Altilab2005 - Distance Education Blog

Online learning involves the delivery of courses and learning components via the Internet. MUST University’s courses and course components are delivered online to a student. Most of all, online learning environment at MUST University is fast, fluid, and flexible; and it provides for different ways of learning and greater access to learning, and as such, the curriculum becomes a part of every learning activity in education, at home, and in the workplace.

Success for MUST University in online learning depends crucially on thoughtful planning and sound research. Above all, it requires broad academic and administrative participation. Perhaps the most significant predictor of success is institutional commitment—financial, technical, and legal—in an atmosphere that supports and encourages online education.

Learning at MUST University is conceptually different from classroom learning. Because the boundaries of the classroom do not exist in cyberspace, it is possible for students to interact throughout the week at their convenience. Increasingly, the form of interaction is collaborative. On the one hand, the collaboration is a result of the technology itself: Students can read online course materials, and are able to assess their academic performance just with a click.

The learning environment at MUST University supports regular contact and cooperation, active learning, and outcomes that profit from the collective wisdom of the participants. The medium encourages attention to differences in learning styles and levels of experience. It suggests a pedagogy that is quite different from the traditional classroom.

After having earned my doctorate recently and catching up on some needed sleep (and hopefully replenishing some brain cells), I am returning to my blog to share ideas and comments about my world of online learning. Originally, I used this blog to create an annotated bibliography on the literature I collected for my dissertation. With that completed, I get to have more fun and engage with others in virtual discussions.

I have a new query: where does a new scholar find work regarding innovative uses of technology in education? Over the past 6 months, I have networked and searched the websites of virtual universities or universities with virtual programs. Most positions are sessional instructional work. To work in a more permanent position, I would have to move to the location to work, such as London, England and the OUUK. However, with a family and home in Western Canada this is not feasible - I can move around a bit but not that far. What I find ironic is the students of these institutions are not expected to come to the campus, but faculty are. The only two North America institutions I can find that support staff living at a distance is Athabasca University and University of Maryland. Neither have openings right now.

Am I forced to work for for-profit institutions? Will this mar my reputation within traditional academic venues? If only there were digital learning and open content research and development centres and initiatives as proposed by Tony Bates. That would be an exciting environment!

Or, am I forced to work in the corporate world devising new products? This is not my main choice having left the corporate world as an accountant 17 years ago and its bottom line thinking.

Trained and prepared to work in formal traditional higher education institutions and engage in research and teaching, I find myself at an interesting crossroad. I think I am less likely to find innovative and interesting work about online and digital learning in these environments. Sarah Guri-Rosenblit, in her recent book, Digital Technologies in Higher Education, also commented on the slow evolution of technology use in traditional institutions.

I guess I will need to turn over more stones to find a place that suits my background, knowledge, skills, and ambitions. In the meantime, I will continue to read and blog and sleep. Smile.

Norm Vaughan and Michael Power hosted an Elluminate session a few days ago as part of  the Canadian  Institute  of Distance Education Research (CIDER) sessions. Their topic was Blended Online Learning Design and you can access the recorded session here:

http://cider.athabascau.ca/CIDERSessions/mpower/CIDER%20WEBINAR%20SERIES.jar

The session referenced that there are a range of models that can be considered as blended learning, with BOLD itself being completely online, incorporating some synchronous and some asynchronous components and spanning features of all the other models.

For instructors moving towards online (from traditional face to face), it seems possible that synchronous online might be the best way transition into the online environment. This might be the beginning ripple of significant change for faculty at the majority of universities in Canada and possibly also throughout the world. Lack of physical space at universities can be solved in this way and there is a lot of excitement that tools like elluminate could soon be bringing more higher education to a much wider range of students than ever before. And students are said to be keen on synchronous meetings (it was even suggested that time zones aren’t as much of an issue as might be thought because students will get up in the wee hours if a session is important to them). This is great news, but I do wonder if the novelty will eventually wear off. Or maybe the challenge will ensure that faculty keep the sessions meaningful.

For folks like me, who’ve spent years already working within the asynchronous online environment, incorporating synchronous is also an increasingly exciting option as the technology is becoming more reliable and accessible. To us, synchronous is not the bridge to online (we’re already there) but it is a way to add the dimension of reacting in real time.

I don’t want to see the boring parts of traditional face-to-face get translated into skype or elluminate, and I *do* think that there is a whole world beyond any of these models — one that incorporates the assessment of informal learning and knowledge building via web 2.0, but the CIDER session was an interesting perspective on where things are now and where they’re likely to be in the near future.

For more about CIDER: http://cider.athabascau.ca/CIDERSessions/

As someone who teaches intro-level classes, I feel it is part of my job to help students transition to the college environment. This is a broader challenge in the community college system, as there is a wider variety of “real world” situations students are transitioning in from, and a wider variety of college-level situations students are transitioning into. Most of the 4-year-college students are coming from a high school and into a group-living dorm situation, where they sometimes work a part-time job. A good chunk of community college students are coming in from situations involving work, family, and educational needs and transitioning into a world where college courses need to fit into the work, family, and educational needs. Even younger students are often working full-time, and increasingly don’t understand that you can’t work full-time and go to school full-time and expect to be giving your full effort on both fronts.

