Siemens discussed the importance of giving online education its own distinct fron F2F courses and included (b) communication (Siemens, As I learned from Dr. Thornburg in my Walden class, “Evolution of Educational Technology in Society, Education, and the Workplace” (2010), the “Communication Age has supplemented the Informational Age” (Laureate, 2010). This age he states, is “defined by the internet” and “increases capacity of collaboration and communication with others” (Laureate, 2010). Communication has evolved significantly throughout the years. From chalkboards, to whiteboards, to mimios and SmartBoards, communication is still evolving today. As stated on the elearnspace blog "5 ways tech startups can disrupt education" (2010), teachers need to, "provide learners with the tools to connect and form learning networks with others in a course and across various disciplines (diversity exposure to ideas and connections needs to be intentional)." This communication can be done via digital storytelling, webcasts, etc. and is extremely important in maintaing these learning network connections.
There are too many tools to name that offer interactive opportunities for online learners. One of these being blogging, which is how I am communicating with you now. As stated on the wiki, "Educational Blogging" (2010), is that "it provides the opportunity for the student to find a personal "voice" and to develop individual interests." It can also increase enthusiam for writing. In addition to blogging, students and educators can interact through webcasts, podcasts, or video communications such as Skype. These tools are essential in making online learning more personal by strengthening interactions with each other. I will conclude with a quote from Stephen Downes blog. He was talking about the importance and fundamental lesson of communicating through technology when he wrote, "The topic of the talk is culturality, and connectivism" (2010). I could not have said it better and think I should create a website called (CCC), Communication Connects Cultures.Thanks to webcasts, and other technology resources available to us now, we can communicate and connect with people worlds away. People that we will never meet, but people we can grow bonds with, learn from, and love.
Lauren Dart
References:
Downes, S. (2010, May 16). Connectivism and Transculturality. Retrieved from http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2010/05/connectivism-and-transculturality.html
Downes, S. (2010, May 16). Connectivism and Transculturality. Retrieved from http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2010/05/connectivism-and-transculturality.html
elearnspace. (2010, August 31st). 5 ways tech startups can disrupt education. Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2010/08/31/5-ways-tech-startups-can-disrupt-education/
Siemens, G. (2010). “The Future of Distance Education.” Laureate Education, Inc.
Support Blogging. (2010). Educational Blogging. Retrieved from http://supportblogging.com/Educational+Blogging#What%20blogging%20does%20for%20students-Creates%20enthusiasm%20for%20writing%20and%20communications
Thornburg, D. (2010). The Next Wave, Part 1. Laureate Education, Inc.
Support Blogging. (2010). Educational Blogging. Retrieved from http://supportblogging.com/Educational+Blogging#What%20blogging%20does%20for%20students-Creates%20enthusiasm%20for%20writing%20and%20communications
Thornburg, D. (2010). The Next Wave, Part 1. Laureate Education, Inc.
Hi Lauren,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comments and I have also posted on my blog the Siemens' communication element. I beleive that this is the most important element. Therefore, without this element, the other two elements: global diversity and collaborative interaction would probably not exist. Once there is communication among the learners, the community will continue to grow and there will be many opportunities to identify and seek new learning. Further, as scholarly practitioners we must continue to be open-minded about new technologies and to incorporate them frequently in our distance education program. Any thoughts? Elaborate briefly.
Hello Lauren,
ReplyDeleteYou mention the distinction between f2f and DE. I keep thinking that if the f2f classroom integrated more of the DE learning goals and technologies for today's digital learners; communication and collaboration; student-centered learning and personalized learning; forum discussion threads; and wiki team projects - maybe the f2f classroom would be more successful?
Hello Michelle, I do not know how to separate communication from interactive collaboration. I agree with you that communication is the key to collaboration, because without it, there would be no interaction for collaboration with distance learners. I also know that there would not be much communication or collaboration without building a trusting, positive, encouraging, support system with your peers.
ReplyDeleteThere is one distinction that Stephen Downes (2005) mentioned in his blog - it is possible to have cooperation in a project without collaboration, which I have experienced.
Reference:
Downes. (2005, July 6). Are the basics of instructional design changing? Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2005/07/06/are-the-basics-of-instructional-design-changing/.
Hi Lauren,
ReplyDeleteIn evolution of technology course, I also liked the mention of the chalkboard as a a technology instrument. Think about Hieroglyphics? They were instrumental as technonlogy. For instance, diabetes dates back until the times of heiroglyphics.
Hello all,
ReplyDeleteI will try posting my response to Lauren's Communication blog in separate sections... I keep getting the messaabe below. I have tried many things to no avail... any suggestions?
Request-URI Too Large
The requested URL /2010/09/communication.html... is too large to process.
Part 1 response to Lauren’s week 2 blog:
ReplyDelete“Rice (2006) suggested that the effectiveness of distance education has more to do with who is teaching, who is learning, and how that learning is accomplished” ((Moller, Foshay, Huett & Coleman, 2008).
I have reposted your previous quote here because I believe that it so vital to the business of education. You also discussed virtual vs human contact and how the need for human contact keeps some of your colleagues away from virtual learning. I will go with the assumption that you also need 'human contact' so my question is... what is it that makes you and I adopters of these technologies for teaching and learning? What do you think can bridge that gap to comfort, as Siemens (n.d.) mentions in his vodcast....
Please see part 2
Part 2... continued from Part 1 response to Lauren:
ReplyDeleteMore specifically on the topic of communication, Misanchuk & Anderson (2008) state “We feel that one of the most important indicators of a learning community is the first: when students communicate not only on an academic level but on a personal level. Working together towards the goals of the course is what they are “supposed” to be doing. When they begin to talk about their personal lives (families, hobbies, jobs), their triumphs and trials with being a distance student (scheduling, technical problems, disagreement with pedagogy), when they seek each other’s counsel for other areas of their life (job change, which elective course to take next, family issues), this is the point at which we feel they are comfortable as a community.” (n. p.) This seems a bit extreme for online learning especially as people enter in and out of courses during limited amounts of time. What do you or anyone else in the group think?
References
Misanchuk, M. & Anderson, T. (2008). Building community in an online learning environment: communication, cooperation and collaboration. In Downes, S. (2008) [web log message]. Retrieved from http://t-ny.eu/4d
Siemens, G. (2008). The future of distance education. (Vodcast). Principles of Distance Education DVD produced by Laureate Education, Inc. Baltimore
Finally, my complete initial message was not that long. I was not aware that blogspot limited length of blogs. I have not come across this previously. Thanks for your patience everyone.
ReplyDeleteSoraya