Module 1

|Activities|Assignment|

Foundation & Theories of Distance Learning

Goals

  • Become familiar with course structures

  • Get acquainted with the instructor, and classmates

  • Participate various orientation activities.

    • Define Distance Education, Connectivism, OERs, Digital Lifelong Learning, & Learning Analytics.

    • Identify important and critical research issues in Distance Education, Connectivism, OERs, Digital Lifelong Learning, & Learning Analytics.

Instructor's Notes

Welcome to ETC777!!

In Module 1, we will complete certain course preparation activities. This course is different from other online courses. Failure to complete these activities may create difficulties with your progress in this course. This course requires students to be intimately familiar with the course structure and completing the orientation if properly pursued will ensure this familiarity. Students must read the syllabus carefully because the design of this course is very different from other educational technology courses. There are activities that must be accomplished during this module, please see the activity page for details.

Here are some highlights of the structure of this course:

    • Each module lasts TWO weeks.

    • Integrating Web 2.0 and social networking technology, such as Nabble, Twitter, PLE portals, Diigo etc., into course activities. It is a good experience for us to learn more this new educational technology trend.

    • Students will be involved in various team assignments.

This is not an easy course. It covers wide range of knowledge in distance education. Most students find this course challenging. There are many important activities and assignments that must be accomplished to fulfill the requirements of this course, many are labor intensive. Students must stay current with course activities, assignments. and readings. Do not fall behind! It is important that students complete every single activity and assignment on time. Although each lesson last two weeks, you must not wait until the final days of the lesson to complete the course work. Procrastination will cause you to encounter many difficulties.

Course materials are organized into seven lessons. Each lesson is divided into four different sections: Instructor's Notes, Reading, Activities, and Assignment.

    • The Instructor's Notes section is where the instructor provides learning guidance and information for the lesson. Lectures may be updated depending on the students' progress and learning experiences.

    • The activity section lists all important activities in which students should participate. It also lists the questions that we will contemplate in lesson discussions.

      • It is highly recommended that students should finish the required reading before each module begins. After finishing the required readings, students are better prepared to participate in the module activities.

      • The optional readings are for those students who would like to obtain additional information on the lesson content and challenge themselves with more learning opportunities.

      • Resources (ETC777 Diigo Group) are references for students . It is good to take a look at the resources to review a range of related topics. Resources shared by students on Diigo are shared by current or previous students. This list of readings is dynamic because when students tag their resources with ETC777 and share it on ETC777 Diigo Group. Be sure to check back for newer shared resources or subscribe RSS.

      • Sometime we may not assign certain readings for specific discussion topics. In this case, students should conduct a search to understand about the topics and the discussion topics. Remember! We are doctoral students and we should read more than we are assigned to read.

    • The assignment page lists the various assignments.

Additionally, we integrate multiple social media (Web 2.0) to deliver our online instructions. In fact, all of our course materials, instruction, and activities will occur on multiple Web 20 tools. We do not use any Learning Management System (LMS) or Course Management System (CMS), such as Moodle, Sakai, Blackboard etc.

"Openness proponents contend that distance education often isolates students behind password-protected gates. By unlatching those barriers, professors like Mr. Couros are inventing a way of learning online that feels less like a digital copy of face-to-face classes and more like the open, social, connected Web of blogs, wikis, and Twitter. It can expose students to a far broader network than they would encounter discussing their lessons with a small group of graduate students. " (Parry, 2010).

In order to create a base of knowledge for our learning community, stay up-to-date with the assigned readings, we will use the readings as our basic knowledge to plan, design, and develop network learning environments. We integrate various Web 2.0 tools, such as Nabble, Diigo, Google Sites, Google Docs, Twitter etc. to support the emerging ideas of Open Network Learning Environments (ONLE) and “Personal Learning Environments (PLE).” In fact, researchers foresee that Web 2.0 tools will disrupt Course Management Systems (CMS). Another reason to apply Web 2.0 tools to deliver our instructions is that most of our classmates won't have access to CMS since their schools do not have such systems to support teaching and learning. Since most Web 2.0 tools are free and easy to use, schools, or other organizations, are able to adopt them to support organizational teaching and learning for the workforce. We will discuss additional reasons to integrate web 2.0 to create network learning environments.

