Reflection on the Future of Distance Learning

Introduction
Distance learning has grown exponentially within the past ten years. The presence of a wide variety of online programs as well as the tremendous number of schools and organization that offer distance education has provided excellent educational opportunities to many students as well as working professionals to study further. These opportunities will open more chances for career changes and development as compared to past generations. This course has helped me have an insight into the perceptions of distance learning and developed my skills in course design and instructional delivery.

Perceptions of Distance Learning
The easy access, flexibility and diversity of distance learning will make it a more popular choice for people who are seeking a higher education. They will be able to meet their educational needs as well as learn anywhere, anytime and in a practical way with a lower cost. Currently, some people still have the perception that distance education is less rigorous, less demanding, with less value than traditional face-to-face education, and with less or no accreditation. I believe the future will see a change in these perceptions as distance learning will be more familiar and the society begins to realize the quality, value, and depth that many distance education courses and programs can provide. I also expect the future to see an end to many of the “degree mills” as a result of the wide spread of high quality, valuable, and accredited online education programs.

Instructional Designer Role
As distance education continues to evolve and starts to dominate, it will rely more and more on the content quality, higher levels of students’ interaction and the use of the latest technology to deliver the learning materials. It is the role of the instructional designer to make that happen. He should know how to use the rapidly evolving technology tools in order to effectively deliver the perfect message to the learners. Peters (2002) has suggested that “the swift, unforeseen, unexpected and unbelievable achievement of information and communication technologies will require the design of new formats of learning and teaching and will cause powerful and far-reaching structural changes of the learning-teaching process” (Simonson et al, 2009). Accordingly, I believe the instructional designers will be a major proponent for improving positive societal perceptions of distance learning if they managed to continuously use the learning theories, available experimental data, and latest suitable technology tools to design such new formats of meaningful, interactive and high quality learning programs.
To be a positive force for continuous improvement in the field of distance learning, I will need, as an instructional designer, to continuously develop my knowledge, be creative, be innovative, use the latest technology tools to visualize and think of every possible way to make the subjects interesting to the learners.

References:

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Converting to a Distance Learning Format

Course Scenario: A training manager has been frustrated with the quality of communication among trainees in his face-to-face training sessions and wants to try something new. With his supervisor’s permission, the trainer plans to convert all current training modules to a blended learning format which would provide trainees and trainers the opportunity to interact with each other and learn the material in both face-to-face and online environments.

The trainer’s idea looks perfect as blended or hybrid approaches are probably the most widespread applications of distance education (Daffron & Webster, 2006; Epstein, 2006). This approach was also described as the “best of both worlds” by Schlosser and Burmeister (1999), where the course would have varying percentages of face-to-face and distance-delivered learning experiences.

I believe, the most common model to use for planning and designing the course instructions will be ADDIE which moves through the phases of development -- Analyze, Develop, Design, Implement and Evaluation with evaluation milestones marking the end of each phase.

Please follow the link to read the complete paper.
https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/A7AbdelazizA.pdf?w=1a91c781

The Impact of Open Source

MIT OpenCourseWare
I have chosen to evaluate one course from the MIT OpenCourseWare. It is a free publication of MIT course materials that reflects almost all the undergraduate and graduate subjects taught at MIT however:
• OCW is not an MIT education
• OCW does not grant degrees or certificates.
• OCW does not provide access to MIT faculty.
• Materials may not reflect entire content of the course.

For more information, please use this link  http://ocw.mit.edu/about/  to access the website page about MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW).

7.014 Introductory Biology is the course I have selected to evaluate. It is a recorded face-to-face course that had been taught at the MIT campus in the semester of Spring 2005. The course is carefully pre-planned and very well designed for a traditional class. However it can be used as a quality distance learning course along with the availability of online study groups that will add a sort of apparent asynchronous discussion feature to the course, but there will be no rules or instructors to organize such discussions.

