Module 2: Elements of Distance Education Diffusion

Elements of Distance Education Diffusion

George Siemens discussed the growing acceptance of distance education in today’s corporate and educational spheres, including three possible elements of distance education that are creating more effective learning experiences and giving distance education an identity of its own distinct from F2F courses: (a) global diversity, (b) communication, and (c) collaborative interaction. Do you agree or disagree with his view?

I am in total agreement with Siemens analysis above. Global Diversity, Collaborative Interaction and Communication are major keys to unlock the world of distance education. Without these three components, distance learning could not possibly succeed in today's high technology driven world. 

Out of the three elements above I feel that the Collaborative Interaction has evolved by leaps and bounds as it relates to distance education. With the creation of companies like LinkedIn and online universities across the globe, collaboration is a must have to keep peers and students actively engaged in the content of the subject matter. Wiki's and educational blogs allow people from all circles of life to not just view your thoughts and views but also creates and avenue for constructive criticism and the sharing of different perspectives. 

Some great tools that available today to facilitate Collaborative Interactions are Facebook, LinkedIn, Skype, Google+ and Prezi to name a few. I utilize these tools actively for both communication and collaboration purposes. I find that these tools make distance learning very simple, yet also provide a high level of collaboration with my peers across the globe. I plan to use these and many of the newer technologies on a regular basis to become more familiar with them.

Module 1: The Next Generation of Distance Education

In my Principles of Distance Education course we have the opportunity to blog and reflect on our experiences within the class and the topic of the current module every two weeks. This week’s topic is the Next Generation of Distance Learning. My objective for this week is to compare and contrast the reasons the authors believe there is a need to evolve distance education to the next generation.

I read a three-part article by Coleman, Foshay, Huett, and Moller entitled "The Evolution of Distance Education: Implications for Instructional Design on the Potential of the Web". I found these articles particularly interesting because I am an Instructional Designer and am always attempting to acquire as much knowledge as possible.

In part one of the article, the primary focus is Training and Development. The authors put a lot of emphasis on the importance of having a highly skilled instructional designer to design quality education in the e-learning environment. The authors state that “the challenge for ID professionals is not only to evolve the field, but also to assure that the products of sound professional design practice lead the e-learning enterprise". (Moller et al., 2008).

In part two of the article, higher education is the focal point. The authors discuss how education has evolved and the overall need for distance education has become greater by the year. The authors state "Distance learning is rapidly becoming a popular choice for continuing professional education, mid-career degree programs, and lifelong learning of all kinds". (Moller et al., 2008). This article further showcases the importance of the instructional designer but also discusses how often ID's tend to violate the basics principles that we have been taught.

Part three of the article focuses on the k-12 environment within distance education. The instructional designer’s role is highly discussed in this capacity as well.

As an instructional designer, I can relate to all of the statements within the article. I have been given the opportunity to design effective instruction in the past and have seen process first hand. It’s unfortunate to see a botched up level of design with poor quality. In the end the learner suffers because of it.  There is a high need to evolve distance education for the next generation and based on the authors review, the highly skilled instructional designer is the perfect person to do the job. I guess the question remains though....Will more qualified and educated designers continue to enter the field to meet the ever-growing demand ?

Resources:

Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W. R., & Coleman, C. (2008). The Evolution of Distance Education: Implications for Instructional Design on the Potential of the Web. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning, 52(5), 63-67. doi:10.1007/s11528-008-0199-9

Moller, L., Foshay, W. R., & Huett, J. (2008). The Evolution of Distance Education: Implications for Instructional Design on the Potential of the Web. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning, 52(4), 66-70. doi:10.1007/s11528-008-0179-0

Moller, L., Foshay, W. R., & Huett, J. (2008). The Evolution of Distance Education: Implications for Instructional Design on the Potential of the Web. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning, 52(3), 70-75. doi:10.1007/s11528-008-0158-5

Analyzing Scope Creep

In my new career as an instructional designer, I have seen a number of issues related to scope creep. Working in the education field can have its share of ups and downs and all elements of my career have their own room for scope creep. Recently I worked as that ISD of a course that was running fairly smooth up until a few weeks prior to the handoff date. The handoff date is the date clearly specified by the project manager at the beginning of the project. Each person who works on the course has a specific date specifically for them. The particular course developer for this course was having a rather difficult time writing the course and her scope began to creep up on here. I had never been through this type of situation so I was just under the assumption that if she was a few days late it would be ok, but I was totally wrong about that!

