home

Welcome to Dana Livne's wiki page!

This is my first time using a wiki!

9/16/09 - My Definition of Distance Education Distance education enables learners to learn through media. Students have more flexibility in distance education because they are not always committed to a specific time and place to meet. This can be very beneficial to people who are working, have children, are handicapped, or other things that take up time in our lives. Learners have the chance to interact with one another and with their teacher. Their teacher acts as a guide and moderator for the course helping the students to be successful and achieve a learning goal. I think that distance education can be different depending on how the course is set up and what is required of the course. Also, the way the teacher interacts with the students can affect the type and quality of distance education.

9/25/09 - My experiences with my first DE course so far. I am a little overwhelmed with the course. I feel like it is hard to follow all of the threads and because there are so many they are overwhelming. I also feel like I don't know if there is something that I am supposed to be doing that I am not doing, because I am never completely clear about what is expected. On the other hand, through some of the discussions, I did come to realize the difference between a blog and a wiki and how I would use them differently. A wiki is more on one topic and then people work collaboratively to add information to the topic. A blog is an idea or thought that someone posts and people can respond to their post with their own comments, views, and questions.

9/26/09 - The instructor's role Wow! As I have been reading and reflecting on my research, I realize how much planning goes into designing, implementing, and administering a distance education course! It is so different then the designing, implementing, and administering that goes into a traditional classroom. It seems to me that in order to become a distance education instructor, you would need an entire degree that just focused on distance education.

9/28/09 - What I have learned from this module 10/13/09 I am getting the hang of taking a distance education course. However, I feel like this module is off to a very fast paced start. We just got the readings less than a week ago which were over 200 pages to read total. Already, the conferences have began and I am supposed to be participating this week based on all of my readings. I am trying to manage the best I can and read as much as possible so that I can respond informatively to the posts in the conferences.
 * My understanding of DE education has really evolved since I first started this course. I had no idea what it took to create a DE course and I didn't really all of the different aspects involved. It had never occurred to me before that a DE course could be a failure if it was developed and implemented incorrectly. As I have been working through this course I appreciate the work the professors have put into it to enable higher order thinking, comfortable conversation, and a high level of communication.
 * I think that the readings contributed the most to my change in understanding of DE. The readings really gave a descriptive and detailed overview of DE and the learner's role and the instructor's role. I also never realized until I read that it takes more than just the instructors to create an efficient DE course. There are many other professionals involved.
 * For me, I would convey some of the ideas of how to use wikis and blogs to my co-workers. We are constantly grappling with the most effective ways to use wikis and blogs and how to distinguish between the two. (We use a program called Moodle and there is both a wiki and blog feature). Some of the participants in the discussions gave me some great ideas.
 * The assignment helped me because after the readings I felt overwhelmed with information. When I sat down to do the assignment, I could organize the information and write it in a way that made sense to me.

10/18/09 - What I have learned from module 2 I believe that I learned a lot from this module and have continued to deepen my understanding of distance education and its impacts on both students and teachers. When I go back to my original definition of distance education, I still agree with everything that I wrote, however, I think that I can expand upon it based on what I learned in this module. To respond to some of Professor Otto's concluding remarks, I do believe that it is important to theorize about distance education. I think that when any new concept is introduced whether it be in education or another field, it is important to develop theories and research the theories in order to help to define, understand and refine the concept. The goal of a theory is to "accomplish an understanding of reality" (Bernath and Vidal, p. 430). In the case of distance education, there are some different theories, however, I do believe that the theories overlap in some ways. For example, Moore's theory involved transactional distance which involved dialogue, structure, and autonomy. Holmberg's theory involved empathetic teaching-learning conversation. I believe that Holmberg and Moore's theories overlap because Moore bases part of his theory on dialogue and dialogue is most effective in a DE course when it is used in the manner that Holmberg suggests which is an empathetic teaching-learning conversation. Peter's theory describes distance education as the most industrialized form of education. This to me relates to structure which is also something Moore has described in his theory.

Based on the different theories and the issues involved with these theories, I have come to the conclusion that Moore's theory makes the most sense to me and helps me to further define my definition of distance education. There is a geographical distance between the teachers and the learners "that must be bridged through distinctive procedures in instructional design and the facilitation of interaction" (Moore and Kearsley, p. 223).The idea that there needs to be a balance between structure and dialogue makes sense to me. The dialogue in a DE course helps the students to develop understanding and gain autonomy. The course needs to be structured in order for students to to have access to "the learning objectives, content themes, information presentations, case studies, pictorial and other illustrations, exercises, projects and tests" (Moore and Kearsley, p.226). I think that just like in a face-to-face classroom it depends on the teaching style of the professor what the balance of dialogue and structure are. The autonomy of the student is the "extent to which students may determine their own learning" (Peters, p. 29). Although, learners are not automatically autonomous. I think that a course that has a good balance of dialogue and structure will help guide students to become autonomous and become active and motivated participants in their own learning process on their own accord.

