroom. Lastly, distance education provides school districts with the convenience of being able to provide alternative services to meet the No Child Left Behind Act (Huett, J, Moller, L., Foshay, W., &. Coleman, C ,2008 ) Huett, J, Moller, L., Foshay, W., &. Coleman, C (2008, September/October) states, “Rather than hire new teachers, some rural schools offer online courses, allowing highly qualified teachers to instruct students in locations where teaching shortages exist.”
My opinion
As we move toward more technological advanced types of education, like traditional education it is imperative that the quality of the program and instruction supersede everything else. In order to provide a quality program, instructors need to be trained accordingly. As discussed by Huett, J, Moller, L., Foshay, W., &. Coleman, C (2008, September/October), expecting teachers to be instructors, content experts, distance education instructional designers, and technology experts is asking too much.” There needs to be a separations, so that instructors do not have multiple functions (Huett, J, Moller, L., Foshay, W., &. Coleman, C, 2008). Until this transpires, the quality of instruction can always be questioned.
Reference:
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.
Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, May/June). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 1: Training and Development). TechTrends, 52(3), 70–75.
Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, July/August). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 2: Higher Education). TechTrends, 52(4), 66–70.
Simonson, M. ( 2008). Distance Education: The Next Generation. (Vodcast). Laureate Education, Inc. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4199707&Survey=1&47=3719264&ClientNodeID=984645&coursenav=1&bhcp=1
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