I am not finished with the readings, I'm finding it difficult to get through all the reading assignments between the two classes...I've tried working a schedule out, but I'm not finishing them in time.
So from my initial readings regarding the Distance Education by Bernard, I never realized how long distance education has been around. I did get a little lost in the reading, but did agree with the point "attention to quality course design should take precedence over attention to the characteristics of media. This presumably includes what the instructor does as well as what the student does," as well as "active learning" both those stuck out for me in the reading. I think
because it helps keep the students attention.
Although, I am not finished with the entire second reading assignment, I am enjoying it much more and finding it more useful than the Bernard reading. One of the biggest things I had heard at my previous job from our online users was they enjoyed those courses that offered the "real word" situations, which was a characteristics of authentic activity in Chapter 2 of the "Teaching and Learning online" assignment. One of the things we tried to make sure we did was to always use real, life-like situations for our courses. I haven't finished this reading, but will update my thoughts when I'm done.
I also joined the Watercooler 2.0 group that consists of Phil H, Greg J, and Jessica D - we will be focusing on social learning applications, such as Web 2.0 in the workplace setting for our trend analysis project. I'm excited as I think we have a really great group of people.
Pinwheels for Peace
12 years ago
4 comments:
I agree the reading is pretty bad. I do have to say though your comment around the length of time the DE has been around. I never lumped in what we are doing to what I used to call correspondence education which is being lumped in that report. I mentioned in my blog that I do not agree with the assessment because I feel that DE should be JIT as well as JMT (just my time)
Hey groupie,
I was reassured from when we talked last week to know you're as far behind as I am with the readings. It's pretty overwhelming keeping up, and my kid hasn't been born yet. I am glad to work with you though on the watercooler group (whatever it is we're working on). Keep it positive (or fake it well).
Hi Dena!
Yes, the reading is kicking me, too!
Your thoughts on DE being around for a long time really hit home.
I remember when I was in the Navy back in the late 80s and taking correspondence courses from Guam. No one called it "Distance Education" then, just correspondence courses. Of course, there was never any interaction from the instructor, except for a quarterly grade assessment.
Those courses were so structured, including the intructions to the students, that there was very little room for the student to take control of their own learning.
I much prefer the state of affairs today.
Hi Dena,
I liked how the author divided the information into 3 parts: learning tasks, learning supports, and learning resources. I've been drawn to the learning supports so far.
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