Hi everyone,
time for a new post!
For section 8 we had to do a personality test. The purpose of the test was to identify which of our personality traits we could use to be an effective online instructor and also which of these traits could have a negative influence on our teaching style. Taking a personality test is also useful in making (online) instructors aware of the many different personalities they have to deal with while teaching online. Actually this is much the same for face to face teachers.
So what makes teaching online so different from being a face to face teacher. In other words what personality traits would be useful to online instructors?
In "Distance Education Leadership for the New century" by Michael F. Beaudoin I found the following:

".... faculty have been admonished to be more receptive and adaptive to opportunities for playing exciting new roles in the distance education arena."


"Schools and colleges in the new millennium need leaders who have reflected on their experiences and internalized understandings about their own capacity to lead."

"... leadership in distance education, as distinct from managerial functions in a variety of settings, is defined as a set of attitudes and behaviors that create conditions for innovative change, that enable individuals and organizations to share a vision and move in its direction, and that contribute to the management and operationalization of ideas."

"It is also important to note here that effective leadership practice is not confined to those in adminstrative roles;..."

"Leaders must create conditions conducive to energy, initiative and innovation in their particular milieu, and bring others along, both above and below them in the organizational hierarchy."

"... a macro view is critical. Distance education leaders must not be overly preoccupied with nurturing their own existing programs, and providing the horsepower for only their initiatives; they must also insinuate themselves into the academic mainstream and the inner circle of decision makers responsible for bringing the entire organization to a new place. Distance educators should no longer see themselves as protectors and survivors of isolated programs for which they have labored mightily, but rather as valued strategic partners who can enable the larger institution, often long seen as the enemy, to catch up with them and emulate their practices and successes. In short, distance education managers must see themselves, and be seen, as educational leaders who, through less directing and more motivating, facilitate the articulation, development, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by a wider academic community."

"The tasks to be overseen by managers of both small and large, new and established distance education projects, represent a formidable repertoire of skills which need constant attention and refinement. To identify but a few areas: needs assessment, market analysis, strategic planning, fitting technology to needs, operationalizing ideas, resource mobilization, introducing online infrastructure, policy formulation, training and support for faculty, collaborating with partners, program evaluation and accreditation, and mentoring the next generation of leaders- all are tasks requiring vigilance and guidance."

"Regardless of the medium in use, it would seem that the roles of conceptualizer, implementor, and evaluator are still viable ones to play. Perhaps less critical in the repertoire of today’s leaders are the roles of advocate, reformer and technician that occupied so much time in the past. Too often, those presiding in decision making forums engage in deliberations long on complex technological options, but bereft of fundamental pedagogical issues. The distance education leader, whatever other roles he or she may assume, must always maintain the essential role of educator."

Online educators share a lot of traits with Face to Face educators. In addition to to the more pedagogically oriented traits online instructors also have to keep up with advances in online teaching technologies. But as mentioned above a teacher is a teacher whether online or Face to Face!

Till the next post!

Debbie

Hi again!

My second post for section 7 I choose because of two reasons. I teach Biology classes and some of these classes are practical classes such as laboratory and field trips. When I started this DE course I wondered whether  you could teach practical classes as DE classes. My second paper not only addresses this point but it also addresses the ethical side of the quality of these classes.

The Use of Innovative Methods to Deliver Technology Education Laboratory Courses via Distance

Learning: A Strategy to Increase Enrollment

http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/v17n2/pdf/ndahi.pdf

"Advances in communication technology and innovative methods of delivery of instruction at a distance have challenged the idea that laboratory courses can only be delivered in a face-to-face laboratory setting. In engineering for example, Virtual Laboratories have been used to teach thermodynamics, electronic circuits, and other experimental courses as well (Baher, 1999, Griffioen, Seales, & Lumpp, Jr., 1999). Programs in nursing, engineering, technology, and other sciences are beginning to use different technologies and innovative methods to deliver courses via distance learning methodology in order to reach students in different locations and boost enrollment. A survey of online distance learning programs revealed a large increase in student enrollment (Carlson, 2004; Gayle, Cook & Kwanghee, 2003; Laughlin, 1997).

The availability of distance courses has made it possible for some people to attend college because courses are accessible within their locality or the time of course delivery is convenient to them. This opportunity for learning has not been without critiques of the quality of such instruction, and rightly so with any form of instructional delivery."

