Best Practices in Discussion Forums final project

Draft of video project

Module 5

Video 2nd attempt

Module Three

As you discovered in your case study during this module, a sense of community is the hallmark of Ponder University. Because of this, the faculty is hesitant to embrace distance education until it can be demonstrated that the sense of community would not be lost in an online environment. Before the faculty will agree to vote their full support for this distance education program, they want you to develop a plan that ensures these same values will be built into the online program. They expect you to provide both pedagogical and technological solutions for how this can be accomplished.


•How can a strong sense of community be established and maintained in a distance education learning environment?


•Share your ideas for how this can be accomplished, drawing from the readings of Hurst and Thomas, Palloff and Pratt, and Swan, and from the two video programs featuring George Siemens.

Module 3: Discussion


A safe learning environment must be established, to foster collaborative participation within a distance learning community as done in F2F learning environments. The Webster’s definition for safe is: secure from liability of injury, danger, or risk; involving little or no chance of mishap, error (Dictionary.com, 2010). Providing an atmosphere in which one does not want to experience or be liable for negligence or error requires building a high-level of trust with clear, precise expectations.

Clarity must be from the learner, not just the facilitator. (As a mentor teacher, I know there are times new teachers were not aware that they ‘aren’t aware of what they need to know’. In addition, I have my students restate my directions for clarity.) With this in mind, I would recommend Ponder University, during the curriculum building stage, passing the sample syllabus to students outside the particular field. With no previous background knowledge, have them paraphrase for accuracy. This provides the opportunity for any needed modifications prior to the course. Seimens states, “Anytime we are asked to do something and we do not have experience it is a natural reaction to being concerned of how we are to act.”

Classrooms are already blending collaboration and individualization learning. Collaboration does not mean merely dividing up the tasks, but to elaborate on the individual’s strengths to achieve the desired result. During F2F learning, facilitating, engagement, questions, and concerns are dealt with promptly, responsibly, and successfully. Communicating through blogs and wikis allows too much time to lapse and places identity beyond the highly valued group. DL can build collaboration, similar to F2F, by utilizing Instant Messaging, ooVoo, and/or Skype. Once established, communities are assigned, meeting times set with attendance required, resulting with the collaborative project or purpose. The community converses with the facilitator throughout ensuring they are striving toward the intended objective. During the process, a high level of trust and open communication has been established.

Dictionary.com (2010) Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/safe

Siemens, G. (2010). Learning Communities. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4199700&Survey=1&47=6912498&ClientNodeID=984645&coursenav=1&bhcp=1

Swan, K. (2004). Relationships Between Interactions and Learning in Online Environments. Retrieved from http://www.sloanconsortium.org/publications/books/pdf/interactions.pdf

Module Two

•What are the strengths of the online format, in general? How can instructors and students take advantage of these strengths?


•What are the weaknesses or limitations of the online format, in general? What can be done to overcome these weaknesses/limitations?

•What opportunities will be created for the university to expand its offerings and become more competitive in the market if it adopts an online format? How can these opportunities be maximized?

•What threats exist for the university that may cause the online format adoption to fail? How can these threats be mitigated?

Within the context of SWOT, strengths of Distant Education (DE) include, but not limited to:


1. Capability of the World Wide Web to bring anything, anytime, and any location creating global outreach and extension.

2. Online formats provide educational opportunities for students who cannot transfer to campus (e.g. medical reasons, family or employment commitments).

3. DE has the ability to reach new and existing audiences enhancing collaboration in particular content(s), as well as, between private and public institutions.

4. Opportunity for faculty to create unique and individualized interactive learning experiences and provide higher levels of skill building.

5. DE offer organizations to create a niche for unique and specialized courses/programs.

6. DE offers an infrastructure that facilitates a progressive delivery creating more effective techniques reaching the varying learning styles.


Weaknesses include, but not limited to:

1. Lack of incentives for faculty to participate in distance education course development, along with the lack of development support and resources.

2. Limited understanding regarding copyright and legal issues.

3. Staff with a lack of skill, expertise, and desire to improve interactive DE courses can cause poor communication channels which results with limited information pertaining to procedures on key issues. Improper or lack of training, the availability of support from the team and management are also known weaknesses and must be addressed in a timely matter.

4. Technology issues, such as bandwidth limitations and availability (or lack of), as well as, the rate of technological change itself creates a weakness.

5. Disconnect or loss of interaction between students and faculty. Student qualifications must include self-motivation.

Threats include:

1. Career and job security in the belief to that the web diminishes the role of educators could downsize faculty.

2. Competition from private and public institutions to the long-term survival of the university due to students going elsewhere creating business/revenue issues.

3. The bonds on small developers/programmers and security concerns. DE could create a problem for the content data to be edited by hackers.

4. The thought of losing focus on the content by being distracted by the technology.

5. Using older models to develop new policies. Plans must recognize the diversity of students’ demographics and geographic, as well as background knowledge to altered course effectively.

References:

Murhprey, T. & Dooley, K. (2000) Perceived strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats Texas A & M University, Vol. 41 Issue 4, Retrieved from http://pubs.aged.tamu.edu/jae/pdf/Vol41/41-04-39.pdf

Rogers, E. M. (1995). Diffusion of innovations. 5th Edition, New York, NY: The Free Press.

Simonson, M (2009) Distant Education: The next generation [VOD] Laureate Education, Inc (Producer). Available from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/