SUMMARY

Blogging is interesting. However, when I am overloaded with work in school, blogging too became a burden to me. Now, I guess I am ok.
Blogging actually created a passage for me to explore more on the certain topic discussed in class besides giving my own reflection. When we share our views with others, it helps us learn more and acquire more knowledge.

2 or 3 most meaningful things I learnt in this class

1 Technology has really made every field especially the field of education to progress tremendously. It has made the teaching and learning environment so interesting and meaningful. It has provided an interactive means of learning. Besides, it develops independent learning whereby students explore themselves for better understanding with the guidance of the instructor.
2 Technology has enabled education to be made accessible to everyone. All a person needs is a computer with a proper internet connection and education will be made available to them. It made me realize that technology enables a wider scope of students to obtain information at a lower cost.
3 The class has also taught me that the participation of an instructor/teacher alone is not sufficient in a learning environment. Learning involves the participation of both the educator and the learner. Only then will a student be able to enjoy what is being taught and at the same time has a better understanding of it.
4 Instructional design is very important in distance learning. This is because the will be no face-to-face teaching and learning that will be done. Instruction should be given clearly and in detail in order to ensure that students are clear in knowing what are they committing themselves in.

What will you do with the knowledge cultivated from this class?

1. I will no longer put priority to the chalk and talk method of teaching although it is simpler. The involvement of both myself and my students will be encouraged in each lesson as to make learning more innovative, creative and easier to understand.
2. I would try to follow all the required steps in preparing for a particular lesson. That would ensure that a proper planning is behind each lesson. It would enable me to indicate to myself my own weaknesses and strengths to eventually overcome it.

Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Tee and the class for their shared knowledge and guidance throughout the time I spend with them in the semester.

E-poster and module prototype

It was a good presentation done by five groups on that day.

It was an eye opener for me when Dr Tee led the first group’s presentation. The questions he posted to the group made me realize about our (Hema & me) own flaws that we have done.

When the other groups presented theirs, and when all the rest of us started questioning the particular group we actually learn a lot. I actually got to know better on the things that we should consider when a DE program is being designed.

Thanks to Dr Tee and the other groups.

Technologies in Distance Education

It was a good presentation. However Zamiah’s presentation through MMS seems to be long and that made me as a learner to lose attention.

Nowadays, technologies are not only used in distance education but also in F2F learning environment.What I learnt from this presentation is that education can be carried out successfully no matter it is a distance learning environment or F2F learning environment. What is important is that the instructional strategy must be clear and whatever modes used to transfer the learning must be flexible, available to everyone and user friendly.

Technologies being advanced from day to day are an advantage for all fields including education. It has made us realize the importance of education as it has been made the access to learning easier for everyone.

For further reading:
http://www.usq.edu.au/users/taylorj/readings/4thgen.htm

Benchmarks and Best Practices in Distance Learning

A good presentation even though it was quite a difficult topic.

It has been defined that Benchmark is the process used in management in which organizations evaluate various aspects of their processes in relation to the best practice, usually within their own sector.

As it is, my understanding is that every organization should have their own benchmarks in order to achieve their targeted goal. Without benchmarks, we may not be able to evaluate ourselves and our goals.

Besides that, the discussion session was good and interesting. It made me understand better about the new Wiki. There were things like the history and discussion that can be viewed and done in the wiki.

Instructional Strategies in Distance Learning

Sorry for the delayed post.

I have learnt that Instructional strategies in distance learning are very important. The instructor must really make sure that the instruction given is clear to the learners. This is again because we do not meet face to face to make things clear as in a traditional classroom. In a traditional classroom, students who have doubts can easily refer to the teacher for clarification and they will receive the answer immediately compared to distance learning.

For further information refer to:-

http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/Resource_library/proceedings/02_35.pdf
http://www.ettc.net/techfellow/distance/strategy.htm

Evaluation

Hema and myself was given this topic for our presentation. At the beginning we had alot of question to ponder about. However, we made up our decision to do evaluation on the DE program after consulting Dr Tee. We did quite a number of readings and drafts.

Eventhough, teaching is my proffession i still felt very nervous on tha day of our presentation. Getting the attention from the class, making sure they understand and thinking whether our presentation will be interesting made me had butterflies in my stomach.

However, when we were done, they were some kind of relieve. Thanks to our class who co-operated well during our presentation.

The New Wiki

The New Wiki
I was in total lost at the beginning of the semester when our class started off with wiki. However, the new wiki that Dr Tee has started with has really enlightened me. Thanks to Dr Tee. It has been set in a way whereby it moves from one step to the other at a time. I feel this is much more simpler and easier.

What do you think of the new “how people learn” wiki?
I feel the new wiki is appropriate especially for beginners like me. It has actually thought me how to use wiki. About the activities, it is based on all the levels in blooms taxonomy and it was easy for me to move around as it was well structured. The videos too have helped me in my understanding.

What help you learn?

The things that help me learn is listening to lecturers, discussion with friends and try doing things myself. When I get involve myself I understand better. Besides that, taking short notes makes me to be more alert.

What gets in the way of your learning?

Well, if I am not ready or prepared or if I am exhausted, it really gets in the way of my learning. These things will make me feel uncomfortable. Besides that if I have zero knowledge on a particular topic, than this too gets in the way of my learning.

ASSESSMENT IN DE

Assessment for Distance Education
Today’s class is about assessment in DE. It was informative to know how instructors conduct assessment and the challenges they face. It thought me also about the misconducts that are possible on DE education and how it can be dealt with.

