A brief instruction of the advantage and disadvantage of distance learning

Form the experiment that did by Souder in 1993, we can tell that not only did distance learners defend of the distance learning course was a better way of learning, but also the other two groups thought that the approaches they accessed were better than the other groups’. Souder did explain that why the distance learners in that study were defending for the distance learning approach. He thinks that distance learners gained more than the other groups because they can learn form their classmates, social skills, and also the experiences of learning at a distance. However, he did not explain why the other two groups — traditional group and onsite group – had the same feeling? I am not sure if there are some psychological issues, but I do think that there are other reasons which can cause the distance learners defend their distance learning. As we all know, if learners can think and discover the truth by themselves the learning effectiveness will be better than they just listen from instructors (cognitive learning theory). This is understandable because learners have to really think about the contents that they are learning and figure them out step by step. The process of this kind of learning is active. On the other hand, listening to the lecture or demonstration is sort of passive than discovering the truth by students themselves. This is also the reason why instructors like to create a similar environment when they are demonstrating. Now in the distance learning environment learners, first, have to work together with their classmates which is a social skill. For distance learning approach learners are separated from their instructors and classmates need to work together to talk and discuss more than in traditional class. Second, in distance learning, students have to use the technology skills that needed for operating the distance learning system. Third, in order to finish a course effectively, learners have more activeness than in traditional or onsite class. I mean they have the right to arrange their time and learning pace. However, more right here also means more responsibilities. That is to get everything done on time and make everything reach the requirement. These are totally different from the traditional class that everything is led by the instructors. Learners just need to be a certain place as what the instructors require. This can also explain why the effectiveness of distance learning is important in IT area. If the DL has a lower effectiveness than other approaches, the DL does not have to be exited because people, of course, do not want to learn through a way which is slow and not efficient. In fact, DL has its own problems as the author stated on the page of 76 in this chapter. So nobody can prove that DL is the “best” because it is not. It is only distance learning, it is not different learning, it is not super learning either.

As the author stated in this chapter about the medium that used for distance learning, there are two kinds of technologies: telecommunications technologies and classroom technologies. There are a lot of mediums listed in this chapter, form correspondence study to today’s online study, from postal mail to electronic mail, the technology is updating and the effectiveness of distance learning is improving. It is not necessary for us to talk about all the differences between all the mediums. But we all know that with the development of science and technology, there must be more and more chances for us to employ more effective technologies for distance learning. Online learning, for example, is the most common and effective distance learning approach used nowadays. It offers both synchronous and asynchronous communication between instructors and learners. Furthermore, it can deliver two-ways audio and video as people are talking face to face. But advanced technologies not always have advantages, some problems that appeared during using new technology are very serious. I have the experiences of taking courses online and the problem of attaching assignment is a big problem to me. Professors always want us to submit assignment through distance learning system such as WebCt, however, this system is not performing well all the time. Another problem is losing email, an adjustment of assignment that comes from instructor through email which may be delayed or lost by the system itself. This may cause learners spend hours on their assignment and then find that it is not fit the requirement. Even worse problem is virus which can cause you lose your data which you spend whole day or whole semester on. As we already talked in Chapter 3 that there are still some problems in our area which need us to solve.

My thoughts of planning and developing a course website

I had a little bit experiences of creating websites last semester. In that class we focused on the tools that we can use. I mean I did not pay that much attention to the process of planning. I thought it was just that easy to create a website as long as you know how to use one of the web designing tools. After reading this chapter, I found that knowing how use a web designing tool is far away from creating a web. The author used so many pages only tell us one thing: the importance of planning for a website. This is also what I learned from the first chapter. Then how a make a good plan for a website? The author thinks it should include three steps:

First, it is important to assess the means. Assign the situation that we are in is the first step for creating a web site. We may want to do more, but sometime we maybe limited by the circumstance or tools that we can use. This is true that with the development of technology in internet and computer areas, people have more and more tools to choose for creating a website. This is good for educators to have more choices, however, nobody can use all the tools that existed nowadays. And each tool has its own advantage and disadvantage. Thinking about which tools we are familiar or what kind of help we can get from others should be considered first. As the author also mentioned that at the end of each step we may need to think about which tool we are going to use and how much effort we can do for a the websites that we are going to create.

