Education Commons^™

And Finally... Systems And Instructional Design, Michael Simonson

Faculty Articles

Excerpt

A system is a set of interrelated parts, all working together toward a defined goal. The parts of the system depend on each other for input and output. The entire system uses feedback to determine if its desired goal has been reached. If not, then the system is modified until it reaches its goal (Dick et al., 2015).

Crossing The Digital Divide And The Equity Expanse: Reaching And Teaching All Students During The Pandemic, Jennifer Hill, Tracy Reimer

Teacher Development Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic illuminated the digital divide revealing an expanse of inequity among students who had access to the internet, personal devices, and parental support during remote learning and those who did not. Framed with the theoretical lens of equity literacy, this paper details the results of a survey completed by 56 Minnesota district level technology directors. The survey asked how school districts were addressing the technology inequities experienced by students and families while in hybrid and distance learning models. Results reflected that districts’ efforts to provide students technology devices were efficient and successful. Of greatest concern for respondents was …

The Effect Of E-Learning Media On The Quality Of Learning Of The Library Science Students Amidst The Covid-19 Pandemic, Retno Sayekti, Muslih Fathurrahman, Eben Haezarni Telaumbanua, Sitti Rahmah, Fitriani Lubis, Effi Amrina

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of e-learning on the quality of learning of the Library Science students amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was conducted in Universitas Islam Negeri Sumatera Utara Medan (UINSU), Indonesia. Data was obtained from 83 respondents, that were selected from a total population of 497 students using questionnaires, and, was analyzed using descriptive statistical and simple linear regression techniques. Furthermore, the analysis was carried out through descriptive and quantitative methods. The empirical results of the hypothesis test was obtained using the SPSS Version 23 software and it showed that the results …

Pandemic Pivot: Designing A Participatory Simulation To Support Social Distancing And Remote Learning, K. K. Lamberty, Paul Friederichsen, Audrey Le Meur, Joseph Moonan Walbran

Computer Science Publications

Participatory simulations usually aim to bring simulations off screen into a shared physical space with people acting as agents in the simulation. In this paper, we describe considerations and design decisions related to creating a participatory simulation for use in learning settings with restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic where typical classroom interactions were no longer allowed. We describe how our design decisions might help children both “dive in” and “step out” to understand more about pollinators and the prairie in spite of various restrictions on how exactly they can interact with each other. Our simulation, Buzz About, uses …

And Finally... A New Era..., Michael Simonson

Faculty Articles

Excerpt

Some have written that the modern era of distance education began with the widespread availability of the internet. Others move the date back to when it was possible to communicate quickly, such as with the telephone.

And Finally... Crisis Planning, Michael Simonson

Faculty Articles

Excerpt

The time to plan is now. If you do not have a plan to move to online teaching and learning, develop one. If you do have a plan, review it, update it, and train everyone.

And Finally … It’Ll Never Happen …, Michael Simonson

Faculty Articles

Excerpt

Educational contingency planning is the process of developing in advance what will be done if there is an event that impacts the school or training organization. Contingency planning for distance education is a subset of general contingency planning.

And Finally … The Night Is Dark …, Michael Simonson

Faculty Articles

Excerpt

For many, the previous 18 months have been dark and uncertain. Jobs have been changed, friends are different, and future events seem threatening— the playing field of doomsayers and charlatans preaching negativity.

Enhancing Instructor Credibility And Immediacy In The Design Of Distance Learning Systems And Virtual Classroom Environments, Miguel Ramlatchan, Ginger S. Watson

Distance Learning Faculty & Staff Publications

What are the optimal techniques for applying the latest generation of telepresence, video conferencing, and communication technologies in distance education and virtual classroom designs? If human beings use more than voice to communicate, what implications does the ability to more effectively replicate eye-to-eye contact have in collaborative distance education? This research study explored the effects of perceived faculty credibility and immediacy during virtual classroom presentations. This quantitative experiment created four independent treatments that varied the video resolution and varied the ability of the instructor to maintain virtual eye-contact with students during each presentation. Participants were assigned into one of the …

And Finally A Baker’S Dozen Ideas For Creating An Online Course, Michael Simonson

Faculty Articles

Excerpt

Most likely, everyone reading this column in Distance Learning journal has been asked how to quickly develop an online course, or tasked to actually redesign a course for online delivery. For those who have taught and learned in the world of distance education this process is easy, straightforward, even if time-consuming. One issue for new online designers or instructors is that much of the process for converting a traditional course to an online one is not intuitive, and in some respects is counterintuitive. For example, the idea of chunking instruction into single concept building blocks is an example of …

And Finally... Blending In All The News That’S Fit To Print, Michael Simonson

Faculty Articles

Excerpt

Even the New York Times agrees. In a recent Business section article about success in online courses, the Times wrote that “The instructional ingredients of success include … short videos of 6 minutes or less, interspersed with interactive drills and texts; online forums where students share problems and suggestions; and online mentoring and tutoring” (“Online Courses,” 2020). The Times got it right.

