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=Welcome to Shawn Fitzmaurice's new Wiki.

Conny,

Welcome. I am just now learning my around the site. This is the home page and from here you can add new pages for a reflective journal by clicking on page above. I will create a new page with my original email message to you. This new page will be titled wiki email. This wiki seems fairly easy to use so far.

Welcome to Jane, Lisa and Alicia. Please see the latest page entitled distance education definition. This page can be accessed by moving to the small search box at the right of the screen and clicking on Distance Education Definition. I will be adding more content in the days to come. Please offer any suggestions. Glad to have all of you aboard.

The link to this wiki has now been added to my WebTycho Workbook.

Reflective Journal Entry Number One

Module One has been very instructive in that it has given great insights into the history and the fundamental characteristics of distance education. Assignment one was particulary useful in that it provided much useful information on how to support distance students' learning in terms of administration, course development and communictation. While I am only at the beginning of my journey, I feel that I better understand the idea of remote learning and the prerequisite information (i.e., objectives and intended student population) that is needed in order to plan for distance education. It is interesting to note that distance education may be viewed as a system which is comprised of different subsystems that interact with each other (Moore and Kearsley, 2005). These subsystems relate to course design and content, learning conditions, communication technology, and economic considerations. In total, these subsystems interact to produce a distance learning environment that should be designed to assist the student.  Moore and Kearsley (2005) present “A Hierarchy of Interaction” identifying the quality of communication between instructor and student (p. 141). Thus far, OMDE 601 and module one have exemplified what Moore and Kearsley (2005) refer to in their hierarchical model as a “high level of interactive qualities”, in that the course teachers have exhibited a strong commitment to timely, two-way communication between themselves and the students (p. 144). By way of example, the instructors have excelled at responding to questions and comments generally within 24 hours or less and the responses have been understandable and very helpful. The instructor' feedback in the conference section has been very engaging and it has challeneged the students to think more deeply about the many facets of distance education.

References

Moore, M. & Kearsley, G. (2005). Distance education: A systems view (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth

Reflective Journal Entry Number 2

I have enjoyed module 2 and I feel that my learning goal have been met, in that I feel my knowledge of Michael Moore's theory of transactional distance will enable to better assist my employer with their distance training needs. For example, in the near future I will be assisting my employer in putting together online training modules which to some degree will take the place of some of their face-to-face training sessions for employees.

I feel that I am fortunate in that my employer places a high degree of importance on dialogue when considering new training materials. With the knowledge that I have gained on transaction distance theory I feel confident that I will be able to start to combine the fundamental elements of dialogue, structure, and autonomy into an effective distance training module. Ideally, I would like to create a training presentation utilitzing substantial amounts of dialogue along with flexible structure. I would like to keep autonomy an important element, so the training materials, which are designed for a group meeting, would also be available for further review on an individual basis. Several opportunities for dialogue (Q & A) would be built into the slide presentation to stimulate interest and promote an open learning environment.

Reflective Journal Entry Number 3

With the first leg of our group project completed, I am able to take a brief break and think about the process of working together with classmates from afar. At times, I was not sure how we would complete our group project but we have posted with some time to spare. It was a bit challenging the act of pulling together as a group, but as we moved along the group started to perform as a unit. Reviewing our teamwork, I can say that it is essential to get a dialogue going as soon as possible. We spoke over the conferences and documents were posted, but I think that we would have benefited from a greater sense of organization if we would have held some chat sessions earlier on in the project. Speaking with each other at the same time helps to ensure that all team members are sure of the team's mission and there own responsibilities. I found that what I thougt was reasonably clear was not always understood by the other team members; hence the need for more communication in the chat room. As I gain a greater understanding of the need for dialogue in distance education in general, this empathetic two way communication becomes more real.

Reflective Journal Entry Number 4

With the completion of module three, my understanding of the definition of distance education has broadened considerably. At the outset of the course, I viewed distance education mainly in terms of the physical separation of teacher and student with little thought given to the educational institutions themselves and the possibility of different instructional styles. In particular, the group project on classification schemes has shown me the wide diversity in the structure and purpose of different types of distance education institutions. From our individual learning and group study, it is now clear that institutions can be characterized by their style of instruction which can include the following teaching conditions: //single-mode//, //dual-mode//, //mixed- mode// and //consortia//. //Single-mode// institutions teach students strictly at a distance where //dual-mode// universities generally start out with face-to-face instruction then they add a separate division which offers distance education. The //mixed-mode// approach is actually a hybrid type style where students within the same course learn both face-to-face and remotely. This blended technique may hold great promise for the future, in that it offers an attractive way to remotely teach adult learners who are quite busy but have a strong desire to immerse themselves in the learning process (Teeley, 2007). A consortia is essentially an alliance between educational partners with the purpose of generally offering classes at more than one location. These types of arrangements can be international in nature and are able to take advantage of economies of scale by sharing resources. It is interesting to note that these institutional distinctions are not always clear and that it is possible that an organization may utilize more than one mode.

The group project within module three was success, in that it is now possible for team members to classify institutions based on their institutional mode or teaching style. This knowledge has practical applications in the workplace when an employer may ask a team member for guidance on a distance education project. Knowing the applicability of these different conditions along with some of their strengths and weaknesses can help the team member to guide their employer in understanding the many facets of distance education. Reference Teeley, K.H. (2007). Designing hybrid web-based courses for accelerated nursing students. //Journal of Nursing Education//, //46//(9), Retrieved from: [] = []= login.asp&site=ehost-live&scope=site