Second, define the objectives. In the previous step we already understand what situation we are in. That is what we have in hand. Now it is time for us to figure out what we want to put in the web site. As such what goals you want to achieve, what is the content, what is your overall pedagogy, and what is the purpose for creating this web. That is like in the first step you know what kind of truck you have and this step you need to take a look at what goods you need to upload to the truck.

Third, it is time to plan the whole website. Since we already know where to go and what we have, now we can make a plan for the website. This step includes content inventory, site architecture, and navigation strategy. Here the most important part is site architecture, I think, because it is in this step that we will sort our contents and list them into an organizational architecture that will comfortably house our materials. Here comfortably means to it is convenient and effective to all the uses. The book offers us some examples of hierarchical which are the basic of a website. In fact, a good layout and design can help users navigate easily in a website.

We are supposed to have a clear map of the whole website at the end of the first stage: planning.

The second chapter is about how to develop content. What I learned in this chaoter is about how to gather the materials on the content list that we created in the planning stage. This is different from just putting the materials together because we need to pay attention to their formats. Most parts of a course website are texts, however, if we always use a same format of text, such as color, font, size, and writing style, it must be boring to the users. So we need to try making text fancy. Using different text formats appropriately may attract users’ attention and improve the effectiveness of learning. Since this a course website and students can get online to study, we should use the online resources assist both teaching and learning. As we all know, it is hard for us to incorporate a searching engine in our website, because of the database knowledge. So if we need we can get help from some departments, such as i-Tech office. In my opinion if the website does not include that many contents an search engine in not that useful. The next part of this chapter is talking about online discussion and quiz. Discussion is always a good way to facilitate students learning. It is a good opportunity for students to find out what they need to learn through discussion. However, online discussion is not that easy to hold except the technology support because not all the students like to attend the discussion because of the typing speed or other technology problems. About the online quiz, according to the author, if we only want to deliver a quiz is not that hard, but the thing is if we want to offer feedback to users, especially immediate feedback we need to find technology support too. Multimedia used in teaching and learning is a common thing nowadays. Normally designers will incorporate some graphics, audios, and videos into a website to make it more attractive. As the author said in this part, the thing we need to be careful about the formats of medias that we want to incorporate in a website. Graphics, for example, different format have different size to a same picture. Normally, we prefer the format of .giff and .jpeg because of the size and effectiveness. There are more we need to think about the format of other format because format does not only decide the size that needed, but also impact the time that users need to download them. Streaming video can solve the problem of downloading because it can allow users to watch the videos when they are downing them. The last part of this chapter is talking about the copyright, privacy and protection. These are the things we need to always remember when we are deal with internet. Some ways of protecting our own materials online are also introduced by the author, such as insert a html language of kioskmode=true” or add a watermark to the videos. However, if someone wants to steal your products they can always find a way to do that. There is not ways that can guarantee to protect anyone’s materials.

As I said above these all important for us to create a website and we need to pay attention to all the aspects that the author mentioned in these two chapters if we want to be professional.

Distance Learning, history, theories, and features.

Nowadays, distance learning is not that far away to everyone. Many schools, including universities and high schools, are offering distance courses. Different people may have different view of this technology, some may hold passive opinion, and others may think it is a good way or new way to teach? Or there are even other ideas at this point. However, no mater how you think about distance learning, it is growing now. And more and more people are involving distance learning, especially in recent years. So, in my opinion, we need to think about why the distance learning is increasing, instead of arguing or doubting.

First, what is the effectiveness of distance learning comparing with traditional class? This is the most important way can prove whether the distance learning is passive or active. Clark (1983) stated that there is no difference between the media that an instructor used for teaching. This means no mater what kind of delivering system an instructor used is not important. He also point out that the important thing is the content that is delivered to learners. Also, as what he said, the nutrition would maintain the same if you use a car to distribute the milk instead of a truck. I think his research explored that distance learning can do a same work as a traditional class.

