This is some crazy social experimentation!  Must watch this video and then consider the implicaitons for our students now and in the future.  Very scary . . .

“Perhaps our eyes are merely a blank film which is taken from us after our deaths to be developed elsewhere and screened as our life story in some infernal cinema or dispatched as microfilm into the sidereal void.”

- Mr. Baudrillard

Well today our young children will be able to really have their lives chronicled for the ages or at least until Armageddon! According to Born Digital by the time the “digital natives” enter the workforce there will be thousands of digital files about them ranging from medical files to personal posts made on social networking sites like Facebook or Myspace.  Corporations may have the ability to search these files via Google and fine out many aspects of “digital native’s” lives by only using their name.  This type of search could potentially thousands of videos, photos, and some day surveillance footage of an individuals comings and goings.  Even though Baudrillard did not intend for the above statement to apply in this manner, it is definitely something to consider for the future privacy of our students.

– “Armageddon”

I have made a few jpg to help study various learnin theories.  As I develop and learn more I will share with everyone.

ACT

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LTCA

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Brunder’s Constructivist Theory

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Chapter Synopsis

-Michael G. Moore & Greg Kearsley

Chapter 1: Fundamentals of Distance Education

8WWZ9RN2CDKH This chapter focuses on defining distance education, discussing “systems approach”, and fundamental changes that distance education can bring to the educational field.  Applying the “systems approach” philosophy to distance education allows one to realize that all parts of the educational process are inter-related and independent at the same time.  Meaning that if one aspect of communication is altered in the instructional design the over all learning experience could be altered.  The “systems approach” of distance education also broadens the impact of it on traditional education.  Lack of need for classroom space, parking, buildings, etc. or a need for computers, Internet capabilities, etc.

Chapter 2: The Historical Context of Distance Education

This chapter covers the history of distance education from the late nineteenth century.  According to Moore and Kearsley there are four main stages:

1. Correspondence/Independent Study (1890-present)
2. Open Universities: (1969- present)
3. Broadcasting & Teleconferencing (1960s-present)
4. Multimedia & the Web (1980s – present)

This chapter does seem to me as interesting that it only focuses on 1890 to present.  I would think that from the start of the written word distributed and distance education would have started.  Socrates feared the written word would adversely affect society.  I believe that would be a starting point for the history of distributed/distance learning?

I cannot image taking a course via radio!  I am impatient as it is with the “instant” nature of the Internet when using asynchronous communication (i.e. forum, blog, wiki, etc.). It seems that as technology has changed more people are taking advantage of distance and distributed learning.  I do not think that this is a good thing.  I personally believe that we need to interact with others individually to gain maximum benefit in learning. Text does not convey emotion well, neither does voice only.  Seeing another persons facial expressions, eye movements, and inflection bring the entire focus of their statements to light.

Chapter 3: The Scope of Distance Education

This chapter discuss the various nature of distance education including: correspondence schools, open universities, schools, colleges and universities, teleconference consortia, corporations, and even the department of defense. This chapter also presents a table of various distance applications, these tables are dated and do not necessarily help today.  Also the table does not differentiate between individual or group focused learning.

Chapter 4: Research on Effectiveness

Chapter 4 is a summary of research in distance learning with a focus on effectiveness of the technology. The summaries were then broken into four conclusions “(1) there is insufficient evidence to support the idea that classroom instruction is the optimum delivery method; (2) instruction at a distance can be as effective in bringing about learning as classroom instruction; (3) the absence of face-to-face contact is not in itself detrimental to the learning process; and (4) what makes any course good or poor is a consequence of how well it is designed, delivered, and conducted, not whether the students are face-to-face or at a distance.”  I find that the forth conclusion is the strongest point to be made. The course design is more important than any expansive technology that can be purchased.  Leading us to the idea that the content is more important than the technology.  According to Chapter 4 effective distance learning and teaching occurs with large numbers of students and good instructional design.

Chapter 5: Technologies and Media

Technology can take many different forms media, print, audio, video, radio, television, computer-based instruction, and teleconferencing.  Chapter 5 defines each of these technologies and gives educational examples of their uses.  Each medium is also looked at in terms of strengths and weaknesses.  The chapter ends with discussion points on designer’s selection of the technologies in planning courses.  This chapter is now highly outdated, and the strengths and weakness of these technologies have changed.  Print is no longer passive, audio/video is no longer expensive or as time consuming, teleconferencing is easy and cheap, and computers are no longer expensive.

Chapter 6: Course Design and Development

Chapter 6 delves into design and development of distance educational courses.  The author looks at Instructional Systems Design (ISD), Development Team, Designing the Study Guide, Preparing and Audio Conference, Planning a Satellite Teleconference, Computer Conferencing, Creating Student Involvement, Evaluation, and some General Design Principles.  I found the ISD and Development Team sections to be very interesting. It seems that the team approach to developing a course is more effective because everyone brings a set of skills to the table, but it appears to me that a single teacher following the author-editor model designs most courses. I found the study guide section to be insightful into the way our online courses are set up, smaller units that are easier to manage and the layout of the LMS’ that are used.  Finally the general design principles are a nice synopsis of items to consider when designing a course.

