Week 8 - Reflection

The field of instructional design will always need areas of improvement and change because of its connection to technology. Regardless of the amount of educational information or experience one may have, there is always room for improvement and change.  The idea or perception of distance education is still slowly evolving from person to person. Some feel that there is no need to participart within online courses because going to a class is something they have always known or been exposed to. But many schools are now incorporating one of two course requirements to be strictly online in a large amount of programs they provide. This is a positive form of changing the students perceptions and providing the schools with feedback as to how they can improve the educational experience they provide and the costs that come with education on both ends whether from the institution or the student.

• What do you think the perceptions of distance learning will be in the future (in 5–10 years; 10–20 years)?

The perception of distance learning will be much more accepting due to having an increased basis of information about the experience of others who have taken courses or completed their degrees within online courses. In 5 – 10 years there will still be students who are skeptical about the idea of taking courses completely online because of the large number of face-to-face learning facilities schools around. But I believe in 10 – 20 years, many of these schools will have a greater number of degree programs that will be offered both on campus and online. This will possibly make their school more appealing with the ability to provide their students with options as to how they would like to “build” their course load and integrate it with their everyday life tasks. “If we manage to bridge the gap of comfort so that they experience the environment they’ll (students) naturally take to it.” There will still be hesitation among people because of the lack of physical interaction in working with ones degree since the first image that comes to mind for many people, in regards to education, is a classroom and desk. But there is also the understanding that those who have a great understanding about technology and the speed at which it is increasing among people and improving, will allow people to view this as a new experience that can provide them with a large benefit in the long run. The question is whether their fear or what they have been taught in regards to education will limit them from taking a chance on it?

• How can you as an instructional designer be a proponent for improving societal perceptions of distance learning?

As an instructional designer, the best way of improving societies perception is by asking three particular questions:

1.     What is their thought on distance learning currently?

2.     How would they like to interact with in distance learning to make it more appealing?

3.     What would you want employers to “accept” if you already obtained a degree through online learning and how would you be able to reflect upon your educational experience to prove your worth to the employer?

By finding answers to these questions, I feel that we can designer better programs and create a challenging but educational while providing a positive experience for the students at hand. Another way of improving the perceptions is in providing educational resources that are both current and those that have been useful in past courses.  Also, in keeping up with the latest technology to attract more students who may be comfortable with the new “apps” or programs out in society will provide them with more reason as to why they can participate in the course. Especially now during a time where majority of the programs used on a computer are already accessible via mobile formats. Their perception in viewing such easy access to the possibility of completing a program at their own pace and comfort could be the largest form of attracting more students to participating in distance education.

• How will you be a positive force for continuous improvement in the field of distance education?

To be a positive force in continuous improvement, you must accept that there will be many mistakes and errors both on your own and within others parts in working with the field of instructional design. Participating in conferences and interacting with other designers while improving on my own skills through learning about the different types of technology that are changing and coming out or are popular. Taking opportunities both in the educational and corporate field will allow me to build a diverse portfolio, which will help me learn about areas where I can improve and change. It will also provide me with different ways of applying designs from one areas for projects within another. Requesting as much feedback from every course or student would be beneficial in improving my work and even in asking those who have not taken an online course would be effective. In finding their reasons for hesitation can allow me to try ways of breaking down those barriers which in turn could possibly help someone that is currently doing poorly within a course but may not know the reason why.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). The future of distance education [DVD].

Baltimore, MD: Author

Best Practice Guide for Distance Learning

In working with distance learning, for this assignment, i have created a best practice guide that goes into detail about various methods of how to integrate and transfer information from face-to-face learning to online learning. The guide goes into light detail regarding methods of technology to use to a break down of how hybrid learning works and more. Below you will find the link to the guides PDF format.

Best Practice Guide PDF

WK5AssignRocourtI

Application: Blog—The Impact of Open Source

http://izziandidt.blogspot.com/

Blog Post:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Open Course: Romantic Poetry

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/literature/21l-476-romantic-poetry-spring-2005/

            Open Course sites provide the opportunity of learning and interaction with others regarding a particular subject matter by allowing people to come together and participate in a course provided by various institutions and organizations. The course site I choose to analyze is under the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This site provides access to MIT courses that have been provided to students during prior semesters but through allowing the public to access the course, it provides the professor with the opportunity to improve and make any revisions necessary on the course based on the feedback provided by the participant. One course that I viewed through the MIT course is Romantic Poetry, under the subject of Literature. The course provides the date of Spring 2005, which is the format of what it is following.

            The courses design for Romantic Poetry is very simplistic and easy to maneuver. Students are able to purchase the five textbooks required for the course, access the assignments for the course and download material which includes an electronic copy of the syllabus, reading assignments and assessment assignments. The course is separated into fourteen weeks and each week contains two sets of readings for review per week which in total provide twenty four different topics to follow for the subject of Romantic Poetry. There is an essay assignment in the middle of the session during week six and another during week fourteen.

Many of the links found throughout the course are downloadable via pdf format. Video and audio presentations are accessible for audio and visual presentation and learners. Many of the assignments are expected to be returned via an electronic format, which falls into the format of distance learning. The courses provide a link to the same material provided in the course and they provide the date of when the course was implemented. These forms of activities do promote learning within each course. Though courses are free, they do follow along the rule of “balance variety with economy” (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvachk, 2012) extremely well. For a free course, it seems as though these sites are very under utilized but at the same time, it is understandable because in taking courses one can gain a lot of knowledge. Many of the students that may participate in the courses will not receive credit for it and this may hinder the idea of participation.

Due to the large amount of courses with the various subjects provided, I feel that they provide more than enough information and tools for success with the courses at hand. A recommendation in online instruction found is through the instructor feedback through the course projects and assignments. “Instructors need to provide two types of feedback: information feedback and acknowledgement feedback.” (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvachk, 2012) The students are provided with assignments and most of the courses state that there will be an agreed upon date of submission and completion for the final project but the assignments throughout the middle of the course would be submitted on various days. My course chosen provide the requirement of submitting two essays; the first one at the midpoint of the course of 5 – 7 pages in length and one at the end of the course at 8 – 10 pages in length. This promotes the idea of active learning between the professor and the student but with course sites it takes away from the interaction of other students. Depending on the subject the course falls under, one course may provide a sense of independent learning while another would have a more interactive online learning format participating in discussions or forums. The course I choose with Romantic Comedy did not provide the opportunity for discussion forums.

Course sites are very beneficial in providing the opportunity for education to people all around the world. Without the time and contributions provided by these various organizations, many students and peers may never have the opportunity to experience what it is like to participate in a distance learning course. In using course sites, other students or peers that have had the opportunity to participate may use these sites to find more information on the different subjects that they may be researching on or they may have the opportunity to participate and learn about a subject from a different perspective.

Reference:

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.