Second, let us talk about the importance of distance learning. As I said in the first paragraph, it is the content decides the teaching effectiveness, not the media that instructors used for delivering. So the distance learning can do as well as traditional class. In fact, the distance learning can do more than traditional class. As we all know that, students have to live around schools for attending a class in traditional class. Otherwise they have to drive a lot. Many people were suffered from this before. Even sometimes they have to give it up. It is also a problem for some part-time students because there are always some conflicts between the work schedule and the course schedule. Traditional class can do nothing with this. However, there are no problems with distance learning under those situations. In fact, we can also find other ways to prove that distance learning is important, such as higher effectiveness, unlimited enrollment, and flexible schedules.

Third, what is the difference between distance learning and traditional learning? I think there are many differences between distance learning and traditional learning. The most obvious difference is that students and instructor do not have to meet physically during a class. Some other differences are distance learning is not like traditional class that teaching and learning process have to take place at the same time, there is almost no limited enrollment in a class, and distance learning can offer more freedom to learners, etc.

Another thing I am thinking about the distance learning and traditional learning is the relationship between them. Will the distance learning take the place of traditional learning? In my opinion, with the development of human education and technology, there will be more and more new ways of education, such as mobile-learning. All these new ways of teaching and learning have their own advantage and disadvantage. We cannot say one is better than the other. As an educator we should have the abilities to take advantages of all kinds of methods of education and maximized the effectiveness of learning and teaching.

Distance learning has a long history and its definition has been changing all the time. In my opinion, distance learning is a way of media-based, teachers and learners are separated and institution-based education. Here media-based means that the content is delivered by a kind of system, such as internet, radio, TV, satellite, or mail. The media through which a course is delivered kept changing all these years. And this is one of the reason that why the definition of distance learning is always changing. Here separate means that teacher and students do not need to meet each other physically like traditional classroom does. They can communicate at the same time and the learners still study under the help of teachers. Here institution-based is important because distance learning is different from self-learning. Self-learning is the way that students study by themselves without the help of instructors. However, learners are still learning from instructors in distance learning, instructors just do not have to give the lecture to learners face-to-face.

About the changing of definition, I think, the definition has to keep changing. This “changing” always means growing or moving forward. With the development of technology and educational theories, distance learning are becoming more and more effectiveness and popular. Of course, in the future people will explore more advanced technologies and theories which must push distance learning move forward. So whenever the distance learning moves to a new stage, the definition will change. Improving the effectiveness of distance learning will never stop.

The distance learning was developed from the correspondence course which appeared more than one hundred years ago. At the beginning, the courses had to be delivered by mail and the effectiveness was limited by the media: mail. Later on, at the beginning of last century, educators and researchers began to use radio to deliver the courses. This was a big progress because distance learning came into electronic time and distance learning began to be familiar to the Americans. The TV began to be imported into distance learning area after radio. People can not only listen to the instructors, but also see instructors. Furthermore, learners can see the instructors demonstrating instead of reading or listening. The universities and high schools which involved at the beginning distribute a lot for developing distance learning. During World War II the educational technology had a great chance to be developed because of the need of training thousands of soldiers in a short time. So after war researchers began to use those technologies into education including distance learning. Especially, when PC was developed in the early 1970s and internet in 1980s, distance learning became global, not only America. Nowadays, distance learning incorporated web-based, CD-ROM based, radio-based, and M-learning. Mobile learning is a new trend in this area now.

It seems that when we are talking about the distance learning we always talk about changing, such as technology changing, theories changing and effectiveness improving. However, no all the stuff the involved distance learning is changing. Learners, for example, did not change that much. At the beginning of distance learning, such as correspondence course time, learners had the freedom to control the studying pace and learning was not limited by time or place. Nowadays, learners can communicate with instructors synchronously or asynchronously because of the advanced media that employed in distance learning area, which is not different from the correspondence courses time that learners could only contact instructors through mails. However, I think this is the technology changing, but not learners changing. Learners still need to learn by their own, but the just distance learning makes learning more convenient and easier.

Clark, S. (1983). Reconsidering research on learning from media. Review of Education Research, 53(4), 445-459.

Simonson, Michael R. (2006). Teaching and Learning at a Distance. 4-29.

