Communication in Distance Learning

Communication is an evolving feature of distance education. Communication is different for both the teacher and the student. Teachers of distance learning facilitate knowledge more compared to just providing knowledge. Students are active learners in a distance learning class compared to being passive learners. In order to do this, “The teacher's role online is to guide, direct, and equip students with the skills and abilities to provide for their own educational needs in the future” (Siemens, 2002). This is accomplished through strong communication. Communication is developed through a variety of venues. George Siemens suggest that this is started by forming connections, or in my words, relationships, early in the class. He suggests that both teacher ad students share information about themselves, both professional and personal. He also suggest including a picture. By doing this, you find attributes that form connections with other individuals in the online environment. It is a warm and fuzzy ice breaker that is effective for the majority of students in an online environment. The teacher is taking on a leadership role instead of a dictatorship role. I am of the opinion that the characteristics that make a good leader are the same characteristics that make a good online teacher. Ten characteristics on a good leader are: authenticity, desire to serve others, empowering people, guided by heart, passion, and compassion, recognize their own shortcomings, lead with purpose, build enduring relationships, are clear on where they stand, refuse to compromise their principles, and they continue to develop themselves (Parker, 2005). As John Maxwell puts it; “Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them” (Maxwell, nd).

Communication in distance learning is accomplished using discussion boards, e-mails, blogs, collaborative activities using a variety of resources including; sharepoint, wikis, and social networking. This communication is built on how the students synthesize the material and share and discuss it with peers. The role of an effective facilitator is to observe and participate in the discussion. They ask probing questions, redirect misconceptions, create a risk taking environment for the students, and direct students to other resources that will spark the conversation. Since so much of the learning in distance education starts with the students, communication is an important part of the process because it moves the students learning further and deeper creating critical thinking and critical transfer to everyday experiences.

Blogs to check out:
http://web20teach.blogspot.com/Flash templates to embed in blogs
http://artjunction.org/blog/?page_id=1024 100 Web Tools and Resources
http://slenz.wordpress.com/ Information on SLENZ Project: Virtual communication
http://www.smartteaching.org/blog/2008/08/100-awesome-free-web-tools-for-elementary-teachers/ 100 more web tools: Includes communication tools
http://cedict.blogspot.com/CEDIT; Communication, Education and Development using ICT
http://blog.opencc.co.uk/?cat=13 Creative Communications
http://kathyschrock.net/edtechblogs.htm Kathy's ed tech blog picks


Maxwell, J. (n.d.). John maxwell Quote. In Thinkexit.com [website]. Retrieved December 29, 2009, from http://thinkexist.com/quotes/john_maxwell/

Parker, A. (2005, August 11). Ten Characteristics Of Leadership. Retrieved December 29, 2009, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Ten-¬Characteristics-¬Of-¬Leadership&id=59210

Siemens, G. (2010, August 22). Lessons learned teaching online. In elearn space everything elearning [blog]. Retrieved December 29, 2009, from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/lessonslearnedteaching.htm

Evolution of Distance Education

Moller, Huett, Foshay, and Coleman (2008) believe that there is a need to evolve distance education. They state two forces that dictate why we should pursue a change. First, is the “reexamination of the process of learning” (Moller, Foshay, Huett, 2008, p 74). Our education has moved from filling students with knowledge to a problem solving environment. Yet, students are typically still taught the way they were when education began. The benefit of distance education is that it focuses on “thinking, creativity, collaboration, dialogue, and argumentation that are directed toward solving ill-structured problems” (p.74). The second force is a “reconstruction by contemporary views of what constitutes instruction” (74). Today, there is more acceptance of alternative way toward teaching and learning. Distance learning, at a higher education level, makes better use of community than the typical classroom. All students are expected to participate is discussions and are supported by both their classmates and professor. However, this type of learning is not conducive for every learner. The authors suggest that our current education system may be producing students that are capable of interacting with knowledge to learn, but they are not proficient at working with others to build knowledge. These two forces are part of the drive and thinking behind the evolution of distance education.

I do agree with the thinking behind these forces. Education still follows a one size fits all approach. There are teachers that are trying to move away from this type of thinking, but many are still content with the status quo. Not only does learning need to be more individualized, but we need to move learning into a more problem solving based approach. It has been said that we are preparing students for jobs that have not even been created or thought of yet. We need to teach children how to find information and then how to use to solve problems. We do not have information to teach that has not been developed at this point. There is definitely a need to evolve distance education to meet the needs of both the student and the needs of society.

Appalachian State University has created their curriculum in a virtual worls called the AET zone. Students move and interact within a virtual world for classes and discussion. They are taking online learning to another level. For more information an article is available at http://www.lesn.appstate.edu/edtech/IT_articles/NILE_A_190834_O.pdf

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, May/June). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 1: Training and Development). TechTrends, 52(3), 70–75.

Welcome

Welcome, This blog is part of my distance learning class at Walden University. It looks like it is going to be an exciting quarter and I have already learned a ton focusing on my topic of virtual worlds. I have joined a couple of communities and found a Virtual World Journal that will make its debut in January. It is a peer reviewed process and looks very promising. I have gained new insight and I have new and exciting ideas for my dissertation. My mind won't stop running.

On a personal note, we live in Germany. My husband is military and this is where we landed. It has been a pretty interesting journey. We have seen a lot of Europe and are heading to Paris for the weekend I will actually get to stand infront of the Mona Lisa. I miss the American shopping and sometimes the food. I look forward to exploring technology with you!