notes on flexible, online & distance education ("fode")

Kristoffer GreavesReflection on Masters of Professional Education & Training, Semester 1, 2009

Teaching what students/clients want

Teaching what students/clients want, in the ways they want it

Teaching what students/clients want, in the ways they want it.

1990s – ‘Client-focused’ competency based training (CBT)

Teaching what students/clients want, in the ways they want it.

1990s – ‘Client-focused’ competency based training (CBT) with flexible:

Teaching what students/clients want, in the ways they want it.

1990s – ‘Client-focused’ competency based training (CBT) with flexible: Delivery Modes

Teaching what students/clients want, in the ways they want it.

1990s – ‘Client-focused’ competency based training (CBT) with flexible: Delivery Modes Delivery Venues

Teaching what students/clients want, in the ways they want it.

1990s – ‘Client-focused’ competency based training (CBT) with flexible: Delivery Modes Delivery Venues Assessment Practices

All emerging digital forms of:TeachingLearningSupportAdministration

in education

institution-based, formal education where the learning group is

separated, and where interactive telecommunications

systems are used to connect learners, resources and instructors ...

“telecommunications systems” includes electronic media

Simonson et al 2009 p. 32

‘Technology’

traditional, behaviourist approach, focused on production process to program learning

compared to broader contemporary view, tools

that mediate interactions

‘Interaction’

necessary constituent of all learning many interactions (not just f2f):

Learning materials (print/online/digital/LMS) Administrative sub-system (enrolments etc) Academic sub-system (lecturers, tutors, etc) Other learners (group work, discussions, etc)

Learners’ contextspersonal worlds: family, friends,

home & communityprofessional worlds: professional

colleagues, managers, memberships interactional distances:

Intimate: home, family, friends Effective: work, shops, college, etc Nominal: world at large

Religious letters and texts Correspondence - penny post – Britain

1681; Pitman –shorthand lessons 1837 School of the Air – Australia 1951 Open university – UK 1960s Teletutoring – Australia 1970s ‘Distance Education’ – growth in 1980s

Otto Peters: “industrialised education” Holmberg: “guided didactic conversatio

n” Traditional assumptions - distant

student necessarily ‘disadvantaged’? Education as text – is ‘conventional’

education inevitably ‘distant’? Creative approaches to serve learners’

needs

Industry’s demands – flexible workforce essential to improved productivity

TAFE delivery of VET seen as costly & non-responsive to industry change

CBT and recognition of prior learning (RPL) – demonstrated competencies

Training packages & self-directed learning

Australian Flexible Learning Network

Effects of online learning – changing pedagogy underlying

technological developments transition from ‘autonomous learner’

to ‘electronically connected learning community’

Knowledge construction - a dialectic process where one tests & negotiates constructed views on & with others

Potential attributes of online learning ‘+ ’

‘Equal’ mediumCollaborative learningFlexibility of time and placeAccess to mentorNES have time to reflectReflective communicationOvercome isolation

Potential attributes of online learning ‘-’ Learners need IT equipment Information overload Online learning curve Typing skills important Missed communication cues; ‘flaming’ Dominant personalities Non-participating lurkers

Appropriate pedagogical models?One-alone – online databases &

journalsOne-to-one – learning contract, emailOne-to-many – lecturer, symposium,

podcastMany-to-many – discussion, group

work, debate, synchronous or asynchronous

Attributes of collaborative learning & social construction of knowledge :Share diverse perspectives of groupClarification of ideasFeedback on ideasGroup solutionsSharing resourcesPracticing language of knowledge groupPower of group discussion

Distance education and technology interrelate and mutate synchronously

Theory & research has to keep up Tension between public and private Post-Fordism – technology permits

affordable production of non-identical units

Diversity of learner needs + mentor skills

Social presence in a virtual environment

Flexibility = overload?Reallocation of workloads Implications for instructional design Implications for training and

regulatory policies

Global Best Practices in FODELearner theory past & present Instructional design in FODEComputer-mediated discussions“Interactivity”How to:

Podcast / Vodcast Improve “presence” online: social,

cognitive, teaching…