This was my first conversation with Distance Education expert! Very acknowledging and humble experience! Professor Tait, I chose DE as my Master's degree because I really think it has a future. I believe online teaching could go well with my Active Guard Reserve position in the Army. I could do both jobs that I like. With that being said, where do you think DE is going? Do you think DE will have a prosperous future? Why? Are there still any difficulties in delivering/receiving DE? What are they? In your video, you also said that you worked on reshaping the size of the curriculum. What did you mean by that? What is "new curriculum strategy that delivers more effective pathways to graduation"? What problems do we still encounter in DE? Thank you in advance for all your responses. Olga Professor Alan Tait's response to my questions: Hello Olga, For the future I am less clear than for the past! I certainly never foresaw 20years ago the pace and scale of the digital revolution. But I am sure that flexible provision for adult learners that allows study away from a campus and at times that fit round work, in other words, a range of forms of distance ed will grow more and more important. But also, and arguably, I think technology enhanced learning will allow further development of blended models, off and on campus, and these may grow also. The sharp distinction between distance and these blended models may therefore become less dominant, and the broader field of technology enhanced learning central. As for my remarks about a new curriculum strategy I wanted during my time as Pro Vice-Chancellor (or Provost) to bring in new programmes that served both the goals of access and inclusion for the Open U, and which resonated with lives of less privileged adults for whom livelihood was a struggle not a privilege. So I oversaw the introduction of programmes like Sports Studies and Retail Management, where there are large low paid workforces with low qualification levels for whom studying in their occupational area would be both interesting and supportive of livelihood. And that would improve graduation levels as it would engage students thoroughly. Some of that worked! Does that make sense? Alan
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I found an article online that is called “Cognitive Constructivism.” Available at http://gsi.berkeley.edu/gsi-guide-contents/learning-theory-research/cognitive-constructivism/ In this article, the psychologists Jean Piaget and William Perry argue against behaviorist theory that focuses strictly on observable behavior. They both thought that the approach that focuses more on what is going on inside the learner’s head is more important in the learning environment than providing positive or negative feedback. Jean Piaget, Swiss psychologist who worked mainly with kids, thought that equilibration takes place through a process of assimilation of new information to existing cognitive structures and the accommodation of that information through the formation of new cognitive structures. William G. Perry, an educational researcher at Harvard University, developed an account of the cognitive and intellectual development of college students. He agreed with some of Piaget’s approaches; however, he laid far greater emphasis on the idea that learners approach knowledge from a variety of different standpoints. Gender, race, culture, and socioeconomic class influence our approach to learning just as much as our stage of cognitive development. We interpret the world differently based on our backgrounds. “Things are right or wrong, true or false, good or bad. Students see teachers as authority figures who impart right answers. The role of the student is seen as being to receive those answers and demonstrate that they have learned them” (Perry, 1999). Although both, Perry’s and Piaget’s, theories are not now as widely accepted, they have had a significant influence on later theories of cognitive development. In my experience of instructing military students, I believe that I could use both arguments. First, for a person who grew up obtaining education based on objectivist philosophy, I do think it is essential to focus on what is going on inside the learner’s head, connect it with previous experiences, and construct that knowledge by adding those puzzle pieces. Also, because most military personnel come from different backgrounds, they have different “previous” experiences and backgrounds. Therefore, giving various examples and using all five senses in providing that necessary knowledge is very important. That is why I think it is imperative to use videos, written material, practice exercises, and active interaction with the students. The more variable my approaches to teaching are, the closer I can get to the students’ cognitive thinking processes. Therefore, I do agree with Holmberg’s empathy approach to distance education. The more we interact with our students, the more they learn, not only because we are more interested, but also because receiving an appropriate amount of feedback makes our long-term memory work better. It allows students to learn through understanding. However, I think empathy is important for both, online and in classroom, environments. References Holmberg, B. (2004, September). The empathy approach to distance education. [Lecture video]. Available from http://youtu.be/mXRMKkHe9yE. Transcript: Holmberg-transcript.pdf Perry, William G. (1999). Forms of Ethical and Intellectual Development in the College Years. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Piaget, Jean (1968). Six Psychological Studies. Anita Tenzer (Trans.), New York: Vintage Books. The First Wave of DE Skipping forward to more modern history, correspondence education developed on a mass scale as part of the industrial revolution. A learner in the mid-nineteenth century might receive written materials to study and after a period, have their competencies tested. Correspondence education remained popular into the 20th century with many universities offering extension courses to off-campus learners. For example, it was common for agricultural courses to be provided by correspondence to farmers in rural areas (Peters, 2004). This is where I can give my own example. I grew up in Russia and went to a Russian school, and then a college. In Russia, they have an objectivist approach to teaching and learning, where truth exists outside of our mind, laws of physics are constant, and a body of knowledge needs to be presented by a teacher to be learned by students (Bates, 2015). The teachers do include some elements of fun and game playing techniques to their students when they are younger, but it all gets eliminated in higher grades. For example, the students study a math chapter with a teacher, practice it in class, then they go home and read the same chapter, do additional exercises and answer additional questions not answered in the classroom. Repetition and revision are the key to success in Russian schools, because at the end of the semester the students always take accumulative exams that last about 6 hours for written exams, and the rest of them are oral, face-to-face with a teacher, who can ask any additional questions from the course. Basically, they work on long-term memory and understanding (Bates, 2015). Schools