Distance Learning: Moving Beyond Its Years

          Distance learning, while far from a new concept, has come a long way from its early days of conception. From its days of being conducted through mail correspondence to today, distance learning has endured many facelifts, partially due to the increased ability of technology (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, and Zvacek, 2012). Assignments that once were sent in an envelope to an instructor several states or countries away in order to be graded through the U.S. mail can now be submitted to the same instructor in a matter of seconds through the Internet. Learners who were once forced to attend classes in a local environment now have the ability to complete coursework in subjects like marine biology through schools in Alaska without leaving Iowa through a few simple keystrokes. Everyday we see technology grow and evolve, and with each new development, the tools available for the distance learning environment become more and more numerous and accessible to online course facilitators and learners, allowing for more learning opportunities. In my opinion, it is the growth of these opportunities that allow for the growth in the perception of distance learning. As distance learning opportunities have increased, so has the integrity of these opportunities, and as they continue to grow over the next five to ten years, and even the next ten to twenty years, those attributes that were once seen as possible negative aspects of online learning will be so common it will be hard to fathom that these opportunities were every questioned.

         

          As instructional designers, it becomes our roles to create instructional experiences that rival those created for the traditional classroom. By using technological tools that engage the learner in their learning experience as well as in a well-organized format, learning online can be as motivating and exciting, if not more than those experiences in had in a traditional setting, at the same time allowing for the learner to complete coursework on a flexible time frame that meets their needs as well as ease their fears. By doing so, learners will theoretically have positive learning experiences, and will share their experiences with other potential learners. And as instructional designers who stay atop of new technologies that become available, the personal quality of these experiences can only be improve, which in turn has the potential to attract more learners.

        While I can’t speak for my fellow instructional design colleagues about how we as instructional designers can be a positive force for continuous improvement in the field of distance learning, I can speak for myself. In my opinion, it becomes my role to be an advocate for online learning by dispelling misrepresented facts about online learning to those who are hesitant to take the plunge into one of these increasingly growing opportunities. By remaining knowledgeable of emerging trends and technologies, I will be able to ease concerns of these learners as well as develop the tools they may or may not need to succeed.

        Distance learning isn’t going away. In my opinion, it is just the opposite. The present is pregnant with the future, and distance learning is becoming so common in today’s educational experiences that the learners of tomorrow will see it as we see fast food restaurants and disposable diapers today, and that would be as something so common, learning without it would be unfathomable (Voltaire, n.d.).

References:

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

Voltaire (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/future_5.html

Changing It Up

While there is truth in the old saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” (Bertam, 1977), there is also truth in saying “ whoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times” (Machiavelli, n.d.). A training manager, whose primary role is to deliver practical skills, knowledge, understanding, and motivation to the staff in order for them to carry out work-related tasks, also assumes the secondary role of determining the best practices for doing so. This is done by identifying learning needs and monitoring trainee progress, and, perhaps most importantly, evaluating learning and development programs to ensure they are relevant and meet the learners’ needs (“Training and development,” 2012). Therefore, a training manager who has noticed a decrease in communication with trainees during training sessions needs to determine what needs to be done differently in order to meet the learners on their terms, which for this generation of learners, known as digital natives who are characterized to have shorter attention spans and prefer hyperlinked information and immediate feedback , are resources such as web 2.0 tools that allow for them to simultaneously interact with others and content (Hart, 2008).

When converting materials that were once delivered in a face-to-face environment to materials that will be delivered to learners in an online forum, several things must be considered. It is not simply about transferring content, but about transforming content, a process that is part art, part science. In doing so, it becomes the role of the training manager to determine, in addition to the before-mentioned responsibilities, to determine the best way to present the content while using the strengths of online medium to create interaction between the learners and content, the learners as a whole, and the learners and trainer. Also, as with a face-to-face training, the trainer needs to determine how to assess the success of learning and effectiveness of the presentation and the learning (“Converting to online,” n.d.). However, in order to do this successfully, the trainer needs to understand that his role has changed, and instead of being the one who delivers the training, the trainer’s role now becomes one who facilitates learning by encouraging participation, being objective, making the material relevant, and requesting responses in order to determine not only if learning is occurring, but also to determine what may need to be further addressed in the face-to-face portions of training (Berge, 1995).

