Distance Leaning: Should it Stay or Should It go

If we take a look at the history of Distance Learning we see that it has already come a long way. Here is a visual of the history of Distance Learning and some factors which will drive it forward in the future.

  In this blog post I’d like to address ...

What may be the perception of Distance Learning in the future? 

How can Instructional Designers champion the movement for improving societal perceptions of Distance Learning?

How can I as an individual be a positive influence for the continuous improvement of DIstance Learning?

What may be the perception of Distance Learning in the future? I conducted interviews with this very question in mind.  Below are the questions I posed and the table has the responses I received. 

My Approach:

I decided to interview 3 diverse individuals. Each has had some level of online learning experience.

1. My business partner: A 60+ male, took a certification course (4 classes)
2. My  niece: A 22 year old recent graduate, has extensive online learning experience
3. A client: Female, late 30s, HR Director, engineering industry, took one online course for certification points and to research for corporate implementation

Questions:

1. When you were researching online degree/certification programs what was the most important feature to you?

The faculty,  curriculum, the schools distance learning expertise, the classroom setup, convenience/flexibility,  the website layout, or the information provided on the web site, other?

1. What were the challenges you encountered when researching online learning institutions?
2. How may you incorporate online learning in your business/career?
3. What advise for time management or study tips might you offer to new online learners?
4. How would you rate your online learning experience? Did you get the learning value you expected?

Male/Business Consultant 60+	Female/recent grad - 22	Female/HR - late 30s
1. Ease of website use & Cost	1. Esthetics of web site, collaboration tools, Flexibility	1. Reputation of the school, curriculum & cost
2. Took too long and I could not easily find information...too embedded	2. Finding the time and getting information about customizing a program	2. Finding information on technology needed,pre-requisites, corporate programs and discounts
3. I know I should incorporate this into my business practice, however I think I’ll save that for my younger associates	3. You mean how DO I incorporate.  I do everything online...I’d be lost without it.  I can work full time at my first job while still pursuing a true career position and needed skills online	3.I’d like to think that here at ABC company we could utilize some sort of blended learning strategies or offer our fast track employees some education online but I’m not sure the perception here will support an online approach.  I do not believe the leadership sees a value. For me personally,  I keep my professional certification points updated at my professional organization meetings & education sessions. I really do not have much time for other courses right now.
4.  You better be good at managing your time and have strong study skills.  It does take a good amount of time!	You need to schedule your studies into your daily plan and make it a routine.  You will also need a support system, like a roommate who will run an errand for you if needed or make dinner when you have a hot deadline	4. I believe to be truly successful with online programs you better have great time management skills, however the biggest factor I had to deal with was motivation (or lack there of)  I guess I was not very engaged.
I would rate the experience, on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being high...a 3 I do believe I got the value of what I was there to learn, but I do not believe that it is practical to think that learners will apply the learnings without constant follow up	I’d give almost all of my online learning courses a HIGH, with the exception of one, which I just didn’t like the topic. I think the value of online learning is great and I find the collaboration during the courses is so helpful. I still keep in touch with students from previous classes to share ideas, ask questions and just socialize	I’d say my experience was OK.  I’ll admit I was not as focused or driven as I should have been and I’m sure that plays a role. I think the value can be there for some learners.  Online learning to me is a value, but not for everyone

Summary of interviews:

I was not surprised by the answers I received from any of my interviewees.  I had a pretty good idea that I would witness a separation in perspective with regard to generations, level of work experience and online learning experience.

My 60+ is getting ready to retire, has worked his entire career in traditional learning settings and has had limited, though pretty positive, online learning experience.  Hence, he sees a business value and need, but is good with letting others implement and participate.

My 22 lives for technology and a collaborative format...say no more! 

My late 30s is career driven, needs job security to help support the family and save for retirement, has a corporate reputation to uphold, so may not want to take too many risks ( new learning strategy?)

Reflection:  I believe we will continue to see an increased interest and use of distance learning strategies.  I also believe that most of the drive will come from our generation X and Ys.  In the multi media clip Dr. Seimens points out the 3 areas that are and will continue to grow with regard to Distance Learning.  These are; Universities, Government and Corporate.  My observation is that corporate will be the last area to truly embrace and understand the value of Distance Learning.  I attribute this observation to my own experience and with the ever changing business environment.

How can Instructional Designers champion the movement for improving societal perceptions of Distance Learning?  When we discuss perceptions of DIstance Learning I believe we are also discussing VALUE.  If we as Instructional Designers can communicate and demonstrate the value of Distance Learning, then I believe we can improve the societal perceptions of DIstance Learning.  

The article, Academic fidelity and integrity as attributes of university online degree program offerings. Gambescia, S., & Paolucci, R. (2009). provides great insight into how DIstance Learning has been marketed to target audiences. I order to improve societal perceptions of Distance Learning we need to consider the demographics of our target audience, market to each according to their motivational needs and ensure that we offer quality and value in all Distance Learning formats.

