Module 4

     Walden University is an excellent model of successful distance education.  This conviction inspired me to look at the tools used by this program.  Books can be shipped to students anywhere; podcasts are available worldwide, just as any other web based application.         Communication between students and teacher is easy, and social presence can be strengthened with video conferences, available in several mail services.  Collaboration among students can be achieved very easily by way of wikis, blogs, and a common chat room. 

Module 3: Assessing Collaborative Efforts

Module 3

Assessing Collaborative Efforts

Education needs to be responsive to the needs of society and that means, among other things, that it has to plan for the education of future work forces.  The focus of the workplace has shifted from competition to collaboration.  Assessing individual contribution in collaborative work is not an easy task.

                An easy solution would be to require every member to identify their part of the assignment, but that could defeat the purpose of the assignment, in effect preventing the members from submitting a truly joint effort.  The workplace can offer some ideas to solve this problem.  First we would have to decide if the evaluation will be norm referenced or criterion referenced.  Once we think of that, the possibility of combinations is evident.  One possibility is to give the learners a rubric and let them decide themselves if their work met the requirements and then grade each other’s contribution.  They would also evaluate the contributions of their own members.  Groups could evaluate the work of the other groups and the instructor could evaluate their evaluations. Members who do not cooperate would have to deal with the evaluation of the other members of their group, but the entire group would not suffer if the grading is a combination of several inputs (the other groups and the instructor’s). 

                One must also remember that not everyone can work in groups.  I have had several autistic students for whom collaboration is just not possible, even though it would be very beneficial for them.  Some other provisions have to be made to accommodate those students.

http://www.evergreen.edu/washcenter/resources/acl/b1.html

http://www.hayesraffle.com/wp-content/uploads/topoautism.pdf

Posted to:

http://ktino1.wordpress.com/2011/12/30/elements-of-distance-education-diffusion/

http://slayeduc.blogspot.com/2011/12/next-generation-of-distance-education.html

Communication Tools and Education

     Communication entails learning and vice versa.  We have moved from oral traditions passed from one generation to the next to formal classrooms with professional educators, but the system itself has not changed much.  Modern technology has brought a revolution in learning, transforming it from an art to a science. Communication between the teacher and the learner is necessary for understanding and assessment, and communication between learners greatly enhances learning.  We have now communication tools that allow teacher and students to have effective interaction while in different parts of the planet. 

                Blogs are accessible to anyone and they are a wonderful tool for a learning community.  All kinds of content can be included in a blog, from text to video files.  Blogrolls (a list of blogs that the learner follows) allow students to learn from each other discussing the content of the instructor’s blog and help the instructor monitor the discussions.  The benefits of using blogs in class are many:  students are accountable for participating in class discussions, and they encourage the student to read pertinent material before writing their post. 

                Laptops, tablets, and most of all smart phones, give portability to the classroom.  Instructor and students can access the classrooms at any time and even do assignments on the move.  Waiting time, for example, can be productive time.  Distance education will continue to evolve, sometimes in unexpected ways now that location is immaterial.  The traditional tools and strategies of the classroom exist on the internet in digital form, they are time saving and they are getting better all the time. 

http://library.stmarytx.edu/acadlib/subject/misc/blogs_learning.htm

http://www.mottobiz.com/2011/09/communication-tools-to-enhance-distance.html