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

Hi again I have some additional links for more information on blackboard technlogy!

Links:

1)Top ten benefits of using Blackboard Collaborate

https://www.blackboard.com/getdoc/7061b4b6.../Top-Ten-Benefits.aspx

2)Top ten ways of using BC

http://oia.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/Using_-Best_Practices.pdf

3)Blackboard collaborate

http://www.humber.ca/bb91help/assets/_source/instructors/cool_tools/blackboard_collaborate/blackboard_collaborate.pdf

Enjoy!

Hi everyone,
I'm really learning a lot!
Here's what I learned this week.
I read an article about Distance learning technologies and from this article I learned that there are two types of Distance learning technologies: synchronous (Events occur in real-time) and asynchronous technologies (learners and the instructor are separated by both time and space).
Early technologies such as print, radio and television can be considered as asynchronous technologies because the communication is not interactive, and allows for only one-way communication. 
Later technologies were more student friendly because they have the advantage of being relatively inexpensive and more accessible. 
For example internet Technologies such as email, web-based learning (often through course management systems such as Blackboard), and live internet conferencing (such as webinars) can be either synchronous or asynchronous, and have led to a tremendous growth in distance learning over the past decade due to accessibility and relatively low costs.
Social Learning facilitated through the internet, is still in the early stages, but is predicted by some to become more widespread because it is more informal, and utilizes tools such as Twitter, Elgg and Facebook to become a very-highly interactive environment where participants discover and create much of their own knowledge.

Teachers are starting to explore the potential of blogs, media-sharing services and other social software - which, although not designed specifically for e-learning, can be used to empower students and create exciting new learning opportunities. However the traditional approach to e-learning is too often driven by the needs of the institution rather than the individual learner.

I have also discovered the potential of blogging as a journal to keep a record of what I'm learning during this distance education course and receive feedback. 

As my "Technology/Tool that can be used in Distance Education" I chose Blackboard collaborate because we were going to use it in one of the activities from the section we were busy with.

Blackboard is a Learning System created by Blackboard Incorporated. Founded in 1997 by Michael Chasen and Matthew Pittinsky, Blackboard Inc. was an educational consulting company, interested in creating and providing a user-friendly platform whereby educators could house course information, resources and assignments, provide reference sites and Internet links, as well as be connected to their students. With a vision “to empower our clients, our partners, and learners everywhere by making education immediate, direct, and personalized" (http://www.blackboard.com/About-Bb/Who-We-Are/At-a-glance.aspx) 

Advantages

Blackboard Inc. learning platforms allow for integration of both LMSs and CMSs, but most academic institutions utilize either Blackboard Collaborate or Blackboard Learn as their chosen management system.
 An LMS is software that allows administration “to plan, implement, and assess a specific learning process” (http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/learning-management-system) which generally includes content delivery, student participation and assessments of student performance.
A CMS, on the other hand, is a system which typically only manages the contents being placed on a web site, and does not allow for many of the capabilities listed above (http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/learning-management-system).

With the incorporation of WebCT’s technology, Blackboard Inc. could provide students and educators with many solid benefits for using their system, including increased access and availability to course materials, immediate automated or timely teacher feedback, improved communications using announcements, discussion forums, virtual classrooms and email, plus student tracking, assignment downloading/uploading, and knowledge building (Bradford et al., 2007). Post merger, Blackboard Elluminate could also offer the capability of virtual, synchronous classrooms. This advantage allows educators to house all the tools needed for an eLearning classroom environment into one manageable space. Blackboard Elluminate can be used by a variety of computer types and platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris) and with a variety of internet connection speeds (lan, cable modem, DSL, dial-up). It also works well with tablet PCs and their pen-based technology (Kohorst and Cox, 2007).

Disadvantages

Despite the advantages, Blackboard Inc. have also struggled with some disadvantages, both pre- and post-merger with Elluminate Inc. Students and faculty alike found Blackboard platforms difficult and challenging to learn. “Faculty members found course management systems ‘time-consuming and inflexible’”(Bradford et al., 2007, pg 4) and many students didn’t have proficient enough technology skills for easy navigation. On top of these challenges were the technical challenges of Internet service and speed, differences in computer operating systems, and quality of hardware devices. Possibly the biggest disadvantage was to the licensee, the cost of the licence, implementation and yearly maintenance fees (Bradford et al., 2007).

One aspect of Blackboard that appealed to me is its ability to effectively meet the different modality types of learners. Blackboards’ learning systems offer faculty the ability to tailor their courses. Educators can add text based notes and audio recordings, links to animations and videos, discussion forums, assignment exemplars, and a variety of activities and quizzes, depending on the needs of the learners and the content and requirements of the particular course (Bradford et al., 2007). (https://www.elluminate.com/downloads/whitepapers/Top-Ten-Benefits-of-Using-Elluminate-Live.pdf).

