Chapter 4: Technologies, and the Internet and Distance Education

• MPG Files (Podcasting). An .mpg audio file, often called an educational podcast, is usually a prerecorded single-concept lesson, normally audio only, but sometimes with accompanying still or motion visuals (Simonson, 2007).
• Two-Way Video/Audio Classrooms. Video-based distance education requires a classroom or studio that is equipped with the technology needed for recording and displaying video and listening to sound. Initially, studios were used as distance education classrooms. Then, as distance education became more widespread, regular classrooms were converted into distance education receive and send sites.
• Telecommunications means to communicate at a distance, telecommunications technologies are electronic methods used to connect the instructor, students, and resources.
• There are four categories of desktop audio/video systems: analog, high speed, medium speed, and low speed.
• Analog systems use existing telephone wiring in buildings, commonly called twisted pair wires. Analog systems are limited to a campus, or a building, which significantly reduces this application in distance education.
• High-speed videoconferencing sends video at millions of bits per second. Even at this high rate, the video signal is compressed using a compression protocol such as MPEG or motion JPEG. The H.310 protocol is used for high-speed desktop videoconferencing. Currently, high-speed videoconferencing is used primarily with dedicated networks within individual schools or businesses.
• Medium-speed desktop videoconferencing is currently the primary approach used today. This type of desktop video transmits at speeds of 128,000 or 256,000 bits per second. The video signal is compressed so it can be transmitted over the Internet (H.323 protocol). There are both hardware and software methods to compress and decompress the video signal. Since the Internet is used, medium-speed systems have considerable promise for distance education.
• Low-speed desktop video includes all systems that transmit at speeds lower than 56,000 bits per second (56 kbps). This category permits conferencing using the Internet and modems at speeds of 28.8 kbps. A V32 model modem with v.80 extension is generally what is needed for low-speed desktop video.
• Step # 1: Assess available instructional technologies. Instructional technologies can be organized into two categories: telecommunications technologies and instructional technologies.
• Step # 2: Determine the learning outcomes. Learning outcomes are those observable, measurable behaviors that are a consequence of online instruction. When learning activities are designed it is important that some expectations for students be identified in order to guide the selection of appropriate technologies.
• Step #3: Identify learning experiences and match each to the most appropriate available technology.
  Usually, the content of a course is divided into modules or units. Traditionally, a module requires about 3 hours of face-to-face instruction and 6 hours of student study or preparation, and a three credit college course would have
  12 to 15 modules. In an online course, the classical approach of organizing content around teaching and study time is no longer relevant.
  Step #4: Preparing the learning experiences for online delivery. Basically, there are four strategies for organizing instruction for online delivery. They are (1) linear programmed instruction, (2) branched programmed instruction, (3) hyper-programmed instruction, and (4) student-programmed instruction.
   

 http://www.unitedstreaming.com/publicPages/about Us.cfm 


http://macdailyNews.com


http://www3.iptv.org/iowa_database/ICN/icnsites/prices/contents.html

Chapter 3: Research and Distance Education

This instrument allows individuals the opportunity to evaluate instructional media on 10 elements: (1) amount of material covered, (2) level of difficulty, (3) degree to which the course content was well organized, (4) clarity of the content, (5) degree to which the various programs and instructional activities were relevant to the course objectives, (6) excellence or lack of excellence of the presenter’s delivery, (7) extent to which text and weekly assignments were integrated with each week’s class, (8) value of slides, films, and other visual materials, (9) value of text screens to support the presenter’s delivery, and (10) degree to which the course held the student’s interest.


Seven broad categories of teaching behaviors were identified:

• Nonverbal “immediacy” behaviors 
• Verbal “immediacy” behaviors 
• Behaviors that personalize the class 
• Technology management strategies 
• Methods for acquiring student feedback 
• Methods used to manage student participation 
•  Active learning strategies

Beare (1989) compared the effectiveness of six instructional formats that allowed differing levels of interaction: (1) lecture, (2) lecture with videotape backup, (3) telelecture, (4) audio-assisted independent study, (5) video-assisted study, and (6) video on campus.


Bauer and Rezabek (1992) compared verbal interaction under three conditions: (1) two-way audio and video, (2) two-way audio, and (3) traditional instruction.