Portny et al (2008) states scoop creep is the natural tendency of the client, as well as project team members, to try to improve the project’s output as the project progresses. The course developer in this situation did not manage her time as well and ended up having to extend here project period for another week. Portny et al. (2008) states that uncertainty is a lack of sureness that something will come to pass. Her uncertainty jeopardized the status and progression of the entire project because all dates had been approved previously.

The project manager had to step in and negotiate more time for me since I was set to begin my role in the design of the course a week prior. The stakeholders were disappointed that the project fell off schedule but were overall happy that the project manager took the proper steps to assure that the project would still be able to be fulfilled with minor alterations to the course schedule.

As I think back on the situation, if I were the project manager on this project, I would have had weekly status meetings with the management team over the course developers and instructional designers to assure that all aspects of the project were running according to schedule. This would have assured that even if someone was running behind in their role, alterations could have been made prior to the scoop creep period and extra days could have possibly been scheduled in for situations such as this.

Reference:
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Communicating Effectively

How did your interpretation of the message change from one modality to the next?

Upon reading the email version of the message, I found it to be very clear and to the point. It was carefully outlined and the importance of the message was relayed. Since this report is very important, confirming in writing is great way to cover yourself in the event the deadline passes and verification needed to be submitted that you attempted to reach out concerning the matter.

Portny el at. (2008) states To minimize the chances for misunderstandings and hurt feelings: Confirm in writing the important information that was shared in informal discussions.

The voicemail version of the message would not have been the best form of communication for me personally. I interpreted it to be a bit lengthy for a message and with the flaws of telecommunication; the message could have not been received by Mark.

The face to face version is possibly the best form of communication. By speaking directly to Mark he knows the urgency of his report and when it is needed. It also adds that accountability directly to complete your portion of the work requested. Unlike the previous two versions of the message you can also ask questions directly if you re unsure of something related to the report.

What factors influenced how you perceived the message?

The urgency presented in each version played an important factor to how I perceived the message. If I were Mark by each message received, it would have shown that I needed to make this project a top priority.

Which form of communication best conveyed the true meaning and intent of the message?

The best form of communication was the email version because Jane took the time to to place everything that she needed from Mark in the email. In a face to face or email environment sometimes elements can be left out the message or forgotten that would make it difficult to obtain what’s needed accurately.

What are the implications of what you learned from this exercise for communicating effectively with members of a project team?

Communicating effectively with team members is of the utmost importance. For me, to be on the safe side, I would utilize at least two out of the three levels of communication initially. Using face to face interaction will ensure that all team members are accountable for the information received. Follow-up emails would be sent to each team member with the information discussed in a written format. As an added point of accountability, electronic signatures will be requested to assure acknowledgement of the email. Voicemail would be the last result and would show an ultimate red flag if it got to that point to receive any information that was previously requested in the other two formats.

Reference:

Portny, S., Mantel, S., Meredith, J., Shafer, S., Sutton, M., & Kramer, B. (2008). Project Management: Planning, scheduling and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Learning from a Project “Post-mortem”

In my fairly new career as an Instructional Designer there have been more than a few projects that I have been assigned. In one of my first projects on a course that I was working on, I made many flaws and small mistakes that were detrimental and could have cause a lot of issues if they were not corrected in a timely fashion. My ID role is slightly different then the more traditional ID role. I focus mostly on uploading and assuring that the courses are properly developed.

The project was a special course that had a small window of development time to be fully completed. After the course was written by the course developer it was then handed off to me to properly upload the course and assure all media pieces are in the correct places. One these elements are down then I had to send the course to the editorial department for final edits.

In the long run this course was a success but in the beginning I was very new to the process and didn’t really understand the importance of time management. The other skill that I lacked was paying attention to detail, a skill that has to be in place to be successful in this career. Being able to have a longer window of time to complete the course would have possibly given me more of a chance to pay attention to detail. Although that is no excuses for quality of work, it taught me how to truly focus on the task at hand.