And Finally … What’S In A Name?, Michael Simonson

Faculty Articles

Excerpt

Call me Ishmael” is the first line of the classic novel, Moby Dick. Most high school students do not realize the importance of Ishmael’s name when they start reading. However, if they wanted an A on the final essay they wrote about the novel, they should have mentioned how this first line of three words set the intellectual tone for Herman Melville’s masterpiece.

And Finally... Course Quality Or Instructional Quality, Michael Simonson

Faculty Articles

Excerpt

Quality has become a popular word in distance education literature. Quality this, and quality that, all demanding that distance education, online learning, or virtual schooling must “have” something called quality— most often course quality.

And Finally … Open Access, Michael Simonson

Faculty Articles

Excerpt

Open Access—the idea that scholarly literature should be free and easily available to read online to anyone with an interest. We distance educators naturally embrace the idea of having readily available content that can be used in courses in a format that is easy to use and access. According to the web location Opensource.com there are two different versions of open access—libre and gratis.

And Finally … Telepresence—New Or ?, Michael Simonson

Faculty Articles

Excerpt

Telepresence is most simply defined as the virtual presence of a speaker who is at a distance. More sophisticated definitions emphasize the use of technologies that allow a videoconference viewer to feel as if distant participants are present.

Welcome To Normalton: Leveraging Effective E-Learning Principles For Adult Learners, Robert L. Moore

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This design case details the critical design decisions used in the development of an e-learning module library for North Carolina local government officials focused on land use regulations. These modules cover topics from an introduction to land use regulations, to evidentiary hearing conduct guidelines, defining vested rights, and explaining how to adopt and amend an ordinance. This project was in response to the North Carolina League of Municipalities (NCLM) members’ increased requests for training in this subject area. This organization requested the assistance of the two faculty members at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Government …

Moocs: A Case Study Of Alison Platform, Ikhlaq Ur Rehman, Shohar Bano, Midhat Mehraj

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is a recent trend in distance or e-learning, offering an opportunity to the unlimited number of students from diverse geographical areas, academic backgrounds, and professional pursuits to study high quality courses from prestigious institutions. MOOCs offer a large number of resources that have generated great results across the globe and attracted massive audience due to its free or low-cost innovative courses. It has entirely changed the way of distance-virtual learning. It offers new opportunities for imparting education over the internet and provides learning opportunities to those who aren’t able to attend conventional classes. A large …

And Finally... Engagement, Michael Simonson

Faculty Articles

Excerpt

Engagement of a learner is defined as emotional and intellectual involvement or commitment—the participation in learning activities via interaction with others in meaningful ways. Engagement theory considers engagement as the process of involving learners in groups or teams working collaboratively on project-based and authentic activities.

And Finally... Doing It Wrong—Who Says?, Michael Simonson

Faculty Articles

Excerpt

Several years ago there was considerable discussion among leaders of schools, colleges, universities, and organizations who wanted to offer instruction at a distance. In response, Distance Learning published a column titled “Designing the Perfect Online Program” hoping that the set of guidelines provided would assist organizations in their planning, and to reduce the likelihood that illconceived plans would be implemented.

And Finally … Let’S Go Deeply Digital?, Michael Simonson

Faculty Articles

Excerpt

The origination of the term “deeply digital” is widely credited to a Report to the President made in 2010 by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. The core of this report was that technology, deeply digital technology, should not replace teachers but support them. Properly used, technology can extend the reach of teachers by giving them access to the best instructional and professional development tools that can create customized learning environments and assessments for students, and to capture rich information about individual performance. (p. 80)

Collaborated Efforts In Ti Arm M4/32bits Microcontroller Curricula Developments And Assessments, Steve C. Hsiung, Feng Jao, Lijian Xu, Marjaneh Issapour

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

The disappearing and lack technical supports in hardware and software of 68XXX and 80XXX microcontrollers have made the finding of the replacement an urgent issue in the academic communities. There are many new comers such as Microchip PIC, Arduino ATMEL, and Texas Instruments ARM M series to choose from, but obstacles and learning curve for the faculty to adopt the new environment with these new microcontrollers have issues to slow the process. There were efforts made with grant supports to disseminate the curricula development on PIC and Arduino microcontrollers. But, industries have suggested and expressed the needs and desire of …

And Finally ... Online Courses Have Three Critical Components (And Learning Management Systems Are Not One Of Them), Michael R. Simonson

Faculty Articles

Excerpt

It is happening again. Vendors—and some well-meaning educational administrators—are talking about the power of course/learning management systems and claiming that the technology used to deliver online courses has an impact on student achievement.