Frequently, Web 2.0 tools require us to have separate log-in accounts. This is the reason why we need to create an account for each Web 2.0 tool; however, Symbaloo, Netvibes, or Google Chrome, a personalized portals/homepages, allows us manage multiple Web 2.0 tools at the same location. Research has suggested that Web 2.0 tools are more effective than the ones provided in CMS. Students in Educational Technology fields should explore the current effective technologies to support learning. This is why we are integrating various Web 2.0 tools into our course. The Web 2.0 tools integrated into our course designs and instructions are not just for the required activities; it is highly recommended that students should apply Web 2.0 tools to support their own learning and their group activities. It is important for you to maintain good communication with your teammates and the instructor.

Why do we integrate multiple tools to deliver our instructions? As Dede has observed, "the history of tool making shows that the best strategy is to have simultaneously available a variety of specialized tools, rather than a single device that attempts to accomplish everything" (2008, p. 58).

Dede, C. (2008). Theoretical perspectives influencing the use of information technology in teaching and learning. In J. Voogt and G. Knezek, (Eds.), International Handbook of Information Technology in Primary and Secondary Education. New York: Springer.

We will experience many technology tools. You may feel comfortable and/or uncomfortable with some of them. The key is that we need to "experience" these emerging technologies and evaluate how they may impact human learning. Being an educational technology specialist, we need to have broad experiences in different emerging technologies so we can evaluate, and suggest effective technologies to support our organizational learning.

If you intend to print our course materials, please be sure to check back our course instructions because frequently we update our course materials based on students' needs.

It is important for you to maintain good communication with your teammates and the instructor. Frequently, you will have questions or issues that require help to be resolved. Maintain close communication with your teammates and the instructor. I always like to hear from you, even when you are doing well in the class. I prefer that you forward your e-mail correspondence to my NAU e-mail account at Chih.Tu@Nau.edu

Tag to share your Module 1 resources with:

Activities |TOP|Assignment|

Part I: Self introductions on Nabble discussion board

  • Self introductions

  • It is important to know a little something about the people in our class. To do that, we need to post our self introductions on the Nabble Discussion Board area. Self-introduction is an excellent resource to use in forming a good team; therefore, open yourself up. If you have pictures that you would like to share with us, please do so. Here are some ideas to help you get started.

    • Your name and what you liked to be called.

    • General information about where you live and what you do.

    • What your expectations are for our class.

    • What makes you unique.

    • A picture of you, or an image that represents you.

    • Links to some of your favorite things.

    • Your hobbies, etc.

    • Anything else that you want to provide

    • ETC777 Self-Introduction on Nabble

    • Create a Nabble account & register in ETC777 Nabble discussion board. Avoid any duplicated accounts.If you do not see the embedded screen above, use different browser for the best viewing results.

    • It is important to know a little something about the people in our class. To do that, we post our self introductions on the Discussion Board area. Open yourself up. If you have pictures that you would like to share with us, please do so. Here are some ideas to help you get started.

  • Form a team

  • Students are required to form teams. Each team is composed of THREE members. However, when one or two students are left without a team, they may be assigned to a group to form a team with 3-4 members. It is recommended that students select teammates who have similar professional interests. Reading the students' bio will help introduce you to your classmates. Teams will collaborate throughout entire the semester; therefore, building good relationships with teammates is highly encouraged. Therefore, you must be thorough in your bio and be open about yourself.

Distance Education

This Module discusses definitions of distance education, CMC, and online community, and research concerning these topics. There are extensive readings on these subjects; therefore, it is important for you to complete these as early as possible. You may find it is difficult to participate the lesson discussions if you fail to complete the reading. The goal of this course is acquire a comprehensive understanding of the research in distance education, so it is important for students to become accustomed to find research-based articles and comprehend them.

Completing the required readings will meet the basic course requirements, but it is highly recommended that students should develop an extensive bibliography dealing with research in distance education. Several useful resources are listed in the lesson reading page. They may be used to find articles that are relevant to our course and those that interest you. Accomplishment of the assignments in this course require students to read additional articles; therefore, it is advisable to search and browse various resources to identify the literature that is available as early as possible.