How do corporations provide training resources for teachers?

In the instructional technology area, I found a very strange phenomenon: almost all the technologies used in education area are not designed for the education originally. At the beginning, our area was built on the need of the Second World War and then, the industry. However, no matter what is the purpose for to people think or design technology in education area, technology are playing an important role in education nowadays.
Because of the emerging of the technology into education area, teachers have to learn how to use technology now. Also, because of the technology evolving, teaching and learning are becoming different to the tradition. So as the author said in this chapter: (teachers) just learn how to use technology is not enough. They have to apply the technology they know to enrich their teaching and enhance the students’ learning. That is technology literacy, or educational technology literacy.
For the teachers who are so-called technology immigration, training is a most important way to improve their technology skills. In industry area, people spend a lot of many on training employees every year. They have systematic rules and resources, and even a department taking care of the training issuers. However, this is not available in many schools or this is not as advanced as it is in industry area. But the exercises form industry area are useful for the training in education area. The best way of using the resources and exercises from industry area is incorporated it into the real situation of educational training. Transfer the advantages of using technologies into teaching and learning process according to the need in education area.
For example, the purpose of training in industry, business or some other areas in corporations is to improve the employees’ working efficiency. But in the educational area, the purpose of training is to enrich the teaching methods and enhance the learning effectiveness. So, when transferring the resources from corporate area into education area, adjustments need to be made for making it fit the need in education.
Corporations also provide technology products to the education area nowadays and this kind of production is right designed for the education area or for public use, such as Microsoft office series, macromedia software series, and other products. All these kinds of technology are very useful for the educational training.

What advantages can broad bandwidth and wireless networking offer schools? Describe the current technologies available for connectivity.

As the author said in the book, many schools have spent a lot of money every year on network cabling or creating new facilities to be network ready. However, this is becoming the past. Then what are these schools doing now? The answer is wireless networking.
Wireless Networking is not strange to us anymore, today. Just like cell phone, wireless networking can help people connect computers to servers and computer-to- computer. This is powerful, if you think about that we do not need to bring the internet code and go to classrooms or libraries to get online, instead, we can bring a laptop and sit anywhere on campuses to communicate with classmates and/or processors. in fact, this is the truth now and many schools are offering this kind of technologies right now. Furthermore, there are several new technologies which are support this wireless revolution. Take WiFi technology as an example, this is a wireless net working technology based on the common 802.11 standard. WiFi, using radio frequency set aside for consumer use, can offer connectivity across a school campus in hardware barely larger than a textbook. This kind of technology can make internet access everywhere on campus available. Public WiFi can do more than this. It is a cheap way to get internet access nowadays. WiFi has its advantages, such as convenience and open ways of getting on line. However, things always have two sides, also because of WiFi’s open access, some security issues arise. Protecting students’ and faculty members’ privacy is the responsibilities of all the schools. They need to resolve the wide implementation. Also, WiFi has its potential to change the way we access the internet and the places where the resources are located.
Another example is Bluetooth technology. It can help users to share the device in a classroom and communicate to each other. Even when the school network does work, under the supporting of the Bluetooth technology, students can still take pictures and transfer data. Bluetooth is becoming more and more widely used these days and also, more and more devices are now Bluetooth enabled.
Technologies are playing a more and more important role nowadays and it is a part of education. Almost all the schools in the US are offering students wireless connecting to internet now. There is a significant change and reform happening in the education area now. The potential for the limitless connections in every classroom and the capability of arranging the instructional environment without regard for power or network nodes will be possible.
Technology will make teaching and learning easier and more efficient in the future.

What is distance education? What types of support are critical to the success of distance education? Why?