How can I as an individual be a positive influence for the continuous improvement of Distance Learning?  Here are a few strategies that I currently employ when broaching the subject of Distance Learning with my clients and prospects.

1. Know your audience - age, current learning strategies in place, experience with Distance Learning, potential motivational factors and industry  trends
2. Educate yourself on trends and benefits of DIstance Learning
3. Educate your clients
4. Keep it simple and practical
5. Engage the client in an open discussion about Distance Learning and value to them and there organization
6. Incorporate plenty of multimedia and interactivity into all marketing pieces - be sure to hit all the learning styles
7. Share success stories
8. Offer to conduct an online educational session for leadership teams
9. Give a speech or facilitate a round table discussion at one of your professional organization meetings
10. Lead by Example

Resources

Gambescia, S., & Paolucci, R. (2009). Academic fidelity and integrity as attributes of university online degree program offerings. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 12(1). 

Retrieved from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring121/gambescia121.html

Schmidt, E., & Gallegos, A. (2001). Distance learning: Issues and concerns of distance learners. Journal of Industrial Technology, 17(3). 

Retrieved from http://atmae.org/jit/Articles/schmidt041801.pdf

Video Program: “The Future of Distance Education” 

George Siemens provides insight into the reasons for the growing acceptance of distance education and where it might be headed in the future.

Classroom to Distance Learning; The Conversion

 Converting classroom training to online or distance learning formats required much more then simply applying classroom content to the web. Conducting researching on the online learning revolution for this blog posting has been a wonderful learning experience and very eye opening.

Drucker states "as things are going, the trainer will be left high and dry. There will, of course, still be training as we have traditionally understood it--training in skills. But it is not a growth sector. The growth sector is learning, especially concept learning." Drucker maintains that his own foray into the e-learning world is based on the assumption that the trainer is obsolete. "The trainer is built into the teaching (or learning) device."

"Goodbye classes, goodbye books. Goodbye teachers' dirty looks." Schools Out, Alice Cooper

I am very pleased with my decision to upgrade my skill sets, embrace the online learning revolution and grow, not simply exist.

 I hope my best practices research will assist you in your business and career. Click on the link below to view the Pdf document

Converting from classroom to distance learning formats


Resource:
The E-Learning Revolution - technology transforming training, BNET.com
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4467/is_12_54/ai_68217187/

Open Source Learning

Yale Open Source Learning

There has been and continues to be shift from traditional Education & Learning to a much more open and collaborative learning settings.

Dr. Richard Baraniuk of Rice University professor explains the vision behind Connexions, his open-source, online education system. It cuts out the textbook, allowing teachers to share and modify course materials freely, anywhere in the world. The following link will take you to a great presentation by Dr. Richard Baraniuk on TED. I found it very informative and wanted to share it with you all.

http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_baraniuk_on_open_source_learning.html

I went to several Open Source resources to review and critique the design and delivery of an open source course. I utilized http://www.openculture.com/ to find my course of interest and ended up previewing a course by Professor Paul Bloom, of the Psychology Department at Yale University.

My general observations:

I found it very difficult to get into an open source course.
Many professed to be a frees course, but required registration and $$. Others were simply recordings. Finally, I found a pertinent topic with a complete course layout I could review. The links below can take you to the course layout.

In the class video the online student could not see any visuals.

The audio was not good and we could not hear the questions and Dr. Bloom did not repeat the questions the student had to ensure that DL heard all the questions.

There were two different topics put into this lecture, which was a bit confusing even though Dr Bloom did say he was going to do a brief re-cap form previous classes

I found the course layout, syllabus, sessions and downloads sections to be very simple and practical.

Dr Bloom recommended some books but again we as online learners were not able to see the visual references to the books, so we could take down the information

The course seems to be well planned for classroom training not specifically for distance learning.

Looking at the fundamentals of teaching online from our text (SSAZ 2009), I would say the course does not meet these standards.
A classroom training was "dumped" into an online session
The organization of the course structure with regard to it's written format (syllabus etc) was very organized and straight forward. The delivery lacked this fundamental.
Keeping students informed constantly....Open source courses do not allow for any interaction between participants and teacher.

To make a long story short....what I saw from this was a broadcast of a classroom session. I read several of my colleagues' blogs. I can't remember who made this point but very valid....You get what you pay for! It is great information but I would not consider this particular session I critiqued to be much of a learning session.


Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom (lecture 20, The GoodLife: Happiness 2007)

http://oyc.yale.edu/psychology/introduction-to-psychology/

http://oyc.yale.edu/psychology/introduction-to-psychology/content/syllabus

http://oyc.yale.edu/psychology/introduction-to-psychology/content/class-sessions

http://oyc.yale.edu/psychology/introduction-to-psychology/content/downloads

yale.edu/psychology/introduction-to-psychology/content/survey

The Course Video

http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4894950&Survey=1&47=8472423&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1

Resources:

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

"Planning and Designing Online Courses"
Dr. George Piskurich and instructional technologist Jacqueline Chauser discuss the process and considerations for building an online course.

"Developing Online Courses"
This program illustrates the development phase for online courses.