"Quality issues are a major concern for those who intend to pursue degree programs via distance learning, especially with the proliferation of distance learning programs. Although it is difficult for academics to agree on specific standards that constitute quality in distance learning, nonetheless, attributes such as accreditation standards for programs, evaluating students’ experiences, teacher-student interaction, student-to-student interaction, learning resources for the learner, learner assessment and performance, instructional resources for faculty, faculty training, and learner satisfaction are valid criteria (Dahl, 2003; McIsaac, & Craft, 2003; Mann, 1998). These and many other factors can determine the quality of delivery of instruction in both distance and face-to-face classrooms."

I was happy to read that at least in engineering virtual laboratories have been used. I myself have used YouTube films for virtual dissection classes instead of the regular real life dissection classes. I did this for two reasons first because my students had problems with killing animals just to dissect and draw their anatomy and then discard of the bodies. And secondly we had difficulty finding enough specimens for each student for each class. To some degree it filled a need but on the other hand I found it lacking because as future biology teachers you should be able to experience handling for instance a frog or some other specimen. In my perception you can't call yourself a biology teacher or a biologist if you've never touched a frog before or if you've never been in a tropical rain forest. Certain things you have to experience for yourself in order to teach them. I agree in part that certain subjects can be taught online but not all subjects, especially the practical ones. I'm not convinced yet.

I could be persuaded to teach biology as a blended class.

Kind regards,

Debbie

Hello everyone time for my posts for section 7.
I'm a bit late this week due to busy a schedule and low energy level. Those two don't go well together but I got through the week fine.

Section 7 was entitled "Striving for Excellence". For the assignment I choose two articles. The first article has to do with trends in the development of Distance Education.

INNOVATIONS, TRENDS, AND CREATIVITY IN DISTANCE LEARNING

Using the social fabric of the web as a strategic lens to monitor trends and innovations

David Porter

dporter@bccampus.ca

August 2006

The development of Distance Education trends and innovations is such a dynamic and fast developing field that if you rely on static publications such as books and journals as primary resources for monitoring innovation and trend data in the distance learning sector you can be almost certain that by the time you publish your paper new innovations and trends have already been developed. 

"This paper advocates a wholesale swing towards electronic knowledge sources, and especially to the social networks of the web, for educators and administrators who have responsibility for the planning, delivery, or evaluation of online or distance learning in the higher education sector. The trends and innovations of today are being actively shaped by web-based practices in the consumer, entertainment, and commercial sectors. Ignoring these influences and the potential that innovations and trends from these sectors might have for educational institutions, their programs, and practices would be an oversight. AS the web evolves, it presents new opportunities for adopting, adapting, or customizing applications and practices in ways that can be harnessed for benefit of educators and learners."

I find this paper very helpful because it presents trends in five thematic areas, along with web links to sites that would be useful to reference for further updates or statistics. 

Trend: Students are shopping for courses that meet their schedules and circumstances

On many campuses today, administrators and faculty have learned that the time-shifting capabilities of online courses can be used to make additional physical spaces available by providing some high enrollment courses entirely online, freeing up classroom spaces for other courses that might better utilize campus facilities. At the same time, providing flexible access to campuses and courses through online and distance learning strategies is often a better match for students with jobs or family responsibilities.

However, to actualize a scenario that actively meets student needs for more and better distance and online learning opportunities, means that a complementary focus on providing agile access to library, academic advising, and instructional support services must also be put in place. Not only do students want access to more and better courses in flexible formats, they also have higher expectations of service from the institutions providing academic programs online or by distance.

The Sloan Consortium, http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/survey/index.asp , provides free yearly online reports about the extent of online learning in US higher education institutions.

Trend: Distance learner profiles are changing – with high expectations for engagement

Today’s adult learners come from a generation that grew up alongside the development of the Internet. They have high expectations for personalization, immediacy, responsiveness, and mobility from their educational experiences. They value social networking and community-based activities as a component of their experience. If they are employed, they are already familiar with the expectations of the work world for multi-tasking, teamwork, connectivity, and a disdain for delays. These high expectations will force us to rethink the instructional design and delivery models that we choose for online and distance learners, particularly when competing programs exist.

The Commonwealth of Learning (COL, 2006), http://www.col.org/colweb/site , frequently produces reports for download from institutions worldwide that outline current thinking in open and distance learning, with a focus on the conditions for learning and the learners themselves.

Trend: Blended learning leads to a myriad of instructional delivery possibilities

In many courses these days the distinctions between e-learning, online learning, web-supplemented learning, and internet-assisted learning ((OECD, 2005) are increasingly blurred. Instructors are finding innovative ways of using information and communications technologies (ICTs) to suit the learning needs of their students, and are using combinations of internet-based tools to match the conditions of learning for their courses that may range from face-to-face classrooms to pure distance education situations, and all permutations between these poles. What began as a shift in delivery methods towards a fully online learning model in 2003 has more rationally become a continuum of instructional delivery possibilities for faculty and learners engaged in distance learning in 2006.