Along with dialogue, students need to learn how to have meaningful dialogue. This is not something that comes automatically. Meaningful dialogue is a skill that needs to be taught and practiced so that students can apply it to their DE courses.

The categories of pedagogic structure are, "course design, presentation and assessment" (Peters, p. 83). These need to be changed in order to adapt to the digital environment. The many different types of learning in a digital environment each have different pedagogical structures. Peters describes the different types as, working along (using the World Wide Web to gain information), one teacher and one student, one teacher and many students, and many teachers and many students (p. 83). The pedogogical design int these different types of learning will be varied in their structure. Because of all the possibilities with increasing digitization in the future of DE, professors will be able to adapt their teaching to the learning style of their students. Also, teachers in DE will be able to adapt their teaching to "the world of employment and students' private lives" as well as, "to the rapidly changing requirements of industrial society" (Peters, p. 83). Course will not only be structured but will also allow for self-directed learning. I think that as DE becomes more digitized there will be many variations in the pedagogical design and I think that digitalization will enable both the teachers and the students to have a more valuable learning experience.

In my Fifth Grade classroom we use a program called Moodle. Within this program, I can create forums, wikis and blogs for the students to respond and interact with. The readings and discussions with Professor Peters have helped me to understand how these different types of discussions need to have a balance of structure and dialogue. The students need to clearly understand what is expected of them, but they need to have an opportunity to reflect and present their learning through dialogue with both me and with their classmates. I also think that it is an important skill for the students to learn how to constructively critique one another without being completely negative and creating bad feelings towards one another. I believe that this is a very hard skill to teach and it needs to be continuously modeled and practiced in order for students to fully understand how to apply this skill.

11/12/09 Although I have completed many group assignments before, I have never completed a group assignment completely online so the whole experience was very new to me. In some ways completing a group assignment without meeting face to face, is similar to a face to face group assignment. Roles need to be determined, there is usually a leader in the group, and a reporter in the group. The group members determine their specific skills and figure out how to divide up the work. On the other hand, completing a group assignment through a distance can be very different than face to face. This is especially true when everyone is on different time schedules and some members live in different countries! I found the chat room to be very beneficial because rather than post something and continue to check and wait for someone to reply, you got immediate feedback and responses. However, it was difficult to find times when all five of us could meet in the chat room at once. I think that our group handled this well because if certain people were unable to attend the chat, then the chat was posted and summarized and the people who couldn't attend would see what they missed and what they could do to contribute to the next phase. Once we got going and agreed upon a classification system, we were able to divide up our roles and reflect and edit one anothers ideas. The collaborative documents area was helpful as well because we could post our work there and edit each others work rather than constantly re-posting. I am proud of what our group accomplished and I really enjoyed working with them.

Many of the activities I do in grad school I compare to what I am doing with my Fifth Graders. In Fifth Grade we do a good amount of group work. The students get an opportunity to work with different people and they learn how to compromise and work together as a group which are important lifelong skills. This year I have set up wikis for the students to complete their group work. The students post their information to the wiki and then someone is responsible for organizing the information after everyone has posted. The wikis also give the students an opportunity to work from home and continue posting to the wiki. If a student is absent, their group can try to Skype or e-mail the student to inform them of the progress of the group. The absent student can also check on the wiki and see what they have missed.

Sometimes working in a group can be more challenging than working independently. It is important to learn how to compromise and divide up the work so that everyone is able to make contributions. Working with others can be very beneficial and I gained a lot of knowledge from the other people in my group.

