George Siemens discussed the growing acceptance of distance education in today’s corporate and educational spheres, including three possible elements of distance education that are creating more effective learning experiences and giving distance education an identity of its own distinct from F2F courses: (a) global diversity, (b) communication, and (c) collaborative interaction. Do you agree or disagree with his view?
Select one of these three elements for your reflection this week and respond to the following in your blog:
· How has this element evolved?
· What online tools are available today to facilitate these interactions among learners?
The one element that I selected to reflect upon this week is global diversity. Global diversity has truly evolved overtime in the field of distance education. The reason that it has evolved is because students and professors can now have collaborative online discussions in an asynchronous or synchronous environment with people all over the globe. They can have these discussions through many different formats at any time and place.
There are a vast amount of tools that are available through distance learning. Some of these tools include: discussion forums, blogs, wikis, tweeter, moogle, skype, blackboard, email, youtube, and the list goes on. These tools open the door to access many profound experts to learners in many different fields. Distance education will continue to grow and change through the future years.
The Internet offers a vast amount of educational opportunities for the whole population. Technology has opened its doors to all types of learners around the world. According to Siemens global diversity is an online trend that will continue to grow through time.
Siemens, G. (2008). Assessment of collaborative learning. Vodocast. Laureate Education, Inc.
Sandra,
ReplyDeleteWhen you made mention of all the tools available with distance learning it made me think of just how far we have come in online education. I can remember about five years ago when my husband took an online speech class and had to videotape his speeches and send them to his professor to be graded. Now, just a short five years later, that same speech could be graded using Skype or videoconferencing. Great post:) - Belinda V
In traditional classrooms, it is very difficult to learn about global issues and world leaders. At best, a traditional learning environment can expose students to the writings of great thinkers from around the world. However, you made a great point in your blog. Online learning allows students to connect and interact with global leaders and experts. This is perhaps the greatest advantage of distance education. when students can actually contact experts all over the world, they feel more interested and vested in thier education.
ReplyDeleteAdam
It's amazing how many opportunities have been created as time has progressed. The Internet has opened so many doors for collaboration amongst peers and colleagues both socially and academically. I remember when chat rooms were popular and very basic. The number of resources that we have now with Internet connectivity make it as easy to communicate and interact with someone on the other side of the word as it is with your next door neighbor. Being able to have these capabilities for students now will enrich them much more than we could have ever imagined as children.
ReplyDeleteAshley