Keeping pace with rapid technological change and the variety of instructional possibilities afforded by information and communication technology means that educators need to monitor multiple online information sources to keep abreast of trends. Among the best online information sources are:

EduCAUSE (EduCAUSE, 2006) http://www.educause.edu

Learning Circuits (ASTD, 2006) http://www.learningcircuits.org/

Trend: Open source software and notion of shared knowledge resources

The OSS community developed its unique approach partially in response to acquisitive approaches taken by many software companies and entrepreneurs that reserved all rights for themselves and restricted all access to the original software code, sometimes leaving users stranded when the company went out of business, was sold, or no longer supported the code. OSS is a response to costly licensing models from companies providing virtual learning environments, portal software systems, and web services.

The most well-known of the OSS systems making an impact in the higher education space is Moodle (Moodle.org, 2006), a virtual learning environment that challenges market leaders such as Blackboard and WebCT. Moodle is freely available for download from http://www.moodle.org . It has a vibrant community of practice that supports its development, the improvement of its features, and its implementation in various hardware configurations.

Other OSS VLE implementations, instructional development tools, and administrative applications are available from sources worldwide. The UNESCO Free and Open Source Software Portal is the best source of current information on open source software activities and applications for higher education: http://www.unesco.org/cgi-bin/webworld/portal_freesoftware/cgi/page.cgi?d=1 (UNESCO, 2006)

Trend: Patent intrudes on education and may force us to rethink online course “delivery”

If this trend of offensive patent actions continues, and additional legal actions are pursued against online learning companies, or institutions employing competing LMS products or OSS tools, a slowing down of the deployment of learning management systems could occur.

However, an alternative view might suggest that the patent action serves as a wake-up call to all of us who use learning management systems as an instructional tool for course delivery. Perhaps this is the juncture at which we reassess our online learning instructional strategies and begin to employ tools and strategies that use lighter and more personal software applications to conduct our courses, without the industrial presence of a learning management system or a cadre of technical staff to support our course development and delivery requirements.

Newer, innovative software systems are currently emerging that may allow the control of course development and delivery to revert back into the hands of faculty and students, where some argue it belongs. Seasoned instructors with experience in online course delivery are now beginning to explore wikis, blogs, and various media-casting tools as applications that draw upon the social-constructivist aspects of learning. Newer social software system may provide a medium for instructional activities that instructors may have done without when they focused their online and distance teaching activities around production-based learning management systems that place a high emphasis on content development and its transmission.

To follow the latest social, political, and technical trends in the online learning and distance learning sectors, one blog above all others is recommended:

Stephen’s Web (Downes, 2006) http://www.downes.ca/

Even though this paper is from 2006 and relatively dated I still found the trends relative to today's' Distance learning instructors. I especially wanted to comment about the last trend on patents because sometimes we get so taken up into the race to develop new and more innovative ways of teaching DE classes that we don't see the wealth of already existing social media apps which can be used with just the same result as the expensive patented technology! Sometimes it is good that we face opposition because it forces us to be creative in a more productive way!

Kind regards,

Debbie 

Hello everyone, 
time for another post!

Our next session is about evaluating online courses.
Before you can develop your online course you have to plan a systematic approach in which the first step is a needs assessment. A needs assessment may be as formal as a written survey delivered to hundreds, or as informal as a series of interviews. Guiding questions for planning any assessment

• Why is the assessment undertaken?

Is the focus student or faculty experience? Is it the design of the course? Is it the delivery?

What will change?

• What outcomes are being assessed? At what level?

• When should the assessment take place?

• Where and how should the assessment take place?

• Who should be involved? 
The answers you gain will set the stage for the rest of your course, and will be useful in everything from design to implementation to marketing. 

The following guiding questions taken from Criteria for Evaluating the Quality of Online Courses can also be used for evaluating your course design. 
General Information
At the beginning of the course, are learners provided with general information that will
assist them in completing the course and in understanding its objectives and

procedures?