It is critical to obtain a good understanding of distance education. While you are reading, keep these questions in mind and know how to address them.

What are the developments accomplished in distance education in the past? How has research in this area evolved?

What technologies have been applied to distance education? What role do technologies play in distance education? What important concepts have been developed through research? What impacts have various distance education schema had on learning? The four constructs devised for distance education by McIsaac and Gunawardena’s are very important. We will discuss each individual construct in future lessons

ETC777 Team Sign Up

  • After forming teams, each team has a few things to accomplish in this week.

    • Exchange contact information, particularly an alternative e-mail or other contacts.

    • Start the conversations and planning for Assignment 2: Distance Learning Theoretical Framework & Assignment 3: Emerging Learning Environments.

  • Guidelines for building a team

  • Optional tools & activities to support your group collaborative learning

    • Apply Word document on Google Docs to complete the Team Governance.(ETC students highly recommend.)

      • Guidelines for the Team Governance.

      • Team Governance can be modified anytime in the semester with all team members' agreement.

        • If your group prefers, after your group completes the team governance document, one person from your team use Google Docs to share the file with the instructor at chihhsiungtu@gmail.com

        • If you are not familiar with Google docs, take Google docs Tutorials.

      • Make sure this document is shared with all your team members so all team members have access to the document.

      • File should be named as: ETC777-Team#-Governance. For example, ETC777-Team1-Governance

    • Zotero:

      • Zotero is a tool for you to collect, cite, and manage research resources. We will be involved with numerous research resources . It is critical to have a useful tool to manage our valuable resources.

      • Zotero Tour

    • Mendeley

      • Mendeley is a free reference manager and academic social network that can help you organize your research, collaborate with others online, and discover the latest research.

    • ETC777 Facebook Page

        • If you use Facebook a lot, you can like ETC777 Facebook Page so you can receive ETC777 announcement on your Facebook feed.

    • Tips:

        • Have difficulties scheduling teammates for online meeting? Try Doodle.

Part II: Online Discussions (8 Points)

  • Follow two posting periods

    • 1st posting period:

      • First week of the module

      • Respond to ALL key discussion questions.

    • 2nd posting period:

      • Second week of the module

      • Respond to others' postings. Four postings.

      • More postings are highly encouraged.

        • Discuss strengths and weakness of two definitions for distance education in addition to the one from McIsaac and Gunawardena. Use your own words to define distance education.

        • What is Connectivism? How does it relate to distance education?

        • What is OERs? How is OERs impact online learning?

  • KEY-4-Lifelong Learning

      • Read:

    • Discuss:

        • What does Digital Lifelong Learning mean to you? How does it relate to online learning and education in general?

    • Discuss:

        • What theory support Learning Analytics?

        • How can we apply LA to support online learning research?

          • If you have some existing research in hands, you could discuss how LA may help you answer the research questions from your existing research.

    • Notes:

        • Key-5-Learning Analytics and Key-6-Social Network Analysis (SNA) are very critical to our Assignment 2. Do your best to learn more both topics in the discussion would help your group to prepare Assignment 2.

ETC777 Module Discussion Statistics:

Assignment |TOP|Activities|

Assignment 1: PLE Development

  • Grade: 5 points

  • Individual Assignment

    • Goals:

      • Integrate PLE tool (NetVibes, Symbaloo, or Chrome) as Personal Learning Environment to manage multiple Web 2.0 accounts in one location.

  • Tasks

    • Part I: Submit Account Submission

    • Part II: PLE Reflections

    • Part III: PLE Diagram

  • Submission:

    • Part I Submission:

  • Google Forms

  • Submit your various account information to Google Form. GMail, Diigo, Twitter, Nabble Discussion Board

ETC777 Student Web 2.0 Accounts

  • Instructions:

    • Part I: Creating web 2.0 accounts (1 Point)

      • If you have these Web 2.0 accounts, you do not need to re-create the accounts, such as:

      • Please follow this instruction to create your accounts.

    • Part II: Setup PLE (2 Points)

  • Obtain Netvibes, Symbaloo, and/or Chrome account.

