I wasn’t sure what to expect with this and other online courses. I work well independently. I can read, synthesize, and publish my formed opinions on a subject matter. The readings, though, have a high ‘fog factor’ and I have found it tough going. I hope that it will improve when I get the language and the acronyms. Now I know what my apprentices feel like in Building Science class.
When I found out that DL stood for Distributed Learning (and not distance learning), and that there were to be discussions on line and blogs, I was a little apprehensive, maybe more than a little. I struggle with the technology but I want to succeed because my goal is to bring more online learning to my field of apprenticeship training. What I hope to get is a greater understanding of the last 3 Parts of The Theory and Practice of Online Learning, 2nd edition as edited by Terry Anderson, i.e. The Infrastructure and Support for Content Development, the Design & Development & Delivery of Online Courses, including Quality Control and Student Support.
Terry Anderson, in the Introduction to the 2nd edition above, chooses to define Online Learning as Distance Education in its current iteration of “connectivism, with its capacity to exploit the connections to knowledge and to people afforded by the now ubiquitous Internet and its applications”. He traces the 5 generations of Distance Learning from print-based to the internet-based.
M. Ally defines online learning as “the use of the Internet to access learning materials; to interact with the content, instructor, and other learners; and to obtain support during the learning process, in order to acquire knowledge, to construct personal meaning, and to grow from the learning experience. (Ally, p. 7). He chooses to focus on the learner and the learning process.
I have read somewhere else (I can’t remember where) that DL is more than using the technology for delivery of content to bridge gaps in time and space. It is more about individual learners forming a learning community and blending separate bodies of knowledge. This definition works for me, for us, doing graduate courses like this. I think that it wouldn’t work for my students. They lack the facility with the technology, and they do not have the reading comprehension skills. They generally shy away from seeking out support for their learning.
At the college, management has decreed a one-size-fits-all solution to help cope with financial restraints. Every program in every semester has to have at least one hybrid course with some of the learning taking place online. Unfortunately this has taken on the form of assigned homework with the materials being placed on Blackboard. There might be some links to websites, to guided research, but I think that the most that is required is applying the knowledge. There is very little analysing or evaluating and certainly no creating.
I would like to help change that. Most of the guys just want the facts so that they can memorize them on the exam and get their licence. And some of them are content to continue building the way it has always been done. But yet our trade is approaching the complexity of the mechanical trades so more thought has to go into “best practices”. We do need to analyse and to evaluate and quite often to create solutions. The ‘leaky condo’ fiasco that bankrupted the BC Home Warranty program is a case in point.
Terry Anderson, in the Introduction to the 2nd edition above, chooses to define Online Learning as Distance Education in its current iteration of “connectivism, with its capacity to exploit the connections to knowledge and to people afforded by the now ubiquitous Internet and its applications”. He traces the 5 generations of Distance Learning from print-based to the internet-based.
M. Ally defines online learning as “the use of the Internet to access learning materials; to interact with the content, instructor, and other learners; and to obtain support during the learning process, in order to acquire knowledge, to construct personal meaning, and to grow from the learning experience. (Ally, p. 7). He chooses to focus on the learner and the learning process.
I have read somewhere else (I can’t remember where) that DL is more than using the technology for delivery of content to bridge gaps in time and space. It is more about individual learners forming a learning community and blending separate bodies of knowledge. This definition works for me, for us, doing graduate courses like this. I think that it wouldn’t work for my students. They lack the facility with the technology, and they do not have the reading comprehension skills. They generally shy away from seeking out support for their learning.
At the college, management has decreed a one-size-fits-all solution to help cope with financial restraints. Every program in every semester has to have at least one hybrid course with some of the learning taking place online. Unfortunately this has taken on the form of assigned homework with the materials being placed on Blackboard. There might be some links to websites, to guided research, but I think that the most that is required is applying the knowledge. There is very little analysing or evaluating and certainly no creating.
I would like to help change that. Most of the guys just want the facts so that they can memorize them on the exam and get their licence. And some of them are content to continue building the way it has always been done. But yet our trade is approaching the complexity of the mechanical trades so more thought has to go into “best practices”. We do need to analyse and to evaluate and quite often to create solutions. The ‘leaky condo’ fiasco that bankrupted the BC Home Warranty program is a case in point.
Tags: EDDL 5111