The need to for Distance Education (D.E.) to evolve is made clear by all five authors (Moller, Huett, Foshay, Coleman, and Simonson) and that is that as students expect instruction to include electronic technology, educators need to learn how to effectively incorporate meaningful uses of it. If a student simply observes streaming video or clip art pasted to an overhead projection it is not going to make them feel that the instructor has truly grasped the power of this technology. On the other hand, as the authors point out, students also want what they are paying for. In other words, if an instructor is primarily using electronic media and not lecturing or otherwise personally engaging with he students, especially in a classroom setting, the students may feel like the instructor is not doing their job.
These are all valid points and I agree wholeheartedly with the need to provide training and education for instructors to learn how to use the electronic sources properly in the classroom and that the institutions, both brick and electronic, need to adjust and grow to fit the changing student paradigm that has come with he new technologies.
The Evolution of Distance Education: Implications for Instructional Design on the Potential of the Web by Moller, Foshay, and Huett; Volume 52 #3, pages 70-75, Volume 52 #4, pages 66-70, Volume 52 #5, 63-67.
Curriculum, instruction, and assessment make up the teaching every student is expecting just as you stated. An instructor cannot just present content as media without engagement. Would you say there is a need to streamline electronic sources to best support and enhance the instruction for an organization?
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing,
~Laurie Korte
Stephen good post. My sister is currently finishing her B.S. in Education through seated classes. She has complained about one instructor each time she has had the class. The course consists of the instructor showing a powerpoint and reading the slides once a week for 2 1/2 hours. No instruction and no engagement. I would be mad too because I could sit at home from my computer and read the slide show!! Very easily the instructor could engage the students and add in some discussion. At this point they are getting nothing from the course.
ReplyDeleteSince I don't teach higher levels I'm wondering if the push to include technology is there as much as it is in the lower elementary. Some teachers don't know how to use it, but are told to. Not the most effective method.