This is an interesting topic. I mean I felt interesting when I find that, in the middle of 1800s, correspondence courses in Europe used mail systems to offer instruction. It is out of my imagination that courses can be delivered through mail. However, it is easier for me to understand that communication through technologies, such as telephone, email, or discussion board, nowadays. In fact, communications through technology did not appear until 1980s. It is pretty new. Then it is introduced into education area for offering classes to the students who do not have time to go to school regularly or are far from school. The technologies that used to support this kind of learning is called distance education. People had to go to schools everyday and stay in classrooms before the distance education was used. If people did not have time to go to school or they had not a regular schedule, they had to give up the ideas of learning before the distance education was served. So the distance learning solved these kinds of problems. Any people, wherever they live or whenever they want to study, they will always get the chance to do it through the distance education systems.
Of course, the distance education needs technology-support. “Technology is the key to providing a format for academic communication and exchange” (Teaching and learning with technology, Judy Lever-Duffy, Jean B. McDonald, 2007). For example, students can choose different ways to communicate with teachers and their classmates, such as emails, discussion boards, facebooks, or skypes. So they have many choices for communications. Furthermore, students can choose any time to communicate with teachers or classmates. People form different countries may be in a same class and the time difference may stop them to communicate during daytime or night. The distance education can offer students choices to communicate at anytime. That is, technologies can offer students synchronized communication an unsynchronized communication. So a student can send an email for help either during the daytime or during midnight if he or she likes to study in the night.
Teachers benefit from distance education too. All the processes of teaching are delivered by a system and teachers have enough time to develop the whole course before they put it into the delivering system. And they can also make revisions after they already put them in the system but the students do not get the part yet. Students can send teachers questions to ask questions and teachers can reply them during the morning. This helps both the teacher and student to improve the efficiency of teaching and learning. Of course, teachers do not have to stay in their offices everyday, like students do not need to go to schools everyday. What they need just the access to the delivering systems, normally just need to remember the password and account number. If they like they can also make appointment with students to see each other through videos when they are discussing.
More and more technologies are emerged into this area, such as phone bridges: a sophisticated telephone conferencing system, allowed a large group of students to dial in together and connect with each other and their teachers. Students can, of course, also interact with teachers and classmates via the phone. There are also other technologies that are used very common in this area, such as personal computer and internet. Technologies are the most important to any of the distance education.
At last I also want to say, technologies help education to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of teaching and learning. There would not be the distance education with the support of technologies. However, the education also helped to improve the technologies themselves. I mean the companies may try to recreate a certain technologies according to the feedback from education area. This is the process to improve technologies. So what I want to say here that distance education need technologies and technologies benefit from the emerging into education, too.

What is visual literacy? Where and when is it learned? Why is it important?

As the author said, visual literacy is like we are in the process of developing technological literacy through this course. The author did not give us a definition of visual literacy directly in this chapter, however, according to the author’s statement, I think visual literacy means the visual environment through which we gain knowledge or information.
A visual environment includes text, colors, animations, and shapes. The visual literacy helps people to interpret information and encode knowledge for storage into memories. It is also a kind of stimuli to human brains. Both adults and children have the experiences of learning through visual literacy. We all have the experience that we can remember and understand things better when we see them. It is hard for us to really understand the idea if we only hear it from others. This is also the reason that why we encourage teachers to use technology to create an analog environment for learners to “see” during the learning and teaching processes.
Every visual consists of a number of elements presented in a deliberate arrangement. The three primary categories of design elements are visual, text, and affective elements. Visual elements include graphics, symbols, real objects, and organizational visuals. Graphics are primary visual elements and it is said that a picture talks better than text. Another important style of graphics is video which is also used a lot in teaching and learning processes. Text elements include font, color, size, and all other aspects of textual presentation used. Making sure that all the aspects of the text elements can match each other is the designer’s responsibility. Affective elements are those components of a visual that can elicit a response from viewers, such as pleasure, surprise, or humor. These elements are used a lot in some tutorials. The requirements of using visual design are listed at page 328:
Relevance – all elements should be all about the main topic;
Coherence – all elements should be used to enhance and support the topic;
Consistency – all elements should work together to send a single message;
Proportion – all elements should have their sizes corresponding to their importance;
Contrast – key message should be emphasized more than others elements;
Unity and direction – all elements working together to gain the users’ attention and guide them through is the most important thing needs to be targeted.
In my opinion, the visual literacy should be used with other components for maximizing the effectiveness of learning and teaching. In fact some designers did combine some elements together with visual literacy elements, such as narration of a video, and animation with music background.