Elements of Distance Education Diffusion

How has this element evolved?

            Collaboration influenced instruction in online courses is bound to bring in those extra hands on approach.  Lessons can be tiered by interest, ability, and learning style; even virtual field trips can bring the content to life for diverse learners.  This gives them an opportunity to participate in the learning process without feeling like their needs are causing them to be lagging.  The idea of collaboration strategies implies involvement. This type of teaching strategy goes beyond the learning that only requires memorization. Indeed, instructional collaboration pushes students toward more forceful thinking and enables them to make the application of knowledge feasible. It is also beneficial for the instructor as well since the endeavor requires more collaboration among professional to develop a successful building blocks of learning.  "While certain researchers show that some students are (Anderson, 2005; Caspi & Gorki, 2006), others argue that distance education students are attached to the individual freedom and flexibility that the self-paced model affords" (Poellhuber & Anderson, 2011).

What online tools are available today to facilitate these interactions among learners?
Making A Connection: Wikis

            The course design utilizes many tools to promote collaboration.  The Blackboard discussion threads offers communication of ideas and peer feedback.  Development of Wikis is another useful collaboration tool that allows students and instructors to share their products.  I have recently learned how create a Wiki space by watching the video link above.  Finally, Social Media as a communication tool provides students with a connection that can cross the barrier of time. "Social software and web conferencing tools offer new interaction affordances as well as new forms of collaboration" (Poellhuber & Anderson, 2011).

References

Poellhuber, B., & Anderson, T. (2011). Distance Students' Readiness for Social Media and Collaboration. International Review Of Research In Open & Distance Learning, 12(6), 102-125.

Common Crafts. (2012).Wikis in Plain English. Retrieved on September 26, 2012 from http://www.commoncraft.com/video/wikis

Note to Dr. Powell: Replied to A Carpenter's blog & K Gallagher's blog (this reply is in our group blog section within our course)

Implications: Review of three articles

Distance education is important to the mobility of students, no matter the age.  As a teacher in the classroom, I look for ways to streamline processes like data collections, curriculum building, and classroom management.  The motivating factors for corporate eLearning are predominantly economic (Moller, Foshay, and Huett, 2008).

Three articles discuss barriers and eventually the need to design distance education to meet the needs of the next generation.  The ability to access courses, tasks, and communicate with professional in the field will continue to develop.  It is always better to stay ahead of curve, in manner of speaking, where distance education is concerned.  Educational technology and distance education pull together learning strategies.  Putting this tool in the hands of the teacher is easy, but it is the implementation the differs from school to school.  Online high schools are often state-centered initiatives established to expand course offerings and meet the needs of certain student populations (Huett, Moller, Foshay, & Coleman, 2008). 

Considering all of factors that compile to design an effective course, it really is no different from what a traditional classroom teacher does in his or her lesson planning.  There must fidelity from the instructor and rigorous outcomes for all learners.  Fidelity from the instructor can be best described as how the learning environment can be facilitated.

Making A Connection: Julie Cornin-Gilmore - Creating an Online Course That Captures a Students Attention

References:

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.

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

Cornin-Gilmore, J. (2010). Blog. Retrieved on September 26, 2012 from http://usdla-org.blogspot.com/2010/07/creating-online-course-that-captures.html.