11/21/09 As I went back to my original definition of distance education I think that I would still leave what I have written as a basic definition, but I do think that it can definitely be expanded. For instance, in my original definition I included flexibility for the students, especially adult learners and learning through media. Although I still agree with this, after completing our group study on the institutional mode of classification, I now have a broader understanding of distance education. While distance education does differ from traditional education, distance education at different universities and colleges also has differences. A student who is taking a distance education course because he/she is not able to attend a face to face class at all would have trouble in a mixed mode university such as The Central Chinese Radio and TV University because although most of the course is taught at a distance, there are mandatory face to face meetings. Also, a student who is not able to get accepted to a traditional institution would to apply to a single mode or mixed mode institution. Single mode universities and colleges in particular accept students who would not qualify for many traditional institutions. I think that it is beneficial for a student looking at a distance education course to use a classification system to help them to identify programs that best suit their needs. Although I have really become familiar with the institutional mode of classification, I also learned from the readings and the other groups' projects about the other modes of classification including the generations of technologies and the educational programs. The institutional mode definitely made the most sense to me because I was looking at it from a student's perspective and as a student I would want to know whether I would be required to attend face to face classes, if there was an option to also take traditional courses, if the DE program was entirely at a distance, and if the institution shared resources with other institutions which would usually mean reduced costs and access to a wider range of courses. I had trouble classifying by the generation model because I believe that many of the generations overlap and later generations are just building on earlier generations. Even though many DE programs today use a lot of computer technology, these programs often still have textbooks and other printed materials which are found in earlier generations. I think that if a student can identify what type of learner he/she is, then the classification according to educational approaches would be beneficial. For example, if a student knows that he/she works best in a collaborative group, then an institution classified as the group distance education model may meet his/her needs. As I began researching different institutions and looking at them from an institutional classification point of view, I noticed some differences that I may not have otherwise noticed. The Indira Gandhi National Open University reaches a very large population. The focus of the distance education at the university is the disadvantaged sections of the community which I thought was extremely beneficial to help the people in the country to acquire a better life. Before this course I had thought of higher education applying to people who had a solid educational background and the resources to continue their education. The UK Open University also caters to applicants without formal university entrance qualifications. I think that education is the key to help people to be successful in life and these universities and others that I read about are geared towards helping those who normally would not be able to attend a traditional university. It was also interesting to read about the distance institutions in different parts of the world. It seemed that a lot of the institutions again were geared towards equality of opportunity in education. For example, the University of South Africa is the only integrated university in the country. Why should someone not be able to attend a university because of the color of their skin or their ethnic background? Even in China, employers agree to grant their employees leave in order to attend TV classes. This is a huge step because these people may not otherwise have the time to attend TV classes with work, family, and other obligations. Being that this is my first distance education course, my main goal was to really understand what a distance education course was all about. I think that this course really gave me many ideas about distance education and how a distance education course works. I thought that the group project element was also beneficial because I didn't realize what a challenge it would be to organize a group project without meeting face to face with the members in my group. I thought it was really neat how one of the members in my group lived in Germany! As a group we really utilized the conference area and the chat room to comment on one another's ideas and post our thoughts. The collaborative documents area was a great place for us to post our products and edit one another's work. Module 3 especially gave me insights into DE institutions all over the world. I hadn't realized before how different they could be! I thought that overall this course was challenging, but it really gave me a feel for a true distance education course and what goes into it from both the instructors and the students.

12/02/09 As things are winding down in the course, I see how much I have done and learned about Distance Education that relates to the Fifth Graders that I teach. We are currently using a program called Moodle and a lot of what we do it online. This is the first year that I have used Moodle so extensively and I have noticed a lot of improvement in the students' writing. Because they know that their writing is going to be read by all of their classmates, my students have really been putting forth more effort into their writing and making necessary improvements. Another relation is that when we have commented to one another within the course conference, it is really important to provide feedback but also to be positive. I have been working with my students on learning the critical skill of literary criticism. They are learning to be critics in a positive way and they benefit from the praise and suggestions of their peers. This type of interaction is important in any distance education course in order to make it successful. Also, the students in my class are able to create and then respond at their own speed so everyone can contribute to activities without any wait time. This is a benefit of any online course or online interaction. I understand too, how important my role is in the classroom. The students value my feedback on their Moodle responses and I also give the students an opportunity to be creative in their responses and rather than tell them exactly how something should be done, I give them the chance to explore ways for themselves. I also spent a good amount of time at the beginning of the year modeling to the students how to post their writing on the Moodle page, how to title their responses, and how to respond to one another with comments that have substance and give positive and constructive feedback. This course has helped me to understand a lot of the foundations of distance education and also gave me some ideas for applying the theories I learned to my own classroom. Not only does it benefit my classroom, but I have realized how much Distance Education has benefited students all over the world to earn an education.

References Bernath, U., & Vidal, M. (2007). The theories and the theorists: Why theory is important for research. //Distance et savoirs, 5//(3), 427-458. Moore, M., & Kearsley, G. (2005). //Distance education: A systems view//. California: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Peters, O. (2001). //Learning and teaching in distance education//. London and New York: Routledge.