5650: Thoughts on DE

I finished reading one of our articles today. (Bernard, R. M., Abrami, P. C., Lou, Y., Borokhovski, E., Wade, A., Wozney, L., Wallet, P. A., Fiset, M., & Huang, B. (2004). How does distance education compare with classroom instruction? A meta-analysis of the empirical literature. Review of Educational Research, 74 (3), 379-439.)

It seemed a little tedious to work through, but there were some good points to be had. The thing that stood out most was that the researchers said in comparing distance education (DE) to classroom instruction, in all the studies they looked at there were some cases where DE was much preferred and some cases were it was not preferred at all. I think when reading this in a class on Policies and Planning for eLearning Programs, it is important to remember that sometimes eLearning is the right tool and maybe sometimes it would not be. There has to be a clear problem and goal that one can present to the organization to support the need for eLearning.

I thought it was interesting that while the differences were not huge, there were cases where asynchronous learning was significantly preferred to classroom instruction over synchronous DE. The researchers did find that there was less retention (dropping out of the class) for synchronous but thought that may have had to do with group affiliation and social pressure. So it may be useful to incorporate some sort of group work or social interaction into asynchronous learning to help retain students.

There were a few other important points I noted:

• "Attention to quality course design should take precedence over attention to the characteristics of the media." (p.411)
• "...some degree of collaboration among students appears to foster better achievement and attitude outcomes in asynchronous DE." (p.411)
• "DE should not be a solitary experience." (p.412)
• "...student/instructor and student/student communication are important... We encourage practitioners to build more of these two elements into DE courses and into classroom experiences as well." (p.412)
• "...the design of interactivity around learning materials might focus on notions derived from cognitive psychology, including sociocognitive and constructivist principles of learning..." (p.413)

Another big point they made was that planning and design pay off. It is vital to spend the time making sure the eLearning program is appropriate and needed, that it is designed well to meet the needs of the organization and the learners, and to be prepared for things that may come up during the implementation of eLearning. I think this is something we have learned a lot about during the 1st year of the Masters program, but I am sure it is something we will cover much more in depth in this class.

5130: Jott - Tool of the Week

I just checked out Jott...see my post below. I made it using my phone. I just dialed in and left a quick message, and they can post it to the blog within about 2 minutes. Jott seemed pretty pricey so I just signed up for the free account, but this is a pretty neat tool. It could be used to blog, email or text others, or leave myself notes. I used to wonder what people did before cell phones, but now with all of this new technology, it almost becomes a question of how did people get along when all their cell phone did was dial and ring?!

Hello, I'm on my phone,...

Hello, I'm on my phone, and I 'm creating a blog to my website just to see if this works and I hope that the jott works, thank you. listen

Powered by Jott

5130: Thoughts on Tufte

The first week's reading for IT5130 was from Edward R. Tufte's Beautiful Evidence. The reading was specifically on The Cognitive Style PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within (pages 1157-185).

I had some trouble reading this article and finding things I could really identify and agree with. For example, at the beginning, Tufte states that PowerPoint is presenter-oriented and not audience-oriented. Now, I can see from his different examples how PP does not present tons of information and how using a PP when there should be a formal scientific report could produce deadly results. But as a high school teacher, I have found PP to be a useful tool. It gives students a break from simply listening to a lecture and taking notes. It can help students who need some visual to help tie information together. I also have them do PP presentations so they can research topics and present them to the class - now these are topics they need to learn about, not be experts on. I see where there are visuals that might be more effective and more engaging for students, but sometimes that is not feasible with the school's technology and budget. I have to say that this tool seems to be effective in my experience and does not seem to detract from the students' learning experience. But I will keep a close eye on this and see how my use of PP could be improved or replaced and what new methods I can use.

Another point I took from this - you cannot be lacking as a presenter. You must have specific points to make and something to say, rather than just taking up time. Now, Tufte does point out that Microsoft holds the monopoly and probably does not have any motivation to make a superior product and can thus blame poor presentations on poor presenters. He says that even good presenters can have a poor PP presentation. I can see where he is coming from, but I also think that it IS possible to have a good PP from a good presenter.

What are those tools that could be used instead of PP? Tufte said over and over that other presentation tools would be better. But I did not really understand what tools and how they might be more effective. I can see where adding a handout to the presentation could help, especially when it contains data and charts. Tufte said that written sentences and reports are definitely better than PP. I guess I struggle with that in the sense that my students already have so much reading to do, and I don't see the value of giving them more to read instead of presenting them with some variety. I suppose that is part of the reason I am in this Masters program, to learn about these more effective tools and how to use them and why they are better.

So it is a lot to think about and ponder. I am looking forward to seeing what is said on the discussion of the reading in class and how others feel about it. I think it has also prepared me to learn a lot in this class and face some challenges to my current thinking and teaching style.

2nd Year - Fall 2008

I am now beginning the 2nd year of work on my Masters and am looking forward to these new classes and meeting new people. So far the program has been great, a lot of work, but very rewarding. I decided to keep my old blog for the new classes so as to keep everything in one place. It will be easier for me to look back in one place to see my thoughts on what I've learned. I will try to use different colors/fonts/etc. to make a distinction between blogs for different classes when possible. So here we go into IT 5131: Instructional Message Design and IT 5650: Policies & Planning for eLearning Programs...