The Future of Distance Learning

Within the last 10 years there have been a number of changes when it comes to the perceptions of distance learning. I can almost remember like it was yesterday when some of the top educators and learners alike frowned upon gaining a degree in an online format. With that in mind, it’s amazing to see the turnaround of the distance learning environment and how it has changed the way students learn all across the globe. As long as technology continues to evolve, distance learning will continue to grow and evolve as well. Within the next 5 to 10 years I believe many of the perceptions of distance learning will be more positive than they are today but there will always be a negative perception to debate. As much as distance learning has progressed within such a short period of time, the possibilities are endless for the next 10-20 years. Personally, I feel that by that time the only face to face learning environments will be reserved for K-12 education and doctoral level curriculums such as physical therapy, chiropractic and medical programs.

As an instructional designer, the best way that I can be a proponent for improving societal perceptions of distance learning would be to continue to design the best quality courses in the online format. At this point marketing departments have done a great job with presenting the distance learning format to students across the globe. In my role as an instructional designer assuring that quality is presented will almost always assure that students will remain in their programs and speak highly about their experiences. Currently there have been a few distance learning programs that have given the distance learning environment a bad reputation as of late. As an instructional designer I would go back to the drawing board and clean up those programs from scratch and present a new curriculum that the students would be proud to say they have learned.

The field of distance learning has to continue to be positive in the eyes of students in order for the growth of the environment to continue. Given the fact that it took some time in my online program for me to become a true believer in the online format of learning, it will take constant advocacy on my part to improve the field of distance learning in the future. Currently when I speak to anyone concerning the field of education, I mention my program and that I attend Walden University. I am not surprised at the number of negative responses I have received or that some students are just weary of gaining a degree online in general but in order to improve the field, it will be important to continue to spread the word to as many people as possible.

Improvements in corporate trainings will also be a great way to spread the word of distance education, especially if you work for an international company. Given my current career as an instructional designer I also plan to focus on providing corporate trainings to small businesses that are also looking for expansion. This way distance education can be provided in an online format to all employees whether in house or in another state or country.

Overall the field of distance learning is in a great place. I am proud to say that I am a student of distance learning and have become a more skilled learner because of it. I have remained a student because of the uniqueness of the program and the quality of the education I have received thus far. With continued improvements within the distance learning environment, I am more than confident that this form of learning will be the new standard in the years to come.

Converting to a Distance Learning Format

In week 7 of my EDUC 6135 Distance Learning course, we were asked to consider the following scenario and reflect on the following:

· What are some of the pre-planning strategies the trainer needs to consider before converting his program?
· What aspects of his original training program could be enhanced in the distance learning format?
· How will his role, as trainer, change in a distance learning environment?
· What steps should the trainer take to encourage the trainees to communicate online?

Scenario: A training manager has been frustrated with the quality of communication among trainees in his face-to-face training sessions and wants to try something new. With his supervisor’s permission, the trainer plans to convert all current training modules to a blended learning format, which would provide trainees and trainers the opportunity to interact with each other and learn the material in both a face-to-face and online environment. In addition, he is considering putting all of his training materials on a server so that the trainees have access to resources and assignments at all times.

Before the trainer can convert all the current training modules into a blended learning format, he must first try to determine where the problem lies in the first place. Why is the quality of communication among trainees lacking during face to face training sessions? Once that has been determined that would give the trainer a better idea of which areas to remain in the face to face environment and which to convert to the online portion of the blended program.

Determining what aspects of the original training program have worked successfully in the past will also make a big difference in the delivery of the new blended program. The more successful aspects of the original training program will remain in the face to face portion of the course, while newer and more technology based aspects of the course can be provided at a distance. By splitting the format this way, it will allow for students take a different approach to receiving training and for the less technology savvy students, offer a new way to train and gain further skill sets in the field of technology.

The trainer’s role will not change drastically in his new blended learning environment. He will still be offering training on all levels but will provide a new online format that will hope to excite his trainees as well as increase the lines of communication among trainees and also assure that they are learning adequately as well. This format will also strive to entice more trainees to utilize for modern technology to communicate for work purposes online such as Yahoo Messenger and SharePoint sites that will store all of the training materials online for further follow up or addition of new training materials.