lesson-3-SP-2017OLD

Lesson 3 Learning Control & Social Context

Goals

    • Examine two constructs of a theoretical framework of distance education: Learner control and social context.

    • Examine the issues of independence, competence, and support

  • Examine four types of interactions

  • Emerging Topics: Social Media

Instructor's Notes

In this lesson, we will examine the third and the fourth constructs of theoretical framework of distance education.

The third construct is control. In other words, it is learner-centered. Issues in this construct are independence (the opportunity to make choices), competence (ability and skills), and support (both human and material). Garrison's article updated Baynton's findings. You should read both articles to obtain a good understanding.

The last construct is social context. How the social environment affects motivation, attitudes, teaching and learning has been examined. Although people consider technology as culturally neutral, students of different genders, races, and physical features may have very different perceptions of educational technologies and their applications, such as social presence , keyboarding skills etc. Are there other important issues that should be included in the social context construct? We will reserve the issue of social presence for later lesson.

Readings (Powered by Del.icio.us. Consider to subscribe RSS to keep updated on reading resources.)

    • Required Readings (Finish the required readings before the lesson starts)

    • Optional Readings (More readings for you to enrich your learning, to prepare for discussions, assignments, projects etc.)

    • Resources (Resources from our classmates, ETC students, and ETC faculty.)

Activities

Lesson Discussions (4 points) Lesson Discussion Guidelines

    • Ideal distance education requires learners to take control on their own learning (independence, competence, and support). Is distance education a form of learning for everyone? If yes, why? If not, why not? Please provide appropriate research evidence to support your arguments.

    • Considering the local cultures of learners while delivering instructions is critical. How can we improve DE instructional design to enhance learning?

      • How may the discussion board interfaces (flat vs. threaded) impact online discussion?

    • See the discussion board for the question(s) posted by the weekly moderator(s)

ETC777 Discussion Statistical Analysis

Assignment

Assignment 2: Distance Learning Theoretical Framework

  • Due: See Assignment Page

    • Points: 20 points (Team Grade)

    • Length: 3,000 words (Excluding references).

    • Format: Team work

    • Submission: One person from your team should submit the assignment.

        • Google Docs

        • Use Google Docs to share your file with the instructor at chihhsiungtu@gmail.com

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

        • If you upload your file from your computer to Google Docs, make sure you check "Convert documents, spreadsheets & presentations to Google Docs format." so your assignments be edited by the instructor.

        • File should be named as: ETC777-Team#-A(Assignment)#. For example, ETC777-Team1-A2 (Incorrect file name is unacceptable & will result in point deduction.)

        • Be sure to give the instructor "Collaborator" privilege so the instructor can provide feedback onto the shared document

    • Tasks: Identify emerging distance learning theoretical framework

    • Instructions:

      • Research

          • Use keywords, such as distance education, distance learning, online learning, open learning etc. or relevant keywords to search Eric database to identify peer-reviewed journal articles published in last FIVE years.

          • Research-based articles only. Research-based articles generally have sections of literature reviews, proposed research questions, methods, analysis, results, discussions etc.

      • Analysis

          • Examine the "issues" covered the research questions in each article.

              • Example" Research question: Are there any gender differences in levels of online social presence in computer-mediated communications (CMC)?

              • Key issues in this research question could be: gender communication; social presence, online interaction; computer-mediated communication (CMC) etc.

              • Tips: If you are not clear how to analyze issues covered in research questions, read the literature review sections. Generally, the literature review should cover the key issues discussed in the article.

          • Observe the emerging issues from articles. Identify the pattern. You may have 40, 50, or more identified issues. Be sure to ponder these identified issues and categorize them into areas/dimensions/aspects.

          • You may not have time to read all articles that you have identified carefully. If you do not have time to read all articles, you can scan them at this time and plan to read them for this semester. In other words, this is an excellent exercise for you to get the literature that you would like to read for our course at this time and obtain the knowledge from the literature later in the semester.

      • Reports

          • Use Google Docs to write descriptions collaboratively for each area/dimension/aspect your group identified. Be sure to cite identified literature in your descriptions.

          • While developing your paper, consider to discuss the development or evolving of the terms: Distance Education/Learning; Online Education/Learning; Open Education/Learning.

          • What is theoretical framework? Many of us may not be familiar with it.. Are they same: theoretical framework from framework, or conceptual framework. Here is a good source for you to understand them.

      • Figure

        • Draw a figure to represent your emerging theoretical framework, areas/dimensions/aspects. Example.

        • Web 2.0 Concept Mapping Applications (Feel free to use other mind-mapping tools to complete your diagram)

        • Discuss both strengths and weaknesses of both frameworks

      • References

          • Provide the references. Follow the APA.

          • All references should be bookmarked on Delicious to share with the class:

          • Use Delicious: Since your team will engage in large numbers of literature. It is efficient and effective to use Delicious to bookmark, organize, tag, and share the literature your group identify with your group members and our classmates. For example, you can use these tags to organize your literature. You can use different tags to search good bookmarks shared by our classmates or others.

              • Include your Delicious resource URL in your paper.

              • EX: http://delicious.com/tag/etc777+Theoretical+Framework+Assignment+Team1

          • Required tags:

          • Feel free to use more tags to assist you and your team to organize and to share the references and bookmarks, such as content tags, team tags etc.

    • Assessment criteria

        • Define & explain identified framework/constructs comprehensively.

        • Discuss strengths & weakness of identified framework.

        • Cited articles (peer-reviewed; research-based)

        • Comprehensiveness of analysis

        • Clear explanations & justifications of each area/dimension/aspect.

        • Discussions in between/among identified themes/categories/dimensions etc.

        • Include diagram & explain diagram comprehensively.

        • Active editing, modifying, posting on group work.

        • Clear figure represents the report.

        • APA format.

        • Interactive editing activities among group members must emphasize collaboration (interactive editing) in additional to division of labor (cooperation)

        • Correct references and Delicious bookmarks with relevant required and additional tags.

    • Notes

      • Encouraged but not required: Use Zotero (Free), Mendeley (Free), EndNotes, or RefWorks(Free) to organize the articles you found.

      • How many articles should you analyze? The more the better. The better and more you analyze the better understanding you will have of the trends in distance education research and derive a well-grounded theoretical framework.

      • Do I need to read all articles identified? It is probably not practical to do so at this point. But you are encouraged to read the good ones.

      • Keep records of those identified articles because you can to use them for our future assignments, such as annotated bibliography, Social networking technology, and the final project etc.

    • Questions & Answers

Prepare upcoming assignments

For Due Dates: See Assignment Page

    • Assignment 3: Web 2.0 Learning Environments (Due Lesson 7)

    • Assignment 4: Final Paper Proposal

    • Assignment 5: Final Paper (See Lesson 7 for the instructions)