As per the website orientation video, (getting started with OCW,  http://ocw.mit.edu/help/get-started-with-ocw/  ), the course materials are posted for MIT students in order to plan their workload or review the concepts they have learned in pervious semesters, and also it is available for the independent learners in order to enhance their skills or tackle on the subjects using different lecture resources.

Anyone can access the course for free without registration and he / she can subscribe to RSS feed in order to get notifications of any course updates.

Course Design and Activities

The course structure is very well organized with a variety of tools including syllabus, calendar, recitation, reading, assignments, exams, study materials, video lectures and unit questions, however all the tools were designed for a traditional class. For example, the syllabus is general and very brief, it does not have much information about the course weekly tasks as in reality the “Syllabus should be equal to the instructional plan” as Dr. George Piskurich mentioned in Laureate video program “Planning and Designing online Course”.

In order to plan for instruction at distance, Simonson et. al., (2009) stated that “we have to keep in mind that courses previously taught in traditional classrooms may need to be retooled. The focus of the instructions should shift to visual presentations, engaged learners, and careful timing of presentations of information”. However, the only retooling I have noticed is adding the videos for a recorded FTF lectures without any modifications to account for teaching the class online.

It is also clear that the course designer implemented different activities that allow for student group work however that was only executed during the FTF class. For distance learners, these activities end-up as posted assignments without a having a chance for instructor lead organized group work.

Reference:

Piskurich, G., & Chauser, J. (n.d.). Planning and designing online courses. Video. Produced by Laureate Education, Inc.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Asynchronous Distance Learning Technologies

In an effort to improve its poor safety record, a biodiesel manufacturing plant needs a series of safety training modules. These stand-alone modules must illustrate best practices on how to safely operate the many pieces of heavy machinery on the plant floor. The modules should involve step-by-step processes and the method of delivery needs to be available to all shifts at the plant. As well, the shift supervisors want to be sure the employees are engaged and can demonstrate their learning from the modules.

The best solution for this case is the Asynchronous learning, it is a student – centered teaching method that uses the online learning resource to facilitate information sharing between networks of people at anytime and anyplace (Wikipedia).

As instructional designer, in order to build these stand-alone modules, I would use the linear programmed instructions technique, which requires all content to be organized into concepts that are presented in blocks / modules. The students review the content which involves a step-by-step processes, then take a self-test, and if successful move to the next block of information. This happens sequentially until all the modules are completed. The ID have to determine the order of concepts / modules based on the sequence of the processes and the students should move in the same order (Simonson et. al., 2009), pp.119.

To build the learning materials, I would use narrated PowerPoint presentations that include text, processes flow charts, costumed graphics, snap shot pictures, videos and flash animations. A course management system such as Moodle or any other available CMS should be used to host and administer the use of the presentation contents, students assessment, required reading and assignments, some sort of communication and reporting such as e-mail and blogs, course and system statistics and course management components such enrollments, course calendar and coursework grading.

My first example comes from New York State Department of Health to show how the integrations of PowerPoint, flash animation, custom graphics, special video effects, and professionally produced video and narration in a professional way have resulted a great online modules for the National Quality Center, please check the presentation from:  http://www.nqcqualityacademy.org/tutorial1/

The following link accesses a website that gives a great example of how the use of flash animation technology and animated presentations can produce highly interactive distance learning modules:
http://www.clearlytrained.com/portfolio/eLearning_Samples_of_Work.htm

References:

Clearlytrained website:  http://www.clearlytrained.com/

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and Learning at a Distance Foundations of Distance Education (4th ed). Boston, MA; Pearson.

WebWorld Technologies website :    http://www.webworldtechnologies.com/distance-learning-systems

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asynchronous_learning

The Evolution of Distance Learning

Before starting this course, my personal definition for distance learning was simply is the learning process when learners are physically separated from the teachers or the source of the instructions. Learners mostly work on individual basis, and learning materials would be sent to the learner in different forms either text, audio, video, or online instructions. I always had the impression that final assessment still has to be in the same format of traditional class assessment however that changes when I have experienced the online assessments.

