Open Courses

URL: http://itunes.stanford.edu/

The course that I chose was from the iTunes U – Stanford University. The title is called, “Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders: Building an Entrepreneurial Career by Ted Zoller (Kaufman Foundation). This a weekly seminar series on Entrepreneurship, co-sponsored by Bases (a student entrepreneurship group), Stanford Technology Ventures Program and the Department of Management Science and Engineering.

I believe that this course has been pre-planned but not necessarily designed for an objective distance learning environment. In a many distance learning environments there is a give and take, two-way communication takes place. This course has been designed as a podcast. “A podcast is a type of digital media consisting of an episodic series of files (either audio or video) subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast accessed on February 5, 2012). A speaker speaks and the learner chooses what to listen to and take away from the seminar versus a distance learning course in which objectives are stated and there is an outcome that is expected and measured.

The recommendations for distance learning lists printed material and handouts as a key to an effective course. A syllabus is clearly stated as the essential piece of the puzzle that holds everything together. Text materials and examinations, grading policies, assessment opportunities within the course are important as well. This particular course only allows a one-way tool for communication for the learners. It is a one-sided distance education course. There are no visual aids that will cause the information to be reinforced so unless you listen to the podcast more than once, there is a very slim chance that the information will be retained.

This course does not use course activities that maximize active learning for the students.

References:

http://itunes.stanford.edu/ accessed on February 5, 2012.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast accessed on February 5, 2012.

Virtual Worlds

As an instructional designer, I would suggest that the teacher use a distance learning technology that deals with Virtual Worlds. Virtual reality is not a new concept. It has been used in many different scenarios. For example, the military uses virtual reality to train their soldiers as if they were in a real war situation. “Virtual worlds appear to have (as they have for several pre-World decades) exciting potential for placing students in real life applications of course content; for example in problem-solving situations, especially experiences in other places and times that would otherwise be inaccessible…” (Simonson, 2012).

The distance learning technology that I will suggest is Active Worlds (AW). Active Worlds is a 3D virtual reality platform. Those who use Active Worlds can assign themselves a name, create an Avatar, a virtual person and build environments from a selection of objects. In addition, users of Active Worlds are able to chat with one another, own worlds and universes and develop 3D content.

I feel as an instructional design this will be a great platform because the students in the class are unable to go to the Museum to check out the artwork but the can go to the Museum virtually. They will be able to create a 3D image of the Museum and walk around and view the painting, as well as, have a class critique of the artwork. The Museum is being brought to them in a virtual sense.

There are external sources that showcase how Active Worlds have been used as an asynchronous formal learning environment at the University of Colorado-Boulder: Business Computing Skills 1000. The second way in which Active Worlds has been used is in a synchronous informal learning environment, “Magine’s 3D Object Modeling Class” (Dickey, 2005). The sources are cited in the British Journal of Technology.

References:

Dickey, Michele D. Three-Dimensional Virtual Worlds and Distance Learning: Two Cases Studies of Active Worlds as a Medium For Distance Education. British Journal of Educational Technology Vol. 36 No 3 2005 pg. 439–451.

Simonson, Michael. Teaching and Learning at a Distance: Foundations of Distance Education. Boston: Pearson Education, 2012.

http://www.activeworlds.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Worlds

Distance Education

Definition of Distance Learning

Distance learning is a technology that is changing as rapidly as technology itself changes which is almost in nanosecond bits according to some. I believe that Distance Education is changing because of more advanced technology. It is changing because we learn at a much more rapid rate than we did 300 to 400 years ago.

Distance education, or distance learning, is a field of education that focuses on the pedagogy, technology, and instructional systems design that aim to deliver education to students who are not physically "on site".

Personal Definition

My personal definition of distance education is education that takes place in a location where the one who is doing the instructing is not in the same place as the one who is learning. Distance education has been a reward for me because it has afforded the opportunity to be a half-time student, with a full-time career and life. I am a teacher by profession and passion. I know what it is to teach and be taught, requiring from my students their best and wanting at every level to give my best.

Revised Definition

I think that Distance Education is not necessarily based on the technical knowledge that one has to a certain degree. Distance Education is available to all people from all backgrounds. Distance education can be in the form of a television program, written correspondence, via satellite or computer. It does not always in involve the most technologically advanced systems that we know as being apart of our current society. It is where one who instructs teaches from a different location those who will learn.

Future of Distance Learning

I see the future of distance learning from a clear perspective. I am most certainly a product of Distance Education. I believe that there will be millions more people who will subscribe to distance learning in the very near future. It will afford people the opportunity to seek out a degree that they have wanted to pursue but never felt that have had the time to sit in a traditional classroom. Traditional classrooms will still be around but not in brick and mortar as we know it today, they will be much more enhanced. The future of distance is wide open for those who will seek it out.