AccessibilityHow accessible is the course material? Can learners find information quickly?Has the instructor ensured that the infrastructure and server can handle the number oflearners enrolled in the course?OrganizationIs the material organized in such a manner that learners can discern relationshipsbetween parts of the course?LanguageIs the level of the language used appropriate for the intended audience?Has the course material been edited for grammar, language, and content verification?LayoutDoes the layout facilitate learning? Is the material attractive and appropriate for thecourse content and the intended audience? Note that it may be impossible to design apage that is displayed in the same manner on every computer screen; if the equipmentand software available to the learners are unknown, a simple layout is best.Goals and ObjectivesAre goals and objectives provided to outline learning expectations at the beginning of thecourse and, where appropriate, at the beginning of each module? If you are using aconstructivist approach, you may ask your learners to select their own goals, objectives,content, learning strategies, resources, and evaluation scheme.Course ContentIs the content appropriate, given the subject matter and the learners’ backgrounds andabilities? If you are using a constructivist approach to your online course, you may wantto substitute the term “learning experiences” for the word ”content” below.Are all quoted materials cited correctly? Has permission to use copyrighted materialbeen obtained?Was the course reviewed by a second content expert?Instructional or Learning Strategies and Opportunities for Practice and TransferDo the instructional or learning strategies enable learners to learn effectively in a varietyof ways and to engage in activities that promote practice and the transfer of skills?Is the instructor primarily a facilitator of learning, rather than a provider of content?Learning ResourcesAre the learning resources accessible, appropriate, and accurate?EvaluationDesign the evaluation at the same time the program is being designed. Are the evaluative activities feasible, relevant, accurate, and congruent with theobjectives, content, and practical applications of the content? Two types of evaluation used in distance education are called Formative and Summative. Formative evaluation is done while the program is being developed. A formative evaluation can help you make positive changes to your program while it's taking place or even before it's delivered. It is also used during instruction to see how participants are progressing toward objectives.

Summative evaluation occurs at the end of a program and measures program results, effectiveness and impact. The summative evaluation can be about the learning, the process, the methodology or any other aspect you wish to measure.

Overall• Is there evidence that the course has been piloted and that learners can achievethe objectives of the course?• Has the course been reviewed by experts in content and design?• Is the course up-to-date – current in both content and technical aspects? Whenwas it last revised and the URLs updated?• If the course will be used by instructors who did not participate in itsdevelopment, can the course be modified? If so, what permission is neededbefore this modification can occur?


I'd like to share the following links with you:

Criteria for Evaluating the Quality of Online Courses (Clayton R. Wright, Grant MacEwan College, Edmonton, Alberta).
Guidelines for course developers or those evaluating the effectiveness of online courses.
http://elearning.typepad.com/thelearnedman/ID/evaluatingcourses.pdf

Evaluating online courses

http://fod.msu.edu/oir/evaluating-online-courses

.

Hi everyone,
been a little under the weather with migraines this past week but that won't stop me from posting my assignment for the 5th session. For the 5th session we had to look into the difference and similarities between Face to Face (F2F) teachers and online instructors and the same between the traditional F2F learners and online learners. The reading materials we got were very informative and I often caught myself getting side tracked by the richness of information and links to other sources of information. So tums up for the instructor (Jason) for this session! I'm not giving the instructor a tums up because I want to get on his good side but because as a F2F  teacher I know the importance of getting feedback from your students. It's nice to get a "good job" or "excellent work" for your efforts now and again from your colleagues and your students.

For the activity we had to make two side by side charts of the differences and similarities between F2F and online learners and teachers. I found this a very useful assignment especially for people who are (were) still on the fence concerning the benefits of online learning.  Being a F2F teacher educator myself I tend to get fixated on what I know and feel comfortable with. I like the close contact with my students because I can easily react to their nonverbal reactions to my teaching. And because I am a teacher educator I have to teach my pre-service teachers how to identify not only the verbally expressed needs of their students but also needs that are not verbally expressed. I find it difficult to gauge for example the motivation or comprehension of my students if I can't interact with them face to face. I consider this one of my strengths as a teacher educator; being able to model my teaching style to my students.

So what makes online students and teachers so different from F2F students and learners?
In fact any of my students could do well as an online student! Maybe some of them would do even better as online students. The major differences I found between F2F and online learners were knowledge of online technology and responsibility for managing their own learning. I think that any student who is used to their learning being managed by others (parents, teachers, etc.) would first have to get acquainted with what it takes to become an online learner in order to be successful at it. Yes in the beginning it would take some getting used to but with the right instruction and guidance they would sooner or later get the hang of it and maybe even enjoy the freedom of learning at their own pace and in their own time. Albeit that 'handing in' your assignments on time is still a factor in online learning!

But what about becoming an online teacher? I think it would be harder for a F2F teacher to switch from teaching F2F to being a full time online teacher than it would for a first time teacher to start teaching online. As a F2F teacher you get so caught up in the pedagogy and didactic of teaching that you tend to forget what it means to think 'out of the box'! Online teaching forces you to acknowledge other methods for teaching that work just as well as F2F teaching. As teacher in a quickly developing field where using more and more technology is the next logical step we have to adapt or become relics in our field of expertise. I think that is what it would come down to. But the change doesn't have to be from one instance to the next. We can encourage change by introducing technology into our F2F classes  one step at a time. This will afford us time to get used to the change and embrace it rather than reject it.
I think I'm beginning to convince myself! Hopefully I've succeeded in convincing you too!