Chapter 7: Teaching and Tutoring

This chapter looks into the teacher perspective in an online educational setting.  Chapter 7 deduces that teachers must master the “delivery technology” that is involved for the course to be effective.  Another aspect of the teacher paradigm in online learning is the humanizing or personalizing of the class.  Teachers of online classes need to also make sure to not present the class but promote interactivity.  Finally teachers need to be trained to use these systems effectively.
Chapter 8: The Distance Education Student
Chapter 8 focuses on the relationship of student to the distance learning setting.  At the time this book was published the majority of students were adults.  I wonder if this is still true today?  This chapter also looks as the factors that determine student success in the distance learning setting.  I also wonder if these factors are true for adolescents as well as adults?  Chapter 8 encourages student feedback to determine success of a distance learning course, as well as a support system for them.  This book finds that adult learners, once they get over initial reactions, enjoy an online distance course.  Finally I wonder what learning styles do better at distance courses versus others?

Chapter 9: Administration, Management and Policy

This chapter focuses on the administrative issues that may arise in distance education with regards to policy and state regulations.  The major fuci of Chapter 9 are Planning, Staffing, Budgeting, Scheduling, Quality Assessment, and Policy.  Policy seems to take the majority of focus from an Administrator standpoint in distance learning.  I find it interesting that policy ends the chapter when in fact policy is what sets the decisions for Planning, Staffing, Budgeting, and Scheduling.  Chapter 5 touched briefly on policy with a few questions on the development of policy.  This section focuses on challenges, state regulation, and various barriers to overall adoption of distance learning.  While reading the case study of Florida I wondered what it looks like today. Here you go: http://www.distancelearn.org/mainPage.cf…

Chapter 10: The Theoretical Basis for Distance Education

This is by far the most helpful chapter for me!  Understanding a small part of the theoretical basis for DL opened my mind up to what is going on.  From Peters “industrial methods” in DL to Boyd and Apps effects of physical and transactional distance, this chapter brings it all together!  After finishing this chapter I went to Google in search of more and found this: http://tip.psychology.org/theories.html .  I really feel that the fact that Moore and Kearsly are taking a “systems view” on distance education is a DL theory in and of itself!
GREAT STUFF!

Chapter 11: International Perspectives

Chapter 11 looks at the various perspectives of countries other than USA toward online education.  China, Norway, Australia, and the Republic of South Africa are examined briefly for history and system analysis.  This chapter also offers a short case study of an Australian distance learning system, using Telematics (phone lines for voice and computer).  I found that overall analysis would have been helpful in a chart format.  Not all aspects of each country were equally examined (i.e. self-regulation, demographics, finance, etc.).  The bits of information were highly interesting and I found them to build a picture that I wanted more info on.  I am sure that the data that is presented is very outdated.  The use of distance education in developing countries is fantastic.  Bringing education to persons that would likewise have no chance at education is amazing!  I wonder if distance education has filled the gap or created a larger gap between developed and undeveloped countries?  I also am now a subscriber to ICDE reports via UNT library services. http://www.icde.org/

Chapter 12: The Transformation of Education

This chapter covers many aspects of distance education that would affect its effectiveness for all stakeholders.  The authors look at the acceptance of this type of education by many educational institutions and organizations. They also discuss how distance education might affect the structure of universities.  New technologies are also examined to see how they might influence distance education.  The authors also explore how distance education might impact teacher training. Finally Chapter 12 looks at how educational institutions might begin to compete or work together with the influx of distance education.  I truly appreciate the authors discussing the importance of life long learning being a leading influence to distance education.

Doc posted a link to a debate over Online Degrees that has some great ideas. I really like  Anya Kamenetz when she quotes David Wiley at Brigham Young he says, “classroom teaching is to online teaching as regular polo is to water polo”.  This helped bring my thoughts around nicely to what Doc was saying.  We do what we are comfortable with as humans.  We can wrap our brains around the FTF classroom setting so we just apply that to online and viola an environment we can understand.  I also like Mark Bauerlein when he is discussing how an online writing course can be daunting in terms of time, “This amounts to revision by correspondence, a slow and exhausting process. It works with skilled writers, perhaps, but tentative and inexperienced 18-year-olds need closer and more expeditious guidance.”  Finally Karen Swan discovered through students that their number one reason for taking online classes was not distance but, “. . . overwhelmingly to be a matter of time. In today’s world, working people and people with families especially just don’t have time for face-to-face classes.”

These perspectives to me seemed to be grounded in reality of student and teacher interaction, not collegiate money.  Robert Zemsky and Greg von Lehmen seemed too keen for the money and students that online education can bring to colleges as Robert Zemesky stated, “Once again higher education’s electronic El Dorado beckons.”