Distance Education in the Twentyfirst Century

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Distance Education in the Twenty-first Century

• Designing Successful Distance Education Programs
• Kathaleen Reid-Martinez, Ph.D.
• Regent University
• Joint Forces Staff College
• 26 October 2000
• Presentation prepared by Dr. K.
  Reid-Martinez, G. McAlister and W. Foster

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Nontraditional Degree Institutions in the United
States

• 1970s 300
• 1990s indeterminate
• Philosophy Break down barriers for
• adult learners and shift emphasis from
• how or where learning takes place to
• learner outcomes. (Eastmond, 1995)

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Higher Education Trends in the United States

• Number of college students today
• 14 million
• Students under 22, full-time in residence
• 3 million
• Students over 25
• 39 of enrollment 1982
• 49 of enrollment 1992

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Comparison

• Traditional Learning
• Teachers lecture, students listen
• Individual work
• Specialized subjects
• Fact-centered
• Teachers are primary resource
• Print media
• Remembering what teachers said
• Learning separated from community

• Distributed Learning
• Teachers guide, students are active
• Team work
• Integration
• Problem-centered
• Multiple resources
• Mixture of media
• Learning is a community priority
• Learning integrated in community

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New ParadigmDistributed Learning

• Key Characteristics
• Collaborative
• Sage on Stage vs. Guide on the Side

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Four Dimensions of Distance

• Physical
• Social
• Intellectual
• Cultural

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The Fifth Dimension Transactional Distance

• Definition
• Transactional Distance is a distance of
  understandings and perception, caused in part by
  the geographical distance, that must be overcome
  by teachers, learners and educational
  organizations if effective, deliberate, planned
  learning is to occur. (Moore, 1992)

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Transactional Distance

• Transactional Distance
• psychological and communications gap,
  exacerbated by geographic distance and impersonal
  media, resulting in difficulties in understanding
  others perspectives

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Factors Affecting Intensity of Transactional
Distance

• The degree and nature of the dialogue possible
  between teacher and student.
• The amount of structure in the educational
  program.
• (Moore, 1992)

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Quality Central Concern

• L T E
• L Learning at least equal to the classroom
• T Technology enhancing rather than
• hindering the learning process
• E Empowering students

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Institutional Culture

• The Role of the Institutions
• Vision
• Mission
• Values

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Learning Objectives

• Clear objectives and related competencies
  essential for course success
• Characteristics of successful instructors
• clear understanding of learning objectives and
  competencies
• well organized in planning
• communicate effectively with students
• have high expectations of students

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Effective Learning Objectives

• Support curriculum alignment
• Stress student performance or behavior (what will
  the student be able to do upon completion of the
  course)
• Balance hemisphericity and other domains, such as
  learning styles
• Support organized substructure

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Learning and Distance Program Success

• Success of distance education programs is highly
  dependent upon student selection process--getting
  the right student in the right program
• Each program will have its own unique selection
  criteria, plus those criteria related to distance
  learning

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Key Question for Success

• A key question is Does the student know how to
  learn?
• Learning How to Learn (LHTL)--definition
• LHTL is possessing, or acquiring, the knowledge
• and skill to learn effectively in whatever
  learning
• situation one encounters.
• (Smith, 1982)

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Success through Transferred Student Learning
Strategies

• Learning Approaches transferred from traditional
  to distance education
• Learning style/preferences
• Study patterns/habits
• Scheduling Time
• Seeking/using feedback
• Good attitudes for learning
• Setting Goals
• Personalizing course requirements

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Successful Student Traits

• Independent
• Focused
• Self-Motivated
• Time-Manager
• Disciplined
• Assertive

• Able to persevere
• Able to work alone,
• And able to work with others
• Strong commitment to the course

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Student Readiness

• Personal Factors
• Learning Style
• Computer skills
• Interest in content
• Prerequisite knowledge/skill
• Writing/reading/keyboard

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Student Readiness

• Environmental Factors
• Study area
• Social network
• Lifestyle demands -- margin/time in students
  life
• Fit in academic program
• Institutional assistance

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Computer-Mediated Learning Success

• Two factors essential to computer-mediated
• learning success (for faculty and students)
• Prior computer and networking background
• Existence of support person/team

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Communication

• Instructor/Student
• Student/Student
• Instructor/Class

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Student On-line Communication Findings

• Students reported increased
• communication with professors 64
• communication with other students 43
• quality of interactions with instructors 57
• Student comment
• I learned much more than I ever had due to the
• high interaction between student-student and
• student-teacher.
• (University of Illinois, Evaluations Fall
  1996)

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Faculty On-Line Communication Findings

• Faculty reported increased
• communication with students 92
• quality of interactions with students 88
• Faculty comment
• I believe the quality of my interactions with
  students
• was the highest I have ever experienced.
• (University of Illinois, Evaluations Fall
  1996)

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Faculty and Course Design

• Faculty understand integrated program design
• Faculty know the role of distance education
  courses
• Faculty provided adequate support (not just
  financial)

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Faculty Success

• Faculty success is dependent on five factors
• Faculty motivation and interest
• Faculty development
• Prior computer and networking background
• Existence of support person/team
• Appropriate guidelines for work flow process
  (samples from Regent)

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Experiences from the Road Nuts and Bolts

• 1. Well constructed discussion questions are
  essential.
• 2. Its good to build in synthesis and
  integration points along the way.
• 3. Some flexibility on timing of deliverables is
  important.
• 4. Theres no such thing as too much planning.

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Experiences from the Road Nuts and Bolts
(continued)

• 5. Simple is better.
• 6. Give everyone the same road map.
• 7. Designing an opening attention-grabber
  exercise is worth the effort.
• 8. Providing regular behind-the-scenes feedback
  helps.
• 9. Dont let one student dominate the multi-logue.

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Experiences from the Road Nuts and Bolts
(continued)

• 10. Mixing open-ended, opinion-based questions
  with more
• specific application gets students going.
• 11. Modularize course around key learning
  objectives.
• 12. Choreograph all course activities to
  accommodate an
• asynchronous learning environment.
• 13. Do establish regular time increments (such as
  week by
• week) through a comprehensive guide, such as a
  detailed schedule.

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Course Evaluation

• Why course evaluation
• To assess course outcomes and ensure success
• To assess if internal and external customer needs
  are being met
• To maintain course relevancy
• Levels of evaluation
• Content
• Process

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Course Evaluation

• What question(s) should be asked
• Right question, right answer
• Who should be asked and why
• Students
• Determine Success
• Focus groups
• Faculty
• End user
• When/how often should questions be asked
• Mid-term
• End of term

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Course Evaluation

• How are answers evaluated
• Evaluation design
• How does the evaluation effect
• Administrators
• Faculty
• Students
• Course
• How is the evaluation effected by
• Accreditation requirements
• Institutional requirements
• Departmental/Discipline Standards

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