Teaching at a Distance: From Concept to Practice

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Teaching at a Distance From Concept to
Practice A 5-week Online Workshop Norma Engberg,
Ph.D.
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About the Course

• Teaching at a Distance From Concept to Practice
• Five weeks, online workshop
• Offered by Joe Levine, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus,
  Michigan State University
• http//www.learnerassociates.net/tad/readings.htm

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About the Students

• About 20 other students
• Most were administrators responsible for
  organizing Distance Education programs at their
  institutions
• Most had no prior experience with distance
  education

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My Rationale for Taking This Course

• I was interested in understanding the
  instructors viewpoint on distance education and
  judging, for myself, its usefulness to my online
  teaching
• As an experienced teacher, I was not interested
  in learning education jargon, nor was I
  interested in connecting with my fellow
  students.

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Course Activities

• PowerPoint Overview Presentations
• Text Book Readings
• Discussion Forums in BlackBoard
• Chapter Self-review Quizzes

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My Participation

• What I did
• Completed all the readings
• Responded to three required discussion questions
  each week
• Completed discussions at my own pace (in 3 weeks)

• What I didnt do
• Review the PowerPoints after the first set the
  information was redundant to the text book
• Respond to other students we had nothing in
  common
• Post assignments by due dates

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Advantages of being a DE Student

• Could complete course from my home
• Could complete assignments on my own time
• Had access to a course otherwise unavailable to
  me
• Did not have to interact with other students

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Disadvantages of being a DE student

• I dont perceive any, as it fits my personal,
  reflective, learning style

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My Best Moment

• When I was asked what my most powerful previous
  learning experience had been
• Preparing a new course
• Learning and digesting new content
• Teaching others what I have learned
• I reflected that mine was a self-directed
  experience
• Classmates experiences were all teacher-designed
  and directed

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The Greatest Disappointment

• In other online distance courses I have taken, I
  have reached life-changing AH HAH! Moments
• In this course it just didnt happen

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What I Will Do Differently

• Find ways to provide students with more frequent,
  individual feedback to their postings