From this week’s resources I have learned that four major components are required in order to define distance education: 1- It should be institutionally based. 2- Physical separation between the teacher and student, separation could be in both terms of geographic and time. 3- Interactive telecommunications and interaction could be synchronous or asynchronous. 4- Connecting learners, resources and instructors. (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009).

I believe that the most feasible definition for distance education is the one given by Simonson, 2003 as “instruction-based, formal education where the learning group is separated, and where interactive telecommunications systems are used to connect learners, resources and instructors”. Based on this definition, distance education can be simply described as “the process of creating and delivering an access to learning when the source of learning materials and the learners are separated by distance and time or by both of them”.

The definition of distance learning is always changing with the change of the technology used for implementing and managing the learning process. Other different terms could be used based on using locations and the actual use and requirements of distance education such as “ virtual schools” which refer to using distance education in schools and in my company for example we use the term Learning Management System or “ILearn” .

Distance learning programs have grown and multiplied incredibly over the past ten years, I believe in the future, distance learning will continue to evolve at the same pace of developing new technologies that will help in facilitating the delivery of learning materials. I expect it to gain more ground in the schools and universities as well as other institutes with more classes are taught online either by itself or blended with traditional classes. I also believe that the future developments will be even faster in rates than the development rates over the last ten years as a result of the growing population of the technologically educated young instructional designers / instructors who can easily handle and promote the advantages of the current technology towards delivering a highly effective distance learning classes.

References:

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson. Chapter 2, "Definitions, History, and Theories of Distance Education", pp. 31–40.

Distance Learning

Hello,

Welcome to my Blog. My name is Adel Abdelaziz; I'm working on my Masters degree of Instructional Design Technology with Walden University. I will use this Blog to publish interesting discussions about different subjects that are related to Distance Learning , so please come back to view, share ideas and post your comments. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Adel

Learning Theories - Fitting the Pieces Together

After revisiting my reflections to the first week discussions about the way I have been taught and the way I learn best based on the overview of the learning theories I had explored up to that point, I realized that my reflection at that point was only on the way I taught not the way I learn best. After seven weeks of enthusiastic reading, research and discussions about different learning theories and learning styles, now I have a deeper understanding of the different learning theories. l still believe that the behaviorism theory was the way that teachers followed to educate us in the elementary school where learning is focused around understanding and changing a learner’s behavior. “Behaviorism equates learning with changes in either form or frequency of observable performance. Learning is accomplished when a proper response is demonstrated following the presentation of a specific environmental stimulus.” (Ertmer & Newby, 1993). I also still see that Cognitive learning theory was used to educate me from the Under-Graduate level to the end of my Post Graduate Diploma studies back to 1980, where “Memory was given a prominent role in the learning process, learning usually results when information is stored in the memory in an organized meaningful manner. Memory will use the knowledge when specific instructional or real world events trigger particular responses, but the learner must believe that the knowledge is useful in a given situation before he will activate it ( Ertmer & Newby, 1993).

The difference I see right now is that my job related learning over twenty some years was following the constructivism and social learning theories, where learning resulted from the interaction between the existing knowledge, beliefs, social interaction and the new ideas or situations that I encountered in different life situations and this was pretty much my own personal learning preferences. But I think I started to add a new style few years ago which is leaning towards a self directed learner who also uses Connectivism. As for the Adult Learning Theory, learning occurs through motivation for acquiring the knowledge, training content and learning environment. Connectivism learning is greatly influenced and encouraged by the advancement of technology and the more time I spend in my network for different social interactions, researches, readings, and different internet resources.