And Finally … Social Media And Online Learning: Pros And Cons, Michael R. Simonson

Faculty Articles

Excerpt

Are social media applications empowering or addicting—or both?

Implementing An Enterprise Information System To Reengineer And Streamline Administrative Processes In A Distance Learning Unit, M'Hammed Abdous, Wu He

Distance Learning Faculty & Staff Publications

During the past three years, we have developed and implemented an enterprise information system (EIS) to reengineer and facilitate the administrative process for preparing and teaching distance learning courses in a midsized-to-large university (with 23,000 students). The outcome of the implementation has been a streamlined and efficient process which has delivered higher faculty satisfaction at a substantial cost reduction. In this paper, we propose a new conceptual and operational framework for process reengineering (PR) in higher education institutions. We also share our practical experience gained while designing, developing, and integrating three subsystems into an EIS. We hope that our experience, …

Teaching One Way And Testing Another: An Interview With Scott Howell, Scott L. Howell, James L. Morrison

Faculty Publications

I first met Scott Howell in 2005 in Jekyll Island, Georgia at the annual Distance Learning Administration (DLA) conference, which was sponsored in part by the Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration (OJDLA). Scott is co-editor of the three-volume book series Online Assessment and Measurement (2005) published by IDEA group and is this year's chair of the University Continuing Education Association's (UCEA) Distance Learning Community of Practice (DLCoP). His keynote speech at the DLA conference featured a number of assessment issues and best practices. However, when I sat down to interview him, he quickly focused on one topic for which …

And Finally … If It Is Intellectual, Can It Be Property?, Michael Simonson

Faculty Articles

Excerpt

Carol Twigg, executive director of the Center for Academic Transformation, has written and spoken extensively in the area of intellectual property and ownership of online courses and course materials. A reading of the abstract of her excellent monograph Intellectual Property Policies for a New Learning Environment is a requirement for any serious distance educator (Twigg, 2000). It is wellwritten, informative, and thought-provoking.

Creating The Online Learning Community For Distributed Education Doctoral Programs, Miguel Ramlatchan

Distance Learning Faculty & Staff Publications

Many colleges and universities now readily embrace the Internet as a viable distributed learning delivery model. As such, the Internet is a valuable tool to attract the highest quality students to an institution’s academic programs. However, while this may work well at the undergraduate or master’s level, many institutions maintain a required residential or internship requirement as part of a doctoral program. This interactive learning community is a vital aspect of a quality doctorate program. This paper presents a means to create an online learning community to replicate the residential graduate student experience. This goal is accomplished through the collaborative …

Technology: Taking The Distance Out Of Learning/New Directions For Teaching And Learning, 94, Nathan K. Lindsay, Scott L. Howell

Faculty Publications

Lindsay and Howell review Technology: Taking the Distance Out of Learning: New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 94 edited by Margit Misangyi Watts.

Distance Learning And University Effectiveness: Changing Educational Paradigms For Online Learning, Scott L. Howell

Faculty Publications

Howell reviews Distance Learning and University Effectiveness: Changing Educational Paradigms for Online Learning by Caroline Howard, Karen D. Schenk, and Richard Discenza.

Reevaluating Course Completion In Distance Education—Avoiding The Comparison Between Apples And Oranges, Scott L. Howell, R. Dwight Laws, Nathan K. Lindsay

Faculty Publications

Critics of distance education frequently assert that completion rates are lower in distance education courses than in traditional courses. Such criticism comes despite sparse and inconclusive research on completion rates for distance and traditional education courses. This article reviews some of the existing research and then describes some of the caveats and complexities in comparing completion rates in traditional and distance education. Analysis reveals that numerous factors make comparison between these two formats difficult, if not impossible. Problems include limitations in the research design itself, differences in student demographics, and inconsistent methods of calculating and reporting completion. After exploring these …