    • Netvibes, Symbaloo, or Chrome apps? The choice is yours. Most students tried all and use one or all three based on their own preferences.

    • If you have existing Netvibes, Symbaloo, Google Chrome PLE, please use it. You can create different tab for our course.

    • ETC learning & PLE

    • If you have a PLE tab from previous courses, you can use the same tab or create a new tab for ETC777.

  • Learn different personal portal tools:

  • Netvibes/Symbaloo/Chrome Setup Instructions

  • Log on your Netvibes/Symbaloo/Chrome account.

  • Organize your Netvibes/Symbaloo/Chrome PLE to support your learning:

    • You can add various “widgets,” "tiles," or "apps/extensions to support your learning.

  • Create a new "Topic" for Netvibes or a new "Webmix" tab for Symbaloo or page for Chrome.

  • Add ETC777 required widgets/tiles/apps to your PLE tab.

  • These are required widgets/tiles/apps to be added. (For Chrome App, you can add apps, or Extensions)

    • Gmail

    • Twitter

    • Diigo

      1. For Netvibes:

        1. Use "Add New Feed"

        2. Use URL: https://diigo.com/user/YourDiigoUserName

    • Google Calendar

    • Google Drive/Google Docs

    • OPTIONAL: ETC655 Nabble (via RSS Feed) Discussions

      • Obtain RSS for the Nabble discussion and/or each lesson discussion on Nabble. Nabble or Nabble lesson discussion RSS feeds are located on the lower left corner. (Some reported that Nabble RSS feeds on Symbaloo may not be stable, sometimes.)

  • Add 2 additional widgets/titles to support your formal, informal, or life-long learning.

Previous students favorite widgets/tiles (If you are not familiar some of tools, you can create an account to get familiar with them. We will discuss some of these tools in lesson discussions. Not all Web 2.0 tools have gadgets/titles/apps available for Netvibes/Symbaloo/Chrome.)

  • Twitter search

  • Dropbox

  • Prezi

  • VoiceThread

  • Delicious

  • Evernote; Evernote Web Clipper; Evernote Clearly

  • Zotero

  • Boomerang for Gmail; Other E-mail accounts

  • Blackboard Learn

  • Facebook; LinkedIn

  • Google Map; Blogger; Google Groups

  • Pinterest

  • New York Times; USA Today; Wall Street Journal

  • Tasks: Part III: PLE Diagram (2 Points)

  • Gliffy

  • Mindomo: Make sure anyone can view your diagram.

  • MyWebspiration: Shared diagrams is small.

  • Prezi: a web-based presentation application and storytelling tool that uses a single canvas instead of traditional slides

  • Spider Scribe: an online mind mapping and brainstorming app.

  • If you own MS Excel, you can apply Excel's SmartArt Graphics to create your concept map.

  • Look for more tools: https://delicious.com/chihtu/concept,mapping,tools

  • If you would like to share other tools with us, please use these tags to share; ETC777, Concept, Mapping, Tools

    • Be comprehensive. It is not just what you have on PLE. PLE should depict how you access and manage your network, communication and information from different locations, devices for various purposes.

    • Reflections

  • Include your PLE diagram image and image link in the Google Docs.

  • What categories emerged from your diagram?

  • Analyze and explain what and how you organize your PLE. Be thorough.

    • Evaluation Criteria

  • Include all ETC777 technologies in the diagram

  • Thorough PLE reflections.

  • Include PLE gadgets, personal computers. Mobile phone or other electronic devices if applicable.

  • Include these functions and relevant tools in your diagram

  • E-mail

  • Phones

  • Internet/Web

  • Learning related

  • Work related

    • Notes:

      • Many tools we use to support our own daily life maybe overlapped and have multiple functions.

Prepare upcoming assignments

  • Due: Module 2:

    • Group Task: Assignment 2: Distance Learning Theoretical Framework

  • Due: Module 4:

    • Group Task: Assignment 3: Emerging Learning Environments

    • Individual Task: Assignment 4: Final Paper Proposal

  • Due: 05/31:

    • Individual Task: Assignment 5: Final Paper