J-OMDE+603

=​ OMDE 603 Technology in Distance Education Fall 2009 = = = =Infrastructure Requirements & K-12 Education = Author: Stuart AdamsCreated: 11/08/2009 In Davis' (2004) chapter on the technical infrastructure of an online learning system the author describes an ideal technical infrastructure system and offers real-world variations that one is likely to encounter. He presents a model that he calls the online learning systems framework model which is an ideal system, a complete and integrated system. It is important to note that the model focuses on post secondary education.

My area if interest is in primary/secondary education in the US. To provide higher quality, more consistent level of teaching and learning in the K-12 environment, an online learning approach could be implemented in schools. The students could be given access to network connected laptops that would allow them to access distance programs to augment the classroom work. The issue of social interaction is thus removed and equity issues are dealt with.

However, implementation of online learning in the K-12 education would need a modified technology infrastructure from the post-secondary model that Davis presents. In considering the infrastructure required to support online learning in a primary/secondary education context, these changes could be made to the model:

1. The user (student) hardware and software would be completely under the control of the institution, eliminating variations in the users capabilities, and the uncertainty comes with those variations. Thus a vastly simpler user portal would be required. A user interface would need to provide access to the resources of the learning management system (LMS), the library service and the support services subsystems. It is likely that the LMS could provide that user interface itself, eliminating the need for a user portal altogether.

2. The student services sub-system would have a very limited role as well. It might simply offer grade-level appropriate help service to students and include course registry and usage tracking services if they are not included with the LMS. Otherwise, no student services subsystem is needed.

3. A library sub-system would need to be integrated with the school's traditional library. As the school library expanded its service offerings to include online resources, the infrastructure would need to accommodate those expansions.

4. The student information sub-system, which is likely to be a legacy system, would not be closely coupled to the system. The capability to pass grade and student performance information to permanent files might be useful. Again, the gradebook capabilities are likely to reside within the LMS.

In short, the infrastructure required for a K-12 implementation of online learning would simpler than needed for a post-secondary system. The right LMS might provide all of the elements of such an infrastructure.

-Davis, A. (2004). Developing an infrastructure for online learning In: Anderson, T. & Elloumi, F. (Eds.) Theory and Practice of Online Learning, http://cde.athabascau.ca/online_book/ch4.html,Chapter 4 =Deep Learning and DE Technology = =Author: Stuart AdamsCreated: 10/08/2009 = Deep learning is about internal dialog. Without the internal rationalizing, challenging, questioning, and applying, there is no meaningful learning. This is the essence of constructivism, if I am understanding the concept correctly. The external conversations may open and expose the learner and allow or expand the internal dialog, but unless the learner internalizes what he reads, hears, and experiences, deep learning doesn’t take place. (Rote learning might take place, but that is of little value). If the external inputs are multiple voices in conversation or a single “authority” they are still external. The external conversations themselves are as often as much about ego as anything.

In the choice of how aggressively each students takes on the internal dialog, how he/she struggles in the personal construction of knowledge, each student is ultimately and entirely autonomous.

The questions about dialog, autonomy and how one learns are fundamental to understanding education and to inquiries on how one uses technology to teach/learn. The most important question for deciding on a specific technological approach in DE is "what approach will generate the internal dialog that is essential to learning?" = =

Author: Stuart AdamsCreated: 10/08/2009
I don't accept the educational formalism argument, that which values skills and diminishes the importance of knowledge. Certainly, skills are transferable and useful. However, without a common base of knowledge, additional knowledge and skill acquisition is impossible.

As an example, I spent a number of years as a network engineer. Over the last 16 years I have been out of the field, a field that has evolved dramatically (to give a sense of perspective, there was no Web back then). Today, I am not up to date from either a knowledge or a skills perspective in the field. However, I have the foundational knowledge on which an understanding of networks is built. (After all, a signal still propagates down a wire as it did 20 years ago, packet switching is still the efficient way to send quantities of data). With foundational knowledge, I can understand and assimilate information about more modern networks. And, should I need to, I can acquire and update my skills as a network engineer.

It is this foundational knowledge that educational formalism seems to devalue.

E.D. Hirsch has made this point clearly in his seminal work on Cultural Literacy. In an excerpt from that work, Hirsch says:

"But without appropriate, tacitly shared knowledge, people cannot understand [even what is written in] newspapers. A certain extent of shared, canonical knowledge is inherently necessary to a literate democracy. It is the translinguistic knowledge on which literacy depends."

I would argue, as Hirsch does, that a significant amount of what education is required to do is to impart foundational knowledge, so that the lifelong learner has a broad basis of knowledge and understanding to build on. Even a constructivist perspective assumes a basis on knowledge on which to build.

Hirsch, E. (1987). Cultural literacy: what every American need to know. Houghton Boston: Mifflin Excerpt retrieved Nov. 1, 2009 from http://projec12.fatcow.com/Background/culliter.pdf

= 2nd Life = Author: Stuart AdamsCreated: 10/28/2009 Many of the other blogs have comments on 2nd Life as an educational tool, so I thought I'd post my thoughts as well. I wrote a comment to Amy that included this:

"I remember how static the old film strips that I watched in class as a kid (I know, I'm dating myself). But we always found them to be instructional and a welcomed, even exciting break from regular class activities. Imagine pulling out a realm where kids could explore and experiment in a save realm." I think that the opportunities for really creative education exist within 2L.

I don't know if the time that it takes to build an 'island' that you could to teach a class with. Must be a huge commitment of time. Still, that matched the standard cost model for DE (yeah, I'm taking OMDE 606 as well). High up-front fixed costs that can be made to pay off after several re-uses.

I don't think that the people who interact in 2nd Life are necessarrily loosing out on social interaction. It just looks different from what we might be used to. Years ago, I played D & D with friends. We weren't waco serious about it; it was a game to play on a Saturday night. If we were playing poker or Scrable every weekend no one would have found that unusual. It's just when people loose prespective and go overboard that it's creepy. To me D & D was a form of social interaction, not avoidance of it (no, I never wore a costume). Same with 2nd Life, I think. = = Philosophy Author: Stuart AdamsCreated: 10/08/2009 My blog partner Michelle, an English teacher, started her blog off with a statement of her philosophy of education. I found the idea provocative and so I herewith, offer mine. It comes from the Federal law regarding special needs students but it seems to me to apply to all students: Each child shall receive an education appropriate to his or her individual needs. I also think that education has the potnetial to be the great equalizer