The Role of Assessment
Recent research has recast the role of assessment in education. In addition to “auditing” student performance, assessment is expected to improve student understanding through the use of “authentic” tasks and relevant, ongoing feedback. This challenges instructors of both traditional and distance learning alike to supplement their fixed-choice exams and essays with more complex assignments such as performance tasks and portfolios. (See below.) Luckily, advances in computer technology are beginning to catch up with these challenges.

The Problem
While most of the challenges in teaching distance learning (DL) courses are identical to those of the traditional classroom, DL instructors and administrators face additional problems: Unless groups of DL students are meeting at regional learning centers, most of them are spread out geographically, physically separated from the instructor and each other. This makes both teacher-student interaction and student-student cooperative learning (and the assessment of these activities) more difficult. Class sizes for DL courses are generally larger than those for traditional classes, from 10 or 15 students to 100 or more. These larger numbers can make assessment an administrative nightmare.

http://cvc3.coastline.edu/Telelearning2001Web/AssessingStudents.htm

Assessment tools
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/clpd/online/assessonline/

Internet Based Distance Education

Today’s class was on Internet based Distance Education. It was really enriching to learn about all about the Internet and what it has to do with our course that is D.E. The class started with a simple yet detailed explanation on what is internet. What do I think is the internet? Well it is a series of interconnected networks allowing communication of data among millions of computers worldwide. It can also be said as ever evolving as constantly information are being added, removed or altered by users all around the world. We have also learned quite a lot the foundations of internet based distance education. Basically, before distance education is applied, we have to recognize the foundations of internet based learning. I understood that it is essential to recognize the concepts of Student Centered Learning and Distribution Learning. Other than that the following link also summarizes the characteristics of the transition from an Instructor based to a learners based instructional model.
http://www.comminit.com/es/node/210058/38

Later on the lesson we also studied on the course management system. I understood that it consists on several components such as course management, readings, content presentations, course communication, group project space, student assessment, digital drop boxes, course evaluation tools and course and system statistics.
For more on digital drop-box :
http://matcmadison.edu/cetl/technology/blackboard/assessment/digital_drop_box.html

For an example of an evaluation sheet :
http://www.ecollege.com/Evaluation_Solutions.learn

W covered the topic of tools that help enhances Course Management Systems. I have found a survey that shows what most online instructors think is valuable in the online classes.

We have also learned on web 2.0. I also found the following video really informative on helping me to understand further on this topic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BAXvFdMBWw&feature=related

Understanding Distant Education Learners

Iza and Hana did a very well planned and interesting presentation. It was on about Understanding Distance Education Learners.

From the presentation I was able to gather important points that were vital in my understanding of this topic. Among them were that preparation of a distance learning module whereby it has to be designed to cater the needs of learners of different abilities and level of understanding. It also has to be designed in various methods in order to attract the learners. This process is inevitably difficult and proves to be an obstacle that requires a lot of consideration from the educator.

Besides that, an educator should be planning activities that engages the learners leaving them wanting for more. An educator should bear in mind that this is not a face-to-face learning environment. Therefore, an educator should not only be creative but at the same time innovative as well.

Planning Teaching At A Distance

In this session, Mr. Tee started his class with a role play. It was very interesting. Moreover, the role play made us understand that the planning stage is very important in distance learning. This is simply because there is no face-to-face communication.

So, here we were exposed to the ADDIE model. Every stage that are; Analyze, Design, Development, Implement and Evaluate in ADDIE are equally important to ensure maximum output. This model which works in a spiral form was done thoroughly so that the users who are distance learners will gain the maximum benefit out of a module.

Basically, it has thought me that planning a module for distance learning need a lot of consideration from many aspects. Besides, it has given me a clearer picture on doing my assignment.

Here are some pictures that may enhance our knowledge on this matter :

*for those who would like to know more on this topic I found this few websites really helpful. Hope you guys will find it so too!

http://itsinfo.tamu.edu/workshops/handouts/pdf_handouts/addie.pdf

http://www.learning-theories.com/addie-model.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADDIE_Model

Introductions to Distance Learning

This is the first class that I had with Dr. Tee. I was at first quite skeptical about this course. However, after the end of the lesson I was very impressed with the way the class was conducted. For that I have to thank Dr. Tee for being an eye opener for not only me but for quite a number of us. Anyway, the first lesson was all about the basic things on Distance Learning. Me being a newbie in this topic learned a lot on the first lesson itself. Distance learning can be summarized as a field of education that focuses on the pedagogy, technology, and instructional systems design that aim to deliver education to students who are not physically there with the teacher or the other way around. Rather than attending classes in person, teachers and students communicate at times of their own pace and leisure by exchanging printed or electronic media, or through technology that allows them to communicate in real time and through other online ways.

Additionally, Dr. Tee’s video clip on Apollo 13 was very entertaining and equally informative. It gave an easier understanding on what is meant by transfer of knowledge.

I hope the class won’t mind me posting my first entry relatively late compared to the rest of you guys because I had some technical problems. But no worries it’s all ok now.

*some contents of this entry was taken from Wikipedia. For those who would like to know more click on the following URL link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distance_learning#Types_of_distance_education_courses

My Welcoming Message...

Hey there...

Just want to say a few words about our class in my first post as a bloger. So far I feel that this class have been both entertaining and enriching for myself and i daresay to the rest of us. Let this be a start towards a great time learning more on Distance Learning.

See you in our next class.

Till then, take care...

p/s This will be where i will be posting my entries from now onwards. Sorry for the trouble.