Engaging eLearners Graphic Organizer

    Learners today are using a variety of technological tools that can be brought into educational settings to enhance learning.  Blogs, Skype, email, and streaming video are tools that many individuals use frequently for personal use.  These same tools can be used in online learning.    Blogging is a phenomenon that is widely used throughout society.  From DIY projects to instructional activities, society utilizes blogs to enhance their personal knowledge on topics of their choice.  Blogs can be an effective tool in an online setting.  Students can explore blogs of experts in the field to increase knowledge.  Ibraheem Almuhanna states in his blog that blogs offer a place “where authors can express themselves and reflect on their knowledge while getting feedback and comments from readers”.  Blogs can also be an assessment medium.  Students can create their own blogs and write on assigned topics to portray knowledge.  This gives students the opportunity to gather feedback from individuals around the globe instead of just the course instructor.

     Wikis are widely used throughout multiple fields.  Collaboration is getting a lot of press, and schools and educators are being urged to incorporate collaboration within their instruction.  Implementing wikis in an online setting provides students with tools to collaborate with peers from across the world.  Students can work together to complete a final product.   In addition, since wikis track changes and page edits, it is easy for instructors to identify individual contributions for assessment purposes.  The benefits of this free tool should not be overlooked.

   Isolation is a major concern for many entering an online setting.  However, video conferences tools such as Skype can help alleviate this problem.  Skype has the capabilities of recreating the face-to-face aspect that many feel is lost through online education.  Synchronous discussions can occur in online learning.  Research has shown that using a variety of tools that are appropriate for specific instructional tasks can make distance, or online, learning just as effective as traditional learning (Durrington, Berryhill, & Swafford, 2006).

Almuhanna,  Ibraheem  (2012).  Online learning tools and communication guidelines.  Retrieved from: http://onlinelearningstrategies.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-world-wide-web-offers-many.html

Durrington, V. A., Berryhill, A., & Swafford, J. (2006). Strategies for enhancing student interactivity in an online environment. College Teaching,54(1), 190−193.

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LeAnn Morris

http://leannmorris.blogspot.com/2013/01/module-4-graphic-organizer-engaging.html?showComment=1359305805732#c2650712318728670290

Martha Bless

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Module 3 Storyboard

The Credibility of Online Learning
Introduction to Dr. Kaye Shelton

Narration	Visual
Introduction to online learning
Growth of online learning	Graph of expansion
Public’s perception	Image(s) of individuals
Introduce Kaye Shelton	Picture of Kaye Shelton
Online Credentials: A State of Wariness	Human Resources
Kaye Shelton’s work	http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring141/shelton141.html
Research findings by Monica Jeancola	Data
Do online degrees meet the needs of employers?
Best Practices	Video on tips for students and employers
GetEducatedDotCom	Video Clip from GetEducatedDotCom
Diploma Mills	Signs to spot them
Accreditation	Images of nationally or regionally accreditation
Sloan-C Quality Scorecard	Different indicators from score card
Student perspective	Video clips of students describing their satisfaction with online degree/traditional degree.
Conclusion	Future of online universities

 Blog replies to:

Lori Dodd
LeAnn Morris
http://leannmorris.blogspot.com/2013/01/module-3-video-storyboard.html?showComment=1358101984852#c7745180229869516553

Karen Wagoner
http://wagzz1.blogspot.com/2013/01/story-board-draft-1-wagoners.html?showComment=1358102599849#c2096970535602520804

The Next Generation of Distance Education

In my limited experience, I have found that society often looks down at online learning.  I have heard individuals make comments about how it is better to attend a traditional classroom setting as opposed to an online setting despite better accreditation.  The evolution of distance education will have to negate these beliefs in order for society to completely adopt this innovation.  Often, these comments are uttered from the same mouths that say, “If it was good enough 20 years ago, it’s good enough now.”

Moller, Foshay, Huett, and Coleman (2008) believe that the evolution of distance education needs to occur within instructional design.  I strongly agree with this belief.  Teacher preparation programs prepare educators to enter a traditional classroom.  While technology has become a big emphasis in this, online learning has not.  Many teachers are not prepared to enter such an environment as online learning.  Many of the tactics used within a classroom setting are nonexistent in an online setting.   Therefore, just as traditional systems have instructional specialists constantly staying abreast best practices in the classroom, distance education needs its own experts in instructional design.

In addition to discriminating between the instructional approaches of traditional vs. online classrooms, the individual students need to be considered as well.  Moller, Foshay, and Coleman (2008) state that “the personal and psychological characteristics of successful online learners include autonomy, metacognition, self-regulatory skills, positive self-efficacy, motivation, and internal locus of control.”  A world where every student encompasses these skills exists in fairytales.  We accept the differences among students in a traditional classroom, so why should we assume these differences disappear when entering a learning environment with even larger boundaries?

Simonson (2000) argues that the Equivalency Theory should be used in regards to online learning.  I believe this is accurate as well.  While the learning outcomes should remain the same for both environments, the roads to meet those are different (Simonson, 2008).  Just as students have different learning styles, different learning environments require different means.  Like a traditional classroom, distance education settings must evolve the meet the ever-changing state of society.  Distance education provides a medium to meet many of the needs that are missing in a face-to-face setting.  However, the needs to maximize learning must be met.

Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W. & Coleman, C. (2008, September/October). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 3: K12). TechTrends, 52(5), 63–67.

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. 

 Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, July/August). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 2: Higher Education). TechTrends, 52(4), 66–70.

Simonson, M. (2000). Making decisions: The use of electronic technology in online classrooms. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 84, 29–34.

Simonson, M. (Presenter). (2008). Distance education: the next generation. [Vodcast]. Laureate Education, Inc.

Blog replies to:

Karen Wagoner
http://wagzz1.blogspot.com/2012/12/compare-and-contrast-articles-and-video.html

Erin Rocha
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