When the data were analyzed, the strongest barriers to distance education were identified. Their rank order is: 1. Increased time commitment 2. Lack of money to implement distance education programs 3. Organizational resistance to change 4. Lack of shared vision for distance education in the organization 5. Lack of support staff to help course development 6. Lack of strategic planning for distance education 7. Slow pace of implementation 8. Faculty compensation/incentives 9. Difficulty keeping up with technological changes 10. Lack of technology-enhanced classrooms, labs, or infrastructure


Berge and Muilenburg identified the least important barriers to implementation. They were (in rank order): 54. Competition with on-campus courses 55. Lack of personal technological expertise 56. Lack of acceptable use policy 57. Lack of transferability of credits 58. Problems with vast distances and time zones 59. Technology fee 60. Tuition rate 61. Local, state, or federal regulations 62. Ethical issues 63. Existing union contracts 64. Lack of parental involvement


Berge and Muilenburg concluded by identifying the need for cultural change within organizations involved or contemplating involvement with distance education. Five of the top barriers related directly to organizational culture are as follows: 

• Organizational resistance to change 
• Lack of shared vision for distance education in the organization 
• Lack of strategic planning for distance education 
• Slow pace of implementation 
• Difficulty keeping up with technological change

In South Dakota (Simonson, 2001), a recent series of focus groups of teachers revealed the following reasons why they were reluctant to be involved in distance education: 

• Fear 
• Training 
• Time 
• Changes needed

These same groups indicated that the impediments to implementing distance education in schools were as follows: 

• Need for training 
• Need for and lack of support 
• Time needed 
• Fear of the process 
• Scheduling problems 
• Technical problems

http://www.tresystems.com/projects/sdakota.cfgm

http://tecfa.unige.ch/edu-ws94/contrib/peraya.fm.html

http://www.itcnetwork.org/AccreditationEvidenceofQualityinDEPrograms.pdf

Important URLs

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/01/26/creating-the-21st-century-classroom-3/

This URL is important to me  because today’s mobile technology enables children to have nearly 24-hour media access, and many students are spending close to eight hours per day using entertainment media, according to new research from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Yet, when students enter the typical K-12 classroom, they’re forced to “power down” in order to learn. But it doesn’t have to be that way. And, in a growing number of schools that have embraced 21st-century teaching and learning, it’s not.

Voice amplification systems, digital projectors, document cameras, interactive whiteboards, personal response systems, and other handheld devices; these are among the many technologies that are quickly becoming essential tools for helping 21st-century teachers engage their students’ interest and make learning more interactive.

 

 

http://www.techlearning.com/assessment-&-testing/0034/21st-century-skills-will-our-students-be-prepared/45157

This URL is important because it discuss Learning for the 21st Century, a report from a new public-private coalition known as the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (www.21stcenturyskills.org), articulates a vision of how schools can best prepare students to succeed in the first decades of the 21st century.

 

 

http://newlearninginstitute.org/film-series/a-21st-century education/technology-and-21st-century-learning

This URL has a film that looks specifically at the ways that the latest digital and mobile technologies can potentially transform the ways that young people communicate, collaborate, and learn. Each film looks specifically at the ways in which the latest technologies including the mobile and digital technologies that are at the heart of the Mobile Learning Institute program can potentially transform young people's educational experience. Each leader begins from a personal frame of reference, arguing for the urgency of releasing students from traditional American models of schooling. Each also suggests that the key to transforming contemporary education rests in giving kids the tools to produce, share, and evaluate their own knowledge.

Chapter 1 Definitions

1. Distance education is now often defined as institution-based, formal education where the learning group is separated, and where interactive telecommunications systems are used to connect learners, resources, and instructors. (Schlosser & Simonson, 2006, p. 1)
2. Distance can mean geographical distance, time distance, and possibly even intellectual distance.
3. Synchronous Distance Learning is satellite, compressed video, and fiber-optic systems are increasingly used for same-time, different-place education.
4. Asynchronous Distance Learning in other words, learners choose when and where to learn and when and where to access instructional materials. Recently, World Wide Web courses have been offered to learners anywhere they have access and whenever they choose.
5. Tele- means “at a distance,” so in its simplest form.
6. Telemedicine refers to medicine at a distance.
7. Telelaw refers to law at a distance.
8. Internet Protocol the rules used to send information over the Internet.
9. Diploma Mill has the following characteristics: no classrooms, untrained or nonexistent faculties, and unqualified administrators with profit as their primary motivation (Noble, Schneiderman, Herman, Agre, & Denning, 1998).
10. Remote Consultation is the most common telemedicine application and what most refer to when they use the term telemedicine. This application implies one health care provider seeking the advice of a professional colleague or subspecialist to resolve a patient’s problem.
11. Remote Monitoring is a longstanding application where the most common use is to access a patient’s vital signs at a distance using telecommunications technologies.
12. Remote Education is increasingly important as the geographically concentrated expertise of a medical unit is redistributed to isolated practicing professionals and professionals in training.