 

If I look at the advantages of Blackboard I am tempted to give this technology a big tums up! But when I looked at the disadvantages the biggest for Suriname will be the cost of the licence and yearly fees. In Suriname we have small educational institutions and most are government run or subsidized. Thus I'm afraid we have to look for other technologies which are simpler end less expensive. 

My question to my fellow DE students is did you encounter any alternatives for institutions with limited funds and a relatively small student population in your research?

Your feedback will be greatly appreciated!

Hi everyone welcome to my first blog!

Before I started this course my perception of Distance Education was very limited. The materials I've read and viewed thus far have really broadened my view of what distance learning really is. I'd like to share some of what I've learned with you through my blog.

The first video I watched gave an overview of Distance Education Communities(see link below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ld2uh4wXEc&feature=youtu.be

The video gives some reasons for growth in Distance Learning:
-A growing demand for education world wide
-A lot of jobs require retraining
-Availability of new technologies
-Economic incentives for for a more educated workforce (more college more pay)

The questions which arise are "Will Distance Learning replace Campus Learning?", "Is the demand for Distance Learning infinite?" and Does Distance Education expand education and impact the total number of students in Higher Education or is it replacing our current face to face options?

Infinite need globally:
-There are too many students to be served by traditional education
-Distance Education will ultimately result in more students in higher education
-More educated people will result in a greater demand for on-campus demand. In other words more people will want to study because a higher education is made more accessible through Distance Learning.
-Distance Education makes it possible for people to get the education they need because you can follow classes when and where you want and need. It lowers the barriers to admission because its less expensive, you can keep your job and don't need a baby sitter.

World wide there's a high need for online education especially in developing countries such as Suriname where the the possibilities for higher education are limited. When I started this course I was focused on these limitations but I soon realized that those limitations were only in my mind because that's the whole point of distance learning! Distance learning lowers barriers to higher education! You don't have to worry about costs, time or place! Even if you are in a developing country there are numerous possibilities for an higher education.

One  of those possibilities is offered by the University of the people (see link below)
 http://uopeople.edu/

This is the first tuition free online university dedicated to the global advancement and democratization  of higher education. The president gives some information on tuition free higher education. According to mr. Reshef the University of the People offers a new model of higher education that once expended can enhance the collective intelligence of of millions of creative and motivated individuals who would otherwise be left behind. He goes further to say that in many parts of the world higher education is unattainable for the average citizen and that this is probably the biggest problem facing our society today. Higher education stopped being a right for and became a privilege for a few. Especially in countries such as Africa women are prevented to get a higher education because of cultural barriers. UNESCO stated that by 2025 100.000.000 students will be deprived of higher education simply because there will not be enough seats to accommodate them!
These are the reasons why Shai Reshef founded the university of the people. It is a non-profit tuition free degree granting university to give an alternative to those who have no other. An alternative that is affordable and opens the gates for every qualified student regardless of what earn, where they live or what society says about them. I was happy to find out that our distance education course uses the same methods as the peoples university.

I also found the video by Daphne Koller a very interesting one! (see link below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6FvJ6jMGHU

Some of the thing she talks about are the same as in the video from the precident of the University of the People but she also talks about the components that go into online courses.

Online courses move away from the physical classroom and break away from the monolithic one hour lectures. In online courses the material is broken up into small modular units of 8 - 12 minutes each of which represents a coherent concept. Students can traverse the material in their own way depending on their backgrounds, skills and interests. 

She also says that students don't learn by sitting and watching videos. Students need to practice with the materials to really understand it.

But how do you grade the work of a large group of students? You need to use technology to do it for you! I found some information about this in the following links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9920VA_MTCA

Gives three sites (links) on how to evaluate Distance learning in Higher Education

I.                    net.educause.edu

Especially the page measuring success

Evaluating Strategies for Distance …….

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EQM0213.pdf

II.                  www.accjc.org

Guide to Evaluating Distance Education and …

http://www.accjc.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Guide-to-Evaluating-DE-and-CE_2012-pdf

III.                www2.ed.gov

U.S. Department of Education Evaluating Online ……

http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/academic/evalonline/evalonline.pdf

Daphne Koller also talks about how essential it is to Distance learning that students interact with the material and need to be told when they are right or wrong. She also talks about peer grading, global communities and student collaboration in courses.

And finally she talk about the opportunities of Distance Learning of having the potential of giving us a completely unprecedented look into understanding human learning. This is a really good video with a lot of information!

For those of you who want to know some more about an overview of Distance learning, MOOC's and the impact of distance learning on Higher education see the links below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBx4Uq_22P0

The Impact of Online and Distance Learning on Higher Education and Training HD. By professor Asha Kanwar President &Chief Executive Officer, Commonwealth of Learning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK328pk6Fd4

Are MOOCs the long-awaited revolution in higher education? By sir John Daniel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6dHK2cXatM&spfreload=1

What is Distance Learning? - DistanceLearningPortal.com

As you can see I really learned a lot from this assignment! I hope you enjoyed reading my very first blog posting and I look forward to your comments!

Debbie