Terry Anderson presents an equivalency theorem for Distance Learning. He basically states that there are three important part of a meaningful education experience; Teacher-student, student-student, and student-content. He says getting the right mix is essential for distance learning to equate to a traditional classroom experience. He states that interaction is a defining and critical component of the educational process and context,but it's difficult to find a clear and precise definition of this concept in the educational literature.
He seems to say that more student-student interaction can substitute for and even replace teacher-student interaction. In Anderson and Garrison (1998) he extends the discussion of the three components of the educational process to include teacher-teacher,teacher-content, and content-content. He goes on to discuss the merits and cost effectiveness of various modes of interaction. He seems to think teachers can be replaced by the correct combination of content, student-student interaction, and technical support personnel who can answer a specific st of student questions. He acknowledges that many teachers will feel threatened by models of distance education designed to reduce costs and access by primarily eliminating student-teacher interaction.
But, Anderson believes these alternated models can be both cost effective accessible alternatives for meeting the demands of life long learners.
I understand his ideas, and I am certainly grateful for the opportunity to take this class on line. It's a whole new experience for me. I am learning a lot, and I really appreciate everyone's comments, but it doesn't seem "real" to me exactly. I think distance learning is a trade off. Convenience and time effectiveness is traded for a sense of really knowing either my teacher or my fellow students. However, I don't text or tweet and I use facebook basically to see pictures of my friends' children. I think for those of you in the class who use these other tools this class feels more real to you, and you are more comfortable with this model of interaction.
I think the online format does have its drawbacks, but so does the traditional method. Many online courses I have taken are leaps and bounds ahead, in terms of interactivity, than courses I have taken on a campus. All of us can remember courses where the professor was purely lecturing, and no student-student or teacher-student interaction took place. I also remember courses where the students spent most of the time distracted (including myself) due to the monotony of the content or many other issues.
ReplyDeleteI do prefer in-class discussions to the asynchronous discussions as some things are harder to express via blogs/wikis (like tone for instance) but I do think asynchronous has its benefits too. I can read another's opinion and have time to think about it and research it before I respond. That's hard to do in a class.
Nathan, when I was in my undergrad, I remembered sometimes I just drew pictures or distracted other friends because the class was boring.
ReplyDeleteJulie, I shared my online class experience, which I think, provided me with the three types of interaction in meaningful ways in Denise's blog.
As an international student at IU, I prefer asynchronous discussion because like what Nathan said, I need more time to think about my responses and particularly about how I will articulate my responses.
But, Julie your idea that distance learning is a trade off is interesting. I remembered last semester in my online course the professor explained said that "face-to-face" is the most ideal one for her, but if it is not possible, because some students are from other towns or countries, then online can be an alternative. However, we both agreed that teacher, who many times also becomes the instructional designer, is still the key in providing meaning to any interaction in a course.
Julie, two quick things:
ReplyDeleteI know what you're saying about online classes not feeling "real," when you're used to traditional classes, but maybe they just are so different. In my case, the online courses that I've taken have provided a lot more interaction among students than many of the traditional classes that I've been in and it's felt like the teacher's role was smaller. That is a big shift.
Also, I guess I didn't get the sense from Anderson's article that "teachers can be replaced," as you put it. It seemed like he? she? what gender is Terry? - was just saying that their role could be diminished and/or changed great learning experiences could still take place.