in the U.S. have a behaviorist and cognitive approaches to teaching and learning, where students stay longer in schools, absorbing and processing most of it in the classroom. Their homework is not that complicated until the start their higher education. The behaviorists rely on feelings, attitudes, and consciousness, where students can process a lot of information on a subconscious level using their five feelings (Bates, 2015). What I am trying to say is that people learn differently. Some have different backgrounds and culture. That is why it is important to understand the theory of knowledge. As a distance education professor, I will have to work on not only on giving my students materials to read, although this is how I learn, but also practical exercises, videos, tests, writing materials. Some people learn right then, and right there, others need some quiet atmosphere to revise and process, and a lot of it depends on their background and understanding. Therefore, I do not think DE has any disadvantages when it comes to learning. All the principles that were used in 19 century have been polished and reinvented. Technology allows us to make DE as good as face-to-face education, no matter what country one lives in, or what backgrounds we have. References Bates, A. W. (2015). Teaching in a digital age: Guidelines for designing teaching and learning. Retrieved from: https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/ Peters, O. (2004). Distance education in transition: New trends and challenges (4th edition) (pp. 13-24). Oldenburg, Germany: BIS-Verlag der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg. Retrieved from: http://www.box.com/shared/5x3tpynqqf In his “Distance education in Transition,” Otto Peters identifies three periods in the history of distance education:
References Peters, O. (2004). Distance education in transition: New trends and challenges (4th edition) (pp. 13-24). Oldenburg, Germany: BIS-Verlag der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg. Retrieved from: http://www.box.com/shared/5x3tpynqqf How Do You Define Distance Education? This is my initial definition of Distance Education: Distance education is a systematic process of interaction between instructors and students that allows two-way communication, instant or non-instant, that provides necessary learning material and expertise in a virtual environment employing technology. Name of Paper I believe Otto Peters was very skeptical of Distance Education, like everyone else, in the 1960s. However, once he started a deeper research, he realized that DE is a totally new and unique form of teaching that requires a different approach and theories that cannot be comparable with face-to-face education. He figured out that it is not a "reduced" form of traditional pedagogy, but rather a phenomenal part of it. When they say that in DE students must be self-conscious and disciplined to acquire the knowledge, it is true, but it does not mean that they have to do all the work on their own. They still have professors and instructors to rely on. If before, with correspondence education, it was not possible to make the interaction between a teacher and a learner instant, nowadays technology allows it to be all types, and, as we progress, it can be DE education on-the-go, so to speak. Videos, different types of media, instant messaging, instant notifications - they all make DE more and more modernized every day. However, it does not mean that it does not require talented instructors. It is quite the opposite. Due to all those changes in the world of technology, professors and instructors of DE must be more adaptable, more proficient in all spheres of life, and more knowledgeable in their field of teaching. It is not enough for them to simply prepare for a class, they have to be able to answer their student's questions on the go. The deeper Otto Peters researched the phenomenon of DE, the more passionate he became about a pedagogical aspect of this particular field. It cannot have a traditional approach to teaching and learning. It has to be researched and continuously developed to progress with changes in technology and everyday life. I found it interesting that Otto Peters was a regular professor who taught in traditional, face to face schools. It requires a lot of research and understanding to develop a theory without a practical aspect of it. However, I agree that DE is a new, highly industrialized form of teaching that will continue to progress in time. References Peters, O. (2011, December 2). Industrialization theory and distance education, Parts 1-4. [Video interviews.] Haag, Germany. Available from: Part1:http://vimeo.com/33107755 (Transcript: http://www.box.com/s/76m3lv2baa3n63vm0bjn) Part 2: http://vimeo.com/33523216 (Transcript: http://www.box.com/s/q3f6nuh98mtdydti8b92) Part 3: http://vimeo.com/33525745 (Transcript: http://www.box.com/s/8jzx6qm65lgj8kt0aep7) Part 4: http://vimeo.com/33109477 (Transcript: http://www.box.com/s/cnl0nmio1je707iaekmx) Sui Generis I think it took Otto Peters some time to conclude Distance Education as being sui generis. Once he started researching it deeper, he discovered three revolutionary phases: The first phase was the era of correspondence education, when “education already caused a radical conceptual breach of traditional learning and teaching” (Peters, 2010, p. 45). Correspondence education of that time was not used to rearrange face-to-face methods of education but rather make sure that the ones who were incapable of obtaining traditional forms of education would still stay on track with the rest of the world. However, that was the first step towards extraordinary structural changes (Peters, 2010). The second phase was strongly influenced by the variety of new technical media. At the beginning, it was not a new form, different from face to face, of education but rather an extension to it. However, it caused a growth of commercial distance teaching institutions, which was an entirely new phenomenon. This is the era when dramatic changes to a traditional approach to teaching and learning happened and continued to happen throughout time (Peters, 2010). The third phase was profoundly influenced by digital information and communication technology. It was the time when the Internet and World Wide Web practically entirely transformed the way we learn and teach in DE. It opened not only new ways to transfer information but also allowed more room for new methods of information delivery (Peters, 2010). Although Otto Peters was used to traditional forms of education who decided to research DE education as a new and unique form of teaching, eventually he realized that there were no theories to this phenomenon. Most professors believed that it was a de-neutralized form of face-to-face teaching. Otto Peters proved the opposite by separating the two entirely different approaches. He put Distance Education into a new category of highly industrialized education that requires its unique approaches and methods separate from traditional methods of learning. References Peters, O. (2010). “The Revolutionary Impact of Distance Education”. In Distance Education in transition: Developments and issues (5th edition). (pp. 43-55). Oldenburg, Germany: BIS- Verlag der Carl von Ossietzky Universitat Oldenburg. |