Unit 2 Reflections
• Three things you found out 1. From the readings in unit 2, I found out that the companies nowadays prefer employees that are more adaptable to online learning that offers more flexibility and individualized approach the success of which can be traced instantly (Batalla-Busquets & Pacheco-Bernal, 2013). Employees, on the other hand, have different opinion towards e-learning versus face-to-face, depending on the age of the employees and personal preferences. Employees who have been working for a company for many years prefer face-to-face training; whereas, the employees who worked for the company only for two ears preferred e-learning because it allows more flexibility and faster learning to catch up with the needs of an employer. Although companies try to identify their employees’ needs to give them appropriate training, employees must expect online training as one of the most efficient ways to be trained on a job they study for (Batalla-Busquets & Pacheco-Bernal, 2013). 2. Although in today’s age of technology any distance education can be synchronous and asynchronous, particular groups of learners do not have a choice but use asynchronous DE opportunities through the DVDs, iPods, iPads, and pod-cast based instructions. In this groups, we can include military communities, prisoners, remote populations, professional athletes and special needs students (Bates, 2012). The most exciting part for me was about distance education for incarcerated populations. I think it is a philosophical matter whether prisoners should be educated or not, but I thought about it more in-depth, and I agreed that not all of the prisoners are serving a life sentence. Some of them are there only for a couple of years, so why not educating them so that when they get released, they can start a new life without committing any more crimes. 3. I also found out that there is remote teaching for medical personnel in remote rural areas. GPs use information and communication technology (ICT) to supervise medical students remotely. For example, a remote supervision program in northern Canada trains up to eight family physicians a year. They are supervised alternating between a week of remote training and three weeks of on-site training. In Australian outback areas, the new doctors are remotely supervised for six months followed by four years of on-site residency training. Twice per year, all new registrars are managed by an experienced practitioner. While new ways of teaching medical personnel remotely are being explored, it still faces obstacles, because on-site hospital training remains the primary system of educating GP practitioners (Wearne, Teunissen, Dornan, & Skinner, 2015). • Two things that sparked your interest 1. During my research, I found out that there are different distance education Platforms for Distance Education. I knew that UMUC used LEO as an educational platform, and I knew we were using Blackboard before. But I never knew that each University has to choose and purchase one to be able to use it. Now I am very interested in details. So, once the University purchase it, how do instructors get trained? Who puts the classroom content for them on the platform? Who chooses what content to put in there, and how important an instructor’s opinion in all that? 2. Another piece of information that makes me think how personal DE can get is the fact that learner support in Distance Education is becoming more personal each year because Universities and colleges try to achieve the highest level of retention. If before, in face-to-face education, providing administrative support to learners was enough, Distance Education requires more learner support involvement through cognitive aspects to achieve student-centricity. I understand learning about students to know what kind of life they have to identify what can prevent them from successful accomplishment of a program, but I cannot imagine anyone helping me with assignments part by part. With clear instructions and enough learner support tools, anyone can learn as much as if they learned the material with a tutor. I think just an instructor and maybe a support instructor is more than enough. However, it seems like it could be another philosophical question. • 1 question you still have From what I researched and read for my assignment # 2, I have one question: Will medical education ever be in the format of DE education? • A couple of more reflections: This unit was challenging. My groupmate and I had to prepare a presentation. We chose the topic on Learners Characteristics and Special Groups, which was quite impressive. It was challenging because my groupmate seems to have a hectic schedule, and I belong particular military group. So, I basically belong to the topic in our presentation. However, eventually we figured it out. I composed a plan and divided it by sections. My groupmate did an excellent good job on researching her sections, I researched mine, and then I put it on my account in Prezi.com, which is my favorite option to substitute a regular PowerPoint. I think if I wasn’t so restricted in time, I could have done a better job organizing out presentation, maybe adding some YouTube videos and some more supporting material, but all in all, we did what we could with all that little time we had. I also had to write a paper, assignment #2. Fortunately, I am military and belong to a particular group of militaries. Therefore, Bates article on special groups in DE was that particular subject I am passionate about. I liked the fact that Bates stated that DE is an excellent way of learning, but it still has to overcome some difficulties in near future. Some groups do not have an opportunity of time or internet access to be able to attend DE courses. Although those group are special groups, some alternative ways of learning and teaching have to happen to educate those groups. References Batalla-Busquets, J., & Pacheco-Bernal, C. (2013). On-the-job E-Learning: Workers’ attitudes and perceptions. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning (IRRODL),14(1), pp. 40-64. Retrieved from http://irrodl.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d5e8b9866b8a89a545c675602&id=49a6cefd81&e=67a34f1683.Additional MP3-Recording: [MP3] Bates, R. (2012). Distance learning for special populations. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 15(2). Retrieved from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/summer152/bates152.html Wearne, S., Teunissen, P.W., Dornan, T., & Skinner, T. (2015). Physical isolation with virtual support: Registrars’ learning via remote supervision. Medical Teacher, 37(7), 670-676. Retrieved from https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/doi/abs/10.3109/0142159X.2014.947941?journalCode=imte20
1 Comment
|