Video Presentation for a Professional Distance Education Conference:
At professional conferences, the keynote speaker is often introduced through the presentation of a short video that focuses the audience’s attention and provides background and insight on the speaker’s topic. This year, you have been given the honor of participating in a distance education conference by introducing the keynote speaker’s address. Your introduction may focus on any aspect of distance education that you find timely and interesting. In order to introduce the speaker, you are required to develop a 5- to 6-minute video on the distance education topic you selected.
You will work independently throughout the course to develop your Video Presentation. You will demonstrate:
•The key aspects of your topic
•The best practices and authentic application of your topic
•A strong research base for your topic
•An organized presentation that follows good visual design principles
References:
You will read a minimum of six research studies and/or scholarly articles on the topic of your video production published in the last three years. Each annotation should summarize the key findings of the research study, report the sample and methodology used, and critique the study. Use APA citations and reference formatting. Put your annotations in the Dropbox, along with a note to your instructor that your final video is posted in your blog.
Like so many things, technology use exists on a continuum: static to dynamic. Static technologies are those that allow the user to capture information. Dynamic technologies are those that allow the user to generate their own original thoughts. It isn't that one is better than the other, it is more that you need to ensure that there is an appropriate balance of the two.
If you think of it as the levels of Bloom's Taxonomy, through the efficient use of static technology the learner will eventually be able to use dynamic technology. Just as you would never create a lesson that only uses one level of Bloom's Taxonomy, you would also not create a class that uses only one type of technology.
Durrington, Berryhill, and Swafford (2006) stated that "to encourage high student interactivity in an online setting, the learning environment must be supportive, open, and respectful" (p. 191). In the digital world that we live in today technology is a highly integrated part of most people's everyday lives. In order to create the supportive environment that Durrington, Berryhill, and Swafford discussed technology is a critical element to include.
One project that I have been working on with a coworker is presenting free web 2.0 tools to the staff of the school that we teach at. The goal of the monthly trainings is to show a variety of web 2.0 tools from several different types of use. We have created a website that organizes all of the tools by category, gives a brief overview of the tool, provides a few suggestions of how the tool could be used, as well as any helpful resources. The trainings that we have provided have been well received by the staff, and they are beginning to be more comfortable with the technology, as well as utilizing it in their daily teaching.
Email has become one of the standard ways to communicate through the internet, but there are many other ways to communicate. Communication can occur either in real time, or through postings. Wikis and blogs allow people to make an initial posting, and then receive feedback from others. Skype allows people to communicate in real time through either video chatting or audio chatting. It also allows single people or groups of people to connect with each other.
The internet has expanded the potential for collaboration through shared documents such as Google Docs. People can also collaborate in wikis on a common topic. Blogs allow the orignal person to post thoughts on a topic, and then people to collaborate through the comments posted. There are also several graphic organizer websites that allow users to collaborate on ideas. The website used to create the embedded graphic organizer is one that allows users to collaborate on a common document.
Content is a quickly growing area of the internet. According to Did You Know there are 540,000 words in the English language, that is five times the number of words during Shakespeare's time. With this increase in words has also come the growth in the amount of content knowledge. The challenge in the digital world is being able to access all of the content available. Wikipedia is a good resource for an overview of a variety of content. There are many specialized organizations that create and share new content. Many of these organizations also publish journals that are available online. Another place that has a large amount of content is online forums. A forum is a place where people can post a question or problem and then others make comments back. This online forum format helps to create a lot of content in specific areas.
Collaborative, or group projects have always been the Achilles heal of the assessment world. In case you forgot, Achilles was a mighty Greek fighter who was killed by a fatal arrow wound to the sensitive heal area. Although Achilles was a strong warrior, this weak part of his body ended up being his downside.
The reason why collaborative projects are the Achilles heal of the assessment world is the challenge that they pose to assess. With many people contributing to the final product it can be challenging to know if the work was done equally, fairly, and represents the thoughts and ideas of the entire group. Although, with careful planning and guidance on the part of the instructor collaborative projects don't have to be the Achilles heal.
Palloff and Pratt (2005) outlined a three step process to support the collaborative process: model, guide, and then evaluate. In the modeling phase the instructor works with the students to show them what good collaboration looks like. During the guidance phase the instructor could meet virtually with the group to determine the roles of the members, the outline for the tasks, and an overall plan for the project. During this phase the instructor is there to guide the group in their mission. The final evaluation phase the is a chance for the instructor to meet with the group as a whole, as well as the individuals to assess the end product.
One of the largest challenges in a collaborative project is the role of each individual not always having an equal part in the final product. One of the befits, as well as challenges to working collaborative is that everyone brings different skills to the table. Different skills does not always mean that everyone will have an equal amount of time invested in the final product. The role of the instructor when it comes time to assess the product is to determine if everyone contributed their best to the product. Palloff and Pratt (2005) suggested that in a collaborative project that each individual create a portfolio of their contributions to the product. This portfolio, as well as the group and individual conversations can aid in the assessment of the final product.