The following chart, while not being applicable to every situation, is a guide that can be used to help aid in conversion of a traditional training module to an online training module.

While offering the element of convenience, a hybrid-learning environment lends itself to being a collaborative learning environment that is personalized and individualized to the learning audience (Miller, 2012). So while the concept of training isn’t broken, there is still a need to fix its outward appearance in order to appeal to and meet the needs of those we train. 

References

Berge, Z. L. (1995). The role of the online instructor/facilitator. Facilitating computer conferencing, 35(1), 22-30. Retrieved from http://www.cordonline.net/mntutorial2/module_2/Reading 2-1 instructor role.pdf

Bertam, T. (1977). Retrieved from http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/if-it-aint-broke-dont-fix-it.html

Converting to online. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/starting/converting.htm

Hart, J. (2008). Understanding toda'ys learners and meeting their needs through differentiation. Learning solutions, Retrieved from http://c4lpt.co.uk/articles/images/understandinglearners.pdf

Machiavelli, N. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.leadershipnow.com/changequotes.html

Miller, A. (2012, Octiber 12). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/blended-learning-engagement-strategies-andrew-miller

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

Training and development manager. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.cogent-careers.com/roles/profile&id=11

Free or Not, Are All Online Learning Experiences Created Equal?

This week, I was asked to evaluate a free, online course and determine whether the course appeared to be carefully pre-planned and designed for a distance learning environment. While during this program I have looked at other online course, in light of the upcoming elections and the saturation of political ads in which music, both patriotic and other genres, is often used in the background, I was drawn to the course titled “Politics in Music” designed by Courtney Brown, found at the following URL: http://www.courtneybrown.com/classes/podcasts.html

When designing an online learning experience, whether it be a synchronous or asynchronous course, it is recommended the facilitator considers the general ability and learning styles of the learning audience (Simonson et al., 2012). Upon the initial viewing of the course, I was immediately overwhelmed. Perhaps this is because during my experience with Walden University, I have experienced a very clean, well-organized online classroom through the use of BlackBoard and another CMS, and as a learner, we bring with us our prior learning experiences that will in some way impact other learning experiences (Simonson et al., 2012). In these experiences, the materials for the online course have been organized into weekly topics, making navigation through the information relatively easy for the learner. While the side menu bar for this particular course was clearly labeled, it was not focused on the learning topic. In fact, the page displayed not only resources for the above-named course, but for other courses the professor taught as well. It also was unclear as to whether the course was truly an online course, a hybrid course, or a blended course. Yet, clear directions were given as to how to access the PodCasts, which were being used to presented the course materials, and the topics were organized in a fashion ranging from earliest musical forms to the most recent, the topics seemed more to have been “dumped” onto the “course page” for the learner to sift through at their convenience. There were some links that helped a new online learner, and eventually through the links on the side menu bar, I was able to find a course syllabus. Despite these pieces of the puzzle, it is my overall opinion the course was designed more for a traditional classroom learner, or perhaps a hybrid-learning experience, and not as a true online distance learning experience that considered the learner as well as their learning styles.

While distance learning requires the learner to take as much, if not more, responsibility in the learning process as the instructor, it shouldn’t be a mapless treasure hunt that has the potential to lead the learner in circles. Constructing a meaningful learning experience, whether it be in the traditional classroom or an online environment, takes time, planning, and careful execution to ensure that learning occurs without frustration, and while there is truth to the old saying, “you get what you pay for,” in terms of education, it is my opinion that whether it be a free online course or one that access is granted to on the basis of payment, if the layout of the course fails to lend itself to the learning objectives, both the learner and instructor will fail.

References:

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