 

 

 

 

Important URLs

IMPORTANT URLs




http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=2684543
This URL is important to me because it talks about the challenge of technology, introductory remarks on knowledge, learning, and teaching, the role of media and technology in education, a framework for selecting and using technology, the organization of teaching with technology, Planning for teaching with technology, approaches to the design of technology-based learning, course development and maintenance, supporting technology-based learning, change and stability in teaching with technology and Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education; how it draws on current research and best practice to show how to integrate technology into teaching in higher education. It provides a comprehensive theoretical and pedagogical foundation for helping instructors make critical decisions about the use of technology within curriculum. This practical and much needed resource discusses the relationship between knowledge, learning, teaching, and the nature of media, and shows how this information should inform the use of technology in a teaching environment. The authors introduce a decision model that is based on key criteria for selecting appropriate technologies for teaching in higher education. They also provide guidance for developing and delivering a course using electronic technology and discuss the organizational and technical support structures that are needed to back up instructors using technology.






http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=3632132
This URL starts off with an Introduction: It's TIME: technology integrated into meaningful learning experiences. It describe varies attributes of meaningful learning using technology and provides teaching for meaningful learning with new technologies. It has suggesting for WISE teachers: using technology and inquiry for science instruction. It displays curriculum-focused professional development: addressing the barriers to inquiry pedagogy in urban classrooms and allows you to see the meaning "hidden" in history and social studies teaching. It maps the terrain for meaningful learning using technology in social studies. It defines technology and teaching: a new kind of knowledge.






http://blog.simplek12.com/education/technology-21st-century-classroom/
This URL had an articles that engage students while considering the role of technology in the 21st Century Classroom. It discusses the process of adopting new technology into the classroom. I believe technology assists in developing all of these characteristics. As opposed to viewing new technology as a threat to the classroom environment, educators and schools must embrace technology and use it to enhance the learning experience. Educators using and integrating current technology tools in their learning curriculum are better preparing their students for higher education and the everyday workforce.

Chapter 2 Definitions

• Distance Education as institution-based, formal education where the learning group is separated, and where interactive telecommunications systems are used to connect learners, resources, and instructors.
• Telecommunications is defined as “communicating at a distance.”
• Open Learning is a new way of looking at education in a quickly changing and diverse world. He indicates that distance education and open learning are two distinct approaches to education.
• Virtual is defined as something quasi, or pseudo. Virtual is often a potential state that at some time might become “actual.”
• Virtual School tends to be used most often in K–12 education.
• Marco Factors in this area of education there was a need to describe and define the field, to discriminate between the various components of the field, and to identify the critical elements of the various forms of learning and teaching.
• Theory is taken to mean a set of hypotheses logically related to one another in explaining and predicting occurrences.
• The Foundations of Distance Education, Keegan (1996) classified theories of distance education into three groups:
  1. Theories of independence and autonomy
  2. Theories of industrialization of teaching
  3. Theories of interaction and communication
• Independent Study distance education at the college or university level. Charles Wedemeyer believed that outdated concepts of learning and teaching were being employed, and that they failed to utilize modern technologies in ways that could alter the institution.
• Guided Didactic Conversation falls into the general category of communication theory. Holmberg (1985) noted that his theory had explanatory value in relating teaching effectiveness to the impact of feelings of belonging and cooperation as well as to the actual exchange of questions, answers, and arguments in mediated communication.

 

 

Positive Reflections

http://passionforlearningandteaching.blogspot.ca/
Parent Tech Night was a great blog. Parents joined and learned how to use technology in innovative ways to enhance their child’s literacy program. They had an opportunity to learn from their child and see how tech allows for the creation of new tasks previously unimaginable. This hands-on networking session, showed parents how the apps that the teacher used to promote creativity, opportunities for differentiated learning, personalized learning and collaboration with the world. Parents had an opportunity to discovered how throughout the day, technology is embedded in their child’s learning in a meaningful way.
Kinder Twitter Night was a success too! Kindergarten parents and children were invited to join in to learn all about one of the most popular social media on the planet: Twitter! Their child shared with them how they use Twitter in the classroom and also helped them set up a Twitter account.

http://edupln.ning.com/video/teaching-in-the-21st-century

This is a wonderful presentation. It really helps teachers get their head           around the 21st century concept. This hits many of the challenges we are facing as we move toward and the changes due in teaching.

 

http://www.edutopia.org/reinvent-assessment-21st-century
The 21 century technology in the classroom. I believe that students beneficiate a lot of a lesson that used technology as a tool of learning. We need to prepare them to go to a 21 century world that operates everything with technology and changes very quickly. Mixing the curriculum, time, and technology is the challenge. It is very interesting to have projects that include picture taking, videos, mp3, and research. All these activities need more time and it is hard to finish some of the requirements in a school year as it is. I believe that the assessments need to be change but until then we can start with little steps.

 

http://www.21things4teachers.net/index.html
Building educator skills will help students upgrade their own skills through modeling, and the inclusion of technology helps brings learning to a global level as it builds 21st century learners. Everyone plays a role in online learning, and the successful launch of an online experience involves being knowledgeable about all aspects of online learning.

 

http://teacherofthe21stcentury.blogspot.com/
Problem solving is definitely a 21st century skill and allowing our students to struggle a little when trying to figure something out is okay (this isn't only true of technology, but anything). When technology fails encourage your students to figure it out on their own and allow them to fail.

 

http://teaching21c.blogspot.com/
I enjoyed the being creative with your photos. Whether you and your students are into scrapbooking or digital storytelling or just having fun with photos and video and audio, that application is worth investigating.