Another challenge to collaborative projects is a member not wanting to network or collaborate in the learning community. When this lack of engagement happens with one member of a collaborative group the entier group and struggle. It is the responsibility of the group to reach out to both the instructor and that group member. The rest of the group should not be penalized if one member of their group does not want to engage and work collaboratively. If the instructor has taken the advice of Palloff and Pratt and worked supporting the group through the three phases of the collaborative process then the chances of having a non-committed group member is less likely to occur.
The Shift Happens folks have been producing thought provoking videos since 2007, they currently have produced five versions on the same theme. The theme is the globalization and shifts in society. The question I always come back to when watching these is how do we as educators answer to these shifts? Below is the fourth version of their video, published in fall of 2009.
One of the key points that Shift Happens continues to hit upon is that "individuals have more control, more capacity to create and to connect than in any era in history" (Siemens, 2006, p. 72). With the vast amount of information available to humans at their fingertips, learning at this point in history is radically changing. Siemens outlined in the video Future of Distance Education that one of the hallmark characteristics of the identity of distance education is collaborative interactions. With the increased possibilities to connect with other people the potential for collaborative works are at an all time high.
The Internet is the main engine that has expanded the possibilities to collaborate. Prior to the Internet connecting with others was limited by the network of people that you worked with, or knew. Today, collaboration is limitless. So the potential for collaboration has evolved from the network of people you knew within your own physical space, to the never ending reaches of the Internet. There are social networks where a person can connect with people who share their same interestes. There are countless blogs, forums, and websites dedicated to the most obscure topics. From these blogs, forums, websites, and social networking sites come the potential for collaboration.
Once the connections have been made via the Internet to collaborate, the people do not ever actually need to meet in person to accomplish their work. Through the use of video conferencing tools such as Skype, or online chat programs such as AOL Instant Messanger, and online collaborative word processing software such as Google Docs a collaborative project can be completed without ever having to meet in person. Prior to the advances of the Internet these collaborative projects would either have to be emailed back and forth through attached documents, or mailed through the postal system. With the advances of the Internet collaboration is literally at a persons fingertips and only limited by the imaginations of the people working together.
You say you want a revolution Well, you know We all want to change the world You tell me that it's evolution Well, you know We all want to change the world But when you talk about destruction Don't you know that you can count me out Don't you know it's gonna be all right all right, all right
The lyrics to the Beatles song Revolution seem fitting when discussing the need to evolve distance education for the next generation. I highlighted the phrase change the world and evolution in the song lyrics because in the situation of distance education there is going to beed to be change in the world in order for distance education to evolve for the next generation.
Simonson outlined in the video Distance Education: The Next Generation that the concept of distance education is not new. The first form of distance education happend through correspondent courses, and then over time these courses migrated to the internet. Sir Ken Robinson, a renowned thinker in education, inovation, and creativity stated during a TED Talk interview in response to the quality of distance education:
There’s been a tendency in universities to try and cash in on the interest in web-based learning. A lot of them have been dumping programs online: lecture notes, videos of talks, and so on. They’re of variable quality. Some of them are great, and some aren’t. In a way, TED is a great example of how distance learning can work well. TED doesn’t have a formal curriculum. But it has new ideas about getting ideas across in a powerful, condensed way, with high-quality visuals, and then syndicating that. TED has shown us a dramatic appetite for new ideas presented in an interesting way.
Moller, Huett, Foshay, and Coleman outlined five impacts for instructional design: 1) quality, 2) needs assessment and measuring outcomes, 3) connecting training, performance support, and the management of knowledge, 4) improved instructional systems methods, and 5) looking again at learning models. These five impact areas that Moller, Huett, Foshat, and Coleman outline are universal to a variety of distance education settings, they are applicable to the business, K-12 education, and college environments.
In order for distance education to meet the five goals that Simonson outlined in the video Equivalency Theory. these five goals are: 1) to provide equivalent education as face-to-face environments, 2) potential increased return on investment, 3) increased convenience for students, 4) increased motivation to learn, and 5) increased access.
I agree with all of the suggestions of Robinson, Simonson, and Moller, Huett, Foshay, and Colman. Without improvements distance education will not be able to live up to its potential. With all of the advances with technology within the last 10 years it is now possible for distance education to provide an equal or improved learning experience to face-to-face learning. But, without the changes outlined then distance education will continue to be for most situations glorified correspondence studies existing in isolation.
We clearly have all of the necessary technology tools, as well as the knowledge about how distance education needs to be improves it is time to stop singing about an evolution and actually start the evolution!
