Module 6 - Learning in a Digital World

Being a fellow "techy", I can definitely say that technology has had a vital impact on my life and my education.  Sitting in class hearing a lecture is often difficult to me because I become bored easily and lose interest.  During my third year of college, I discovered distance education and changed up my way of learning completely.  I began checking for my required courses and seeing if distance education was an option.  When it was, those sections were the ones that I chose.  I wasn’t a fan of having to watch videos and what not, so once I was able to work with an interface such as BlackBoard and WebCT, I was sold that distance education was definitely the way to go for me.  My life is very busy, so having the power to interact and get the same end result with an online environment helps me meet my needs without being stressed with cramming travel to and from campus into my schedule.

When it comes to education, I think that working collaboratively with groups should be a requirement.  It allows students to interact with others, gain new perspectives on particular topics and also creates a better understanding through courses.  Another plus to having students collaborate is that it is very relatable to the real world since we constantly have to interact at work and throughout our everyday lives.  Through teaching and learning I have also learned the importance of pacing and setting deadlines.  This allows the student and the teacher to progress through the curriculum smoothly and prevents a huge back up of assignments at the end of the course.  I have seen the importance of connectivism lately in my course work thanks to networking with others through social media and other mediums.  I have been able to learn many new things from connecting with others and have found that I can often talk with other classmates to get answers rather than having to contact the instructor in many cases.

Elements of Distance Education Diffusion: Collaborative Interaction

Collaborative interaction has come a long way in distance education.  Interaction in distance education settings is generally different from the traditional classroom.  This is due to the fact that “distance teaching seems to be more effective to independent, autonomous adult learners who prefer to control their own learning situations, while traditional teaching make children's learning more comfortable” (Hailan Chen, 1998, ¶ 2). 

“The most frequent method for encouraging student interaction appears to be regular discussion questions posed by the instructor” (Jason Baker, 1999, ¶ 14).  Interaction has grown over time and has allowed more methods of collaboration.  One way that this has happen is through social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.  According to Curt Vavra, “becoming comfortable communicating in an online environment with family and friends allows people to practice and develop skills for later use in educational or business settings” (2010, ¶ 1).    

Micah Miner pointed out that another way collaborative interaction is increasing in distance education is through the use of Wikis.  According to his blog, “wikis can promote collaboration in group assignments, encourage negotiation, and make students comfortable with new generation of technology tools” (2010, ¶ 2).  We can also see this throughout programs at Walden University that involve students utilizing Wikis for courses.  As time continues to progress, we will continue to see collaborative interactions become more common and plentiful in the future.

Baker, Jason. (February 1999). Student Interaction in Online Distance Education.  Retrieved on July 2, 2011 from http://www.bakersguide.com/Articles/Articles/Student_Interaction_in_Online_Distance_Education/

Chen, Hailan. (1998). Interaction in Distance Education.  Retrieved on July 1, 2011 from http://mmcisaac.faculty.asu.edu/disted/week2/7focushc.htmlmin

Miner, Micah. (2010). Ed Tech, Social Science Teaching, & Urban Education.   Retrieved on July 1, 2011 from http://minerclass.edublogs.org/2010/12/31/collaborative-interaction-in-distance-education…/

Vavra, Curt. (2010, September 30). Collaborative Interaction: An Important Element of Distance Education. Retrieved on July 2, 2011 from http://cvavra.wordpress.com/2010/09/30/collaborative-interaction-an-important-element-of-distance-education/

The Next Generation of Distance Education

Simonson stated “if we look at past patterns in educational technology, we can expect exponential growth of distance education to continue” (2011).  Currently there is a larger presence of distance education within K-12, Higher Education and also within training for corporations.  As we move more in our technological society and see how it is continuing to evolve, we must accept that change is inevitable (Simonson, 2011). Moller, Huett, Foshay and Coleman understand the need for the change within K-12 education according to their findings.  In their third article, they mentioned that “distance education in the K-12 arena is often referred to as “virtual schooling” and learning through virtual schooling is one of the fastest growing areas for K-12 schools “ (Roblyer, 2006).

Another point that was made is that “we are better able to enlarge our own beliefs and more likely to take risks when supported by a community of learners” (Grabinger, 1996).  Though this may be true, we must consider how learners prefer to learn and their backgrounds.  “It seems plausible that, given the lack of collaborative learning background of many learners, our educational system is producing learners who prefer, or are able only to interact with the content and/or the instructor, but not each other” (Moller, Huett, Foshay and Coleman, 2008, page 74).  “The type of learner who typically engages in web-based educational courses (adult, independent learners with higher internal loci of control) have goals and preferences when it comes to online learning that may not lend themselves well to learning communities” (Navarro & Shoe- maker, 2000; Reisetter & Boris, 2004).

Being someone who has worked in a distance education environment both as a student and as an employee, I understand and agree with these points.  As this trend continues to grow and move to the next level, it is necessary that distance education evolves because the way of doing things and also the type of learners has changed over time. One cannot stick to the old ways of doing things; they must be more innovative and effective.  I also understand that many students may not ideally work well within the traditional models that can be seen within the current spectrum of distance education. It’s important that those that are responsible for the implementation and who design the instruction create various methods for learning.  This could include both the use of learning communities and allow independent work.

Grabinger, R. S. (1996). Rich environments for active learning. In D. H. Jonassen (Ed.),The handbook of re- search for educational communications and technology (pp. 403-437). New York: McMillan.

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. 

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, July/August). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 2: Higher Education). TechTrends, 52(4), 66–70.  

Navarro, P. & Shoemaker, J. (2000). Performance and perception of distance learners in cyberspace. The American Journal of Distance Education, 14(2), 15-35. 

Roblyer, M. (2006). Virtually successful: Defeating the dropout problem through on- line school programs. Phi Delta Kappan, 88(1), 31-36.