First Entry Pertaining to Class

So I am back, virtually one week later to write and comment on the first two articles that we had to read for class. I will do my best to write in a cohesive and concise manner, but I honestly have a list of observations and questions that I would like to share. Perhaps this is the point of the assignment, but again, I am working the kinks out regarding not only taking an online course for the first time, but also the writing of my first blog.

The first article that I read was Bernard's (et al.) article on Distance Education. In order to best organize my thoughts, I will describe four aspects that I found to be most striking.

1. I was struck immediately about how the authors discussed one of the challenges of online learning is that of dealing with the "quasi permanent separation of teacher and learner." As a communication scholar, I wondered what exactly was meant by the word "quasi?" Obviously it has to do with the notion that there is a virtual classroom instead of a physical classroom, but I wonder what other implications are involved. What does quasi mean in this context?

2. I was pleased to see that many disagree with Clark and his belief that the medium for learning is merely neutral carriers of information. I think that different kinds of technologies lend themselves to better qualities of education--it is not just any peace of technology utilized to the fullest extent. Did Clark believe this only when there were a couple kinds of technologies available? Some other authors seemed to think so.

3. There is such an emphasis on the creation of DE courses as a tool to handle Distance Education. Obviously, this makes sense, as it is right in the name, DE, that is being evaluated. For the sake of application, in the "real world" is anyone taking this course for reasons that has nothing to do with Distance? I can be on campus without a problem--for this course my primary objective is to see what it is like to learn online for a change. With that the case, however, how can this experience truly be measured against any other of my learning experiences. It is almost a meta-analysis in a way.

4. There are several comments alluding to the fact that the literature thus far about DE courses is sorely lacking in quality. This article was published four years ago, with the seemingly safe assumption that it was written five years ago. I know that the advances are substantial from a technology standpoint over the past five years--how have the advances on literature been? Have any of the goals that they suggested for future research been fulfilled?

Article 2: Teaching and Learning Online

1. I like the notion of networked learning as described by the authors, mainly because I do a little bit of work myself professionally regarding networked learning. So far, I have enjoyed utilizing the tools, like these blogs, to help facilitate networked learning. I am curious to know which institution has the upper hand on network felicitations; is it the academic world or the professional world?

2. There is a comment in this article about how it is a coincidence that new learning styles emerged as new technologies developed. I do not think that this emergence is a coincidence at all. I think that people are constantly trying to find a way to make sense of the world through the use of the best available means or tools. New learning styles are made possible through new technologies, not as a result of some random coincidence.

3. I enjoyed the part about motivation. I found it interesting that so much of this article, or manual, is so black and white, and then the section on motivation is described in almost a philosophical manner. I thought that was cool, especially how motivation has to come from within. I would imagine that a ton of research has gone into the notion of motivation within an online education context--after all, online courses are self paced with specific guidelines. I think it is also important to understand what the end result that the motivation is for.

4. I think that Role Playing is pretty hard to do even in a traditional classroom setting. I teach public speaking, and have tried to have my students role play for different activities. Is role playing for an online classroom harder or easier. Why?


All in all, I thought that these articles were not all that bad. They were a little long, but very relevant to what we are learning. I am now going to take a look at other blogs to see if I did this in a similar fashion to anyone else--maybe get an idea or two for next time!