Identifying my learning style as a visual learner was a quite interesting experience for me. From research, I knew that approximately 65% of the populations are visual learners who commonly use visual aids, such as graphs, pictures, videos and diagrams to assist them in remember the content later than if they had just heard the information. I always knew that I learn better by reading or observing and I’m good at seeing pictures in my mind of people, places and pictures. Now I know why I can easily remember a face rather than a name. Understanding my ability of efficiency will help me maximize my learning potential, overcome limitation in the classroom, improve self-confidence and self-esteem, develop motivation for learning , maximize natural abilities and skills and learn how to develop and deliver effective presentation.

To describe the role of technology in my current learning, I can say that all my daily learning activities are supported by different technological tools. The online master studies for example use the discussion board which replaced the traditional classroom through many asynchronous discussions. I also use many online research resources such as encyclopedias, e-libraries, e-books, articles and blogs which have greatly increased my ability to share, understand, and develop my knowledge in an exceptional way that is easy and fast. The information gathered provides more knowledge towards different viewpoints and guarantees efficient information that is gathered from different perspectives. Also the regular use of online resources for work and social communication have replaced many of my traditional methods and has made it fast, current, less costly, reliable, and more effective.

Connectivism

Connectivisim has shown a significant value towards producing learning connections that are important for different life applications. The application of both personal and work related connections are provided with aspects that give us information throughout our daily learning cycle. With the use of connectivism, we are provided with different networks that are vital towards our lrarning and social success.

Many individuals develop different networks throughout their learning process in order to achieve their development objectives. My networks contain different social and working as well as learning envirnments. My home, my computer, my work and the university are the main networks that allow me to gain a vast amount of knowledge in different perspectives. My network has provided me different areas of which I can obtain information as well as showed me different types of answers or information that form a final answer towards a certain question posed. It not only provides me with information but also increases my experience towards developing my network connections for better use.

Digital aspects pose a significant factor towards the development of the learning process. In accordance to how my network has developed my learning skills, digital tools such as the online library from the university as well as the Knowledge Managment website from my company have completely excelled my references towards the learning environment. The use of the internet, specifically Google and other external resources from the course such as journal articles and scholar blogs, promoted my level of research and gave me variety in choice and information.

Gaining knowledge through questions requires social activity as well as in depth research towards the actual solutions. Through my social connections, asking my family at my home network and my work mates through my work network as well as asking my classmates poses significant varieties towards producing my answer. If social connections do not provide me with enough information I resort to using my computer connections, such as internet blogs, email, and the university's online library which provide me with even more information towards answering my questions.

In comparison with my network and Connectivism, the support goes towards the following:
1. Supports learning and knowledge through diversity of opinion. Ex: Family, Friends, workmates, Classmates.
2. Supports the process of connecting specialized nodes or information processes interconnecting all of them into an answer.
3. Supports in nonhuman appliances. Ex: Online learning, University library database, my home library.
4. Does maintain and nurture connections due to the constant use and development of the network through time.
5. Supports the ability to see connections between fields since the environment is recognizable and can be easily developed throughout time by yourself and the others and resources around you.
6. Some support towards currency due to the difference between information that is considered known and information that is considered current and obsolete.

However there is support towards capacity to knowing more due to the difference between the capacity of work and home and the capacity of what is needed.

Reference:
C. Davies, Earl Edmunds, V. Kelly-Bateman. "Connectivism, From Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching and Technology".



Instructional Design Blogs Review:
My assignment this week as a part of my Master Degree of Instructional Design is to build my own blog and to find search and explore various blogs to resource three sites relevant to the field of Instructional Design or training then write a brief overview of contents and usefulness.

Future Think for Educators is the first blog that attracted me, it will be accessible by using http://nkilkenny.wordpress.com/ . It is designed by Natalie Laderas-Kilkenny an instructional designer who has a strong interest in using collaborative technology for sharing and learning. The blog shows an interesting film from the Third Annual Media Convergence Forum in New York City Oct, 2009. The film is presenting the rising use of different Internet, computer mobile devices and digital applications opposite the other traditional devices. A brief discussion of new exciting things that could be used by educators, policy makers, parents, teachers and curriculum developers such as Cloud Computing, Leveraging Social Networking and Media Sharing Tools, Alternatives to Written Papers, Ethics & Security Education for Parents and Students is included. I found this blog very useful with many other posts and links to important educational, management, social networks and learning information.