The thing that struck me in the evaluation video of our instructor for this session is that "we shouldn't generalize about which students are suited for online learning and which students are not"! I have a son who is very bright but because of the limitations of the traditional F2F classes he has convinced himself that he is not a very bright student and he doesn't want to go to any F2F classes anymore. His education has been halted by a uniform system of education that forces you to learn in a certain way and at a certain pace. If you can't meet the requirements you get left behind! No second chances! He is however very interested in technology  and has followed computer classes with success.  He wants to make a career out of computer technology but doesn't meet the basic requirements for any F2F classes offered in Suriname. So does he have to give up his dream of becoming a computer programmer or some other field in computer technology? With the possibility of online courses this could be the solution for him!

Kind regards,
Debbie

Hello again everyone!

For the second part of session 4 we had to read through some articles on non-traditional (online education) student retention. 
While I was reading through the articles I got a little bit confused because during the first few sessions we learned how great DE is especially for people who are working and have families because you can study at your own pace and in your own time! We also read about the successes of open universities with different online courses. However in the articles we had to read for this session I read about the problems institutions that offer online courses are facing with low student retention. Low student retention results in a significant loss of revenue for the institution and has the potential to impact its financial health and survival. A marginal increase in student retention however can result in a significant gain in revenue to the institution. Therefor a lot of research has been done by different people on the subject of student retention and especially retention of non-traditional students. 

Distance learning retention is a difficult problem because it is multi-variant. There is no single cause that can be addressed by a single solution. According to research the solution must be sought in a combination of interventions. 

Michael Herbert, Chair of the Criminal Justice Department at Bemidji State University, holds a Ph.D. in teaching and learning from the University of North Dakota and developed the first online courses in his department. He gave eight insights he gained during the course of his study.

1. Students need to feel integrated into the program and the institution

2. Pedagogy and instructor training. Teaching online has its own very distinct set of instructor skills that are essential for an online course to be successful.

3. Family obligations affect retention

4. Support affects retention

5. Interaction between students and the institution affects retention

6. Students satisfaction with the institutional environment affects retention

7. Student variables affect retention

8. Best practices affect retention 

Research has shown that personal contact is one of the keys to retention in distance education. 
In all the articles it comes down to the same thing to incorporate personal contact within the course as much as possible! So that the student feels supported and not like he or she is on an island by themselves. 

To accomplish this a lot of research, money and resources have gone into programs such as Truluck’s online mentoring practice and the design of Web-based Student Relationship Management (SRM) applications such as Service Center.

My dilemma is why would you go to so much trouble of depersonalizing traditional education and designing online courses for nontraditional students if you have to go through much more trouble of personalizing it again? Is it ultimately worth the investment? Especially for a small population like Suriname with an even smaller higher education population? 

I look forward to your response!
Kind regards Debbie 

Hi everyone,
I would like to share my experiences with you concerning the course up till now.

Before I started the course I didn't have any experience with online courses so I didn't know what to expect. I tried to gain as much information as possible from the UWG website in order to prepare myself for "the unknown". The first hurdle was familiarizing myself with the homepage and getting to know where to find everything. The group in Suriname comes together once a week to share our experiences and to help each other to figure out the assignments. This helps a lot!
The first assignment was a lot of reading about the history and purpose of distance education. As I read the assigned articles and gained more information I got more and more interested in the topic of this course and wanted to know more especially with regard to the use of Distance Education in the traditional classroom. And yes I wasn't disappointed! In our second session we learned more about the use of DE by open universities and other organisations and their experiences with using DE. In the third session we got to choose a DE tool and learn more about the tool we choose. We also got to share our information with each other. I choose Blackboard collaborate. As I looked for more information about my tool I became more aware about the different advantages but also the disadvantages of DE. Some people have good experiences with certain tools while others have not so good experiences with the same tool! The information I gained during the past few sessions caused me to think and also generated a lot of questions! I'm still figuring out what DE can mean to me on a personal level and to my profession on a general level. I hope that at the end of this course at least some of my questions will be answered.

I would also like to comment on the schedule and build up of the course up till now. Up till now this course is very doable. However some experience in education is recommended. The time allotted for the assignments is sufficient. The build up of the course is logical.

Looking forward to the next sessions!
Debbie Feurich