ETC645

ETC 645 Distributed Learning System

Department of Educational Specialties

This is a course description not a final syllabus for the course.

General Information

Instructor: Chih-Hsiung Tu, Ph.D.: Email Address: Chih.Tu@Nau.Edu
Office address: PO Box 5774 