Evaluating Learning Technology Blog; Could be accessed via http://billlafave.wordpress.com/2010/07/02/animatio-mentor-technological-e-learning-done-right/ . This blog discuss how important for the Instructional Designer or the Educational Technologist to be fluent in using the learning technology tools in order to produce learning contents that serve the learner main objectives. He also highlighting the importance of using animation tools, particularly for online learning and explains how animation is a very demanding skill set which requires dedication, software tool training and of course learning about the art of sketching and animation itself. Then he explains how the online animation school (Animation Mentor) teaches the online classes via both asynchronous and synchronous methods. The blog is a reflection on Learning Technology Evaluation; it gave me a brief idea about some of the tools used for instruction designing. The blog also has links to other posts on instruction design, animation, and Educational Technology.

Rapid eLearning Tools – Are they the best thing to happen to our industry or the worst? Published by learntoelearn. Could be accessed by http://learntoelearn.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/rapid-elearning-tools-%e2%80%93-are-they-the-best-thing-to-happen-to-our-industry-or-the-worst Interesting comparison between the hard work had to be done to develop eLearn materials in the early days of developing these courses with the new tools that has been introduced into the market: the rapid development tools. These tools enable authors to create slick, professional looking elearning much faster and better than was ever imaginable. But the ease of using these tools made corporations want to get the job done by people with little or no training and instructional design experience. The author is explaining how great to have such rapid development tools but he is warning employers that putting it in the hands of amateurs will cause far more harm than good. I liked the idea of raising the alarm about how the abuse of the new rapid development tools and cutting corners to save the cost by using inexperienced developers might end up destroying the Elearning process. The blog has useful links to other related posts as The Elearning Dilemma, Tools of eLearning, and Rapid eLearning Tools.

Week Two Assigment

This week I’m citing two websites about the Information Processing Theory and Problem-Solving Skills in Education and Life.

Information Processing Theory; an interesting article published in a website called Buzzle.Com, and written by Rahul Thadani, 5/29/2010.
It could be accessed via: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/information-processing-theory.html.
The article starts with introducing the Cognitive development as a branch of Psychology that deals with the learning abilities of an individual then defines the Information Processing theory as an approach to the cognitive development of a human being to study and analyze the way a human being learns something new. The author, Rahul Thadani, discusses how learning about the information processing theory enables one to enhance the learning process of a children and adults by explaining how the process works. This is followed by brief explanations of the Information Processing Model, Theory and Information management. The author mentioned at the closing that, “this is a tip of the iceberg as the subject is very vast and complex to study in a short time”. He also gave reading references for: Behavior Modification, Cognitive Behavioral Theory (CBT) and Aaron Beck Cognitive Behavior Theory.
I liked the article as brief and rich source of information about the subject (short and sweet). The website is also citing a lot of different related articles.

Problem-Solving Skills in Education and Life; Website that is fully loaded with valuable links to related resources by Craig Rusbult, could be accessed via: http://www.asa3.org/ASA/education/think/methods.htm . First he is discussing the Thinking Skills and the important goal of education to help students learn how to think more productively by combining Creative Thinking to generate ideas and Critical Thinking to evaluate ideas. Next Craig is talking about the Multiple Intelligences & Learning Styles and Teaching Thinking Skills , before he moved on to discuss the different Problem-Solving Methods. Finally he got to Problem Solving in the Education and how Problem-Based Learning is is a way to improve motivation, thinking, and learning. The website is very interesting with lots of links to useful related resources, I like the way he laid out all the resources as a part of the running discussions.