This transitioning has been an increasing challenge. To be honest, I thought it was me. Then I started reading blogs and talking to other colleagues, and hearing the same thing I was experiencing: an increasing number of students who arrive without an skills for reasoning and analysis, and increasingly poor writing and communication skills. When you up those science and math classes in schools, don’t neglect English and art! What good is making discoveries if you can;t communicate them to other people?

The new student profile includes kids who are really not on the college level. They require a lot more structure, a lot more spoon-feeding, a lot more specifics. You can’t just give them a task and have them discover for themselves how to complete it- they won’t do it. I am now realizing they can’t do it. Personally, I find that not only frustrating, but highly concerning. These kids have no problem-solving skills. They have regurgitation skills.

How do I transition these kids from a world where everything is plotted out for them, and all they have to do is get from point A to point B, to a world where they have to make their own decisions, decide where they want to go themselves, and use a map to get there? Especially since they seem to never have had a map in their lives?

And although the great influx of newly-out-of-high-school students is the major part of the problem, I am seeing these issues in “adult students” as well. Most of my plagiarism cases have not been “traditional age” students- it has been far more often the “adult” student, the older-than-usual, coming-back-to-school students who have proven to be a problem! How do I transition these students appropriately so that they understand this isn’t about slapping a grade on a transcript? Why are they even here, unless they want to learn? It used to be older students were great assets. Now they are increasingly huge liabilities.

I have made some redesigns to my classes to increase structure and flow, while encouraging individual exploration. I think the first step to striking out on your own is to strike out in a safe parameter. Instead of “write a paper about art”, we can start with “write a paper about the art of second-century Rome.” The student has a specific parameter to crutch themselves, but also have some wiggle-room to find something that interests them.

Now I just have to worry about the kids who have never had passion about anything, and so have trouble finding anything to interest them.

Article submitted by SMU-DE student: – Jayachandran Pillai, Email id:- pillaipjay@yahoo.in

I am very glad to share about my experience with Sikkim Manipal University Distance Education program(SMU-DE), my achievement and its effect on my career. In July 2009 I gave my examination leading to M.Sc in CRRA Degree conducted by SMU-DE.

A DREAM COMES TRUE:-

 I am 48 years old working in an international school in Mumbai as a science specialist. When I passed my B.Sc, it was my ambition to acquire a Masters Degree in science. Due to family problems, ignorance and lack of guidance I could not pursue my wishes at that time. When I rediscovered my passion (getting an M.Sc degree in any science stream), to my disappointment I realized that no Indian Universities support a part time Masters program in Science. I had to hold on to my ambition until SMU-DE come up with M.Sc in CRRA. Now I am looking for a PhD program which I definitely believe will happen and SMU-DE will be able to offer it in the future to its students.

A ROLE MODEL

A lot of teachers appreciated my achievement at my age and they also determined to pursue higher studies in their respective fields. SMU-DE could indirectly change the attitude of many people in our school which I consider as a great benefit because they again change the lives of many students they teach. The cascading effect will be tremendous on the society.

DOOR OPENED TO MANY AVENUES

Besides learning a new topic, I can be marketed in a better way. Apart from being a teacher, now I can try my luck in Clinical Research field too. Clinical Research has an array of job titles to select from.

GROWTH POTENTIAL

Armed with my newly acquired M.Sc degree from SMU-DE I am entitled to apply for higher posts in my institution. I will be attending a Seminar on coming Saturday (12 Dec 2009), conducted by one of the Universities for prospective PhD candidates. I am entitled to attend the Seminar only because I have a Masters Degree from SMU-DE.

HIGHER SALARY

My school offers two kinds of salary packages to its teachers. Teachers with a Bachelors Degree are grouped under BA category and the teachers with Masters Degree are clubbed under MA Category. The MA category enjoy higher salary package than BA group. The Masters degree I acquired from SMU-DE enabled me to join the elite MA category of teachers. I have already submitted the mark list to the Administration of my school and eagerly waiting for the Masters Certificate from SMU-DE. Next academic year, my school will increase my salary which be very helpful for me to pay my daughters fee, who is a second year Bachelor of Dental Surgery student. I thank SMU-DE for changing the life of many people and to cherish their ambitions.

P. Jayachandran Science Specialist,

SF, 2 Bandra Kurla Complex,

Bandra –(E),

Mumbai- 400089.

Polk County Public Schools, located in Florida, is the winner of the “2008 Blackboard K-12 Video Contest.”

In Polk County’s video, district administrators, staff members, teachers, and students explain why they use Blackboard technology for professional development and to increase the sense of engagement both students and teachers feel in the learning process.

For more information about Polk County Public Schools, please visit http://www.polk-fl.net

For more information about the uses of Blackboard technology in K-12 schools, please visit http://www.blackboard.com/k12