My steps through UMUC Graduate School
When I got employed by a distance learning university I underestimated the change I would have to undergo in the teaching and learning methods in order to remain effective. Six months down the line I realized what I had put myself into and I grabbed the first opportunity that was offered by my employer to do graduate studies in distance education. So this is how my journey through UMUC's Graduate School began. My first difficult task was to balance between work, family, and studies. I found myself working for not less than 15 hours a day, mainly dealing with deadlines from work, family and studies.
First Learning Activity
Our first task was to read books and other resources that defined distance education. We were then asked to formulate our own definition of distance education without repeating published definitions from the sources we had read.
This was my initial definition:
“Distance education in simple terms is a way of teaching and learning in which there is no face-to-face contact between the teacher and the learners. In face-to-face education the learners and the teacher have a direct interaction which gives room for immediate further explanations and questioning on issues that need clarity. In the past distance education was only possible through correspondence but today due to the advances in technology many Internet based tools and television and radio are used for distance education.”
I learned that in order to comprehensively define distance education it was necessary to consider:
The distance between the teacher and the learner
The technology used for interaction and
The teaching and learning theories
My definition of distance education was summarized in the distance education mid map shown below.
I also found the history of distance education to be interesting, starting from correspondence education where learning material was sent through the Post Office followed by the era of television and radio (which are still in use today)and leading to the present age where the Internet has become the dominant medium of communication where technologies such as the Web, social networks, blogs wikis etc. are moving distance education to levels never imagined. I have no doubt that distance education will continue to benefit from advances in technology.
Reflections on Wave 3 of Distance Education
My learning experience with the 3rd wave of DE was that whilst there has been a lot of growth in the technology due to the Internet and its related technologies. Technologies from the older eras are still in use to a certain extent e.g. TV, Radio etc. What I have also realized is that the Internet and its related technologies will continue to dominate DE technologies at least for the near future albeit with a lot of innovations in the methodologies and techniques for the use Internet-based technologies in DE. The 3rd wave of DE has also seen the implementation of some of the theories that emerged during the 2nd wave in particular theories such constructivism, and connectivism have been buoyed by the emergency of the Internet and its related technologies. Some of the tools for DE are well applicable to face-to-face learning bring the beginning of what may seem like convergence between distance learning institutions and residential universities.
My learning experience with the 3rd wave of DE was that whilst there has been a lot of growth in the technology due to the Internet and its related technologies. Technologies from the older eras are still in use to a certain extent e.g. TV, Radio etc. What I have also realized is that the Internet and its related technologies will continue to dominate DE technologies at least for the near future albeit with a lot of innovations in the methodologies and techniques for the use Internet-based technologies in DE. The 3rd wave of DE has also seen the implementation of some of the theories that emerged during the 2nd wave in particular theories such constructivism, and connectivism have been buoyed by the emergency of the Internet and its related technologies. Some of the tools for DE are well applicable to face-to-face learning bring the beginning of what may seem like convergence between distance learning institutions and residential universities.
To complete my learning reflections on distance education I will discuss the following things:
1. The group's (r)evolutionary grid.
The grid as a learning tool gave me a good understanding of the continuum of changes and developments in distance education. The concept of a grid and its representation also created a certain graphical appeal that reflected a flow of things over a timeline. It however needs to be used with care with regards to the overlaps among the different waves. The idea of creating the grid by researching on a number of things that happened (or continue to happen) in DE and putting them on a timeline makes the grid interesting to use as a learning tool.
2. Defining distance education.
My understanding of DE was influenced by the way in which the OMDE601 course presented the historical developments especially the discussions that we were involved in and the online visits by renowned scholars some of whom were part of the formulation of DE. That was fascinating as it opened my eyes into what DE is all about and possibly its future. After having acquired a better understanding of De than what I started off with, it is tempting to change my definition of DE but I find that my definition still captures the essence of DE is and I would therefore leave it as it is.
3. Course objectives
The following course objectives were met in terms of the following parameters written communication, technology fluency, information literacy, program content knowledge, and critical thinking:
4. Collaborative group experience
We were initially not sure how were going to work together until we agreed to use social media and email. We used Google docs and we allowed each other to select areas of the DE wave that we felt comfortable to deal with. Such an approach made it easy for group members to make meaningful collaboration to the work. One of the group members actually created the table on Goggle docs and generally coordinated the contributions besides contributing his part. It was a good group we did not have issues and our DE grid has been commended by others. We tried to meet face-to-face since our group was made up of people work for the same organization but that failed. Online collaboration lacks the benefits of face-to-face communication, when people commit to doing something online it is different from committing face-to-face. I suppose social media can bridge the gap in a way e.g. use of instant messaging, or chat rooms, among others.
1. The group's (r)evolutionary grid.
The grid as a learning tool gave me a good understanding of the continuum of changes and developments in distance education. The concept of a grid and its representation also created a certain graphical appeal that reflected a flow of things over a timeline. It however needs to be used with care with regards to the overlaps among the different waves. The idea of creating the grid by researching on a number of things that happened (or continue to happen) in DE and putting them on a timeline makes the grid interesting to use as a learning tool.
2. Defining distance education.
My understanding of DE was influenced by the way in which the OMDE601 course presented the historical developments especially the discussions that we were involved in and the online visits by renowned scholars some of whom were part of the formulation of DE. That was fascinating as it opened my eyes into what DE is all about and possibly its future. After having acquired a better understanding of De than what I started off with, it is tempting to change my definition of DE but I find that my definition still captures the essence of DE is and I would therefore leave it as it is.
3. Course objectives
The following course objectives were met in terms of the following parameters written communication, technology fluency, information literacy, program content knowledge, and critical thinking:
- Identification of the unique characteristics of DE.
- Describing the major influences in the evolution of distance education --social, economical, and political -- from its early beginnings to the current IT-based practices.
- Identifying the key authors and theorists in distance education and analyze their contributions to the field.
- Describing how distance education methodologies have changed over time, in particular how the role of teacher and learner have evolved
- Describing various types of distance education institutions and the relevance of a systems approach to teaching and learning.
- Analyzing the impact of technological changes on the nature of teaching and learning in distance education.
- Navigating and use an online learning environment, shared virtual spaces, and social media for the purpose of learning, documenting learning, and creating content (e.g., WebTycho, maps, charts, wikis, Google docs, Weebly, Twitter, blogs, Diigo, Vimeo).
- Mastering and applying research and writing skills for the purpose of critically analyzing issues and topics discussed in relevant literature, synthesizing findings, and communicating ideas and arguments with supporting evidence.
- Learning collaboratively by using social media and other shared virtual spaces to create content and successfully complete assigned team projects.
- Reflecting on learning and articulate changes in thinking, feeling, and behavior.
4. Collaborative group experience
We were initially not sure how were going to work together until we agreed to use social media and email. We used Google docs and we allowed each other to select areas of the DE wave that we felt comfortable to deal with. Such an approach made it easy for group members to make meaningful collaboration to the work. One of the group members actually created the table on Goggle docs and generally coordinated the contributions besides contributing his part. It was a good group we did not have issues and our DE grid has been commended by others. We tried to meet face-to-face since our group was made up of people work for the same organization but that failed. Online collaboration lacks the benefits of face-to-face communication, when people commit to doing something online it is different from committing face-to-face. I suppose social media can bridge the gap in a way e.g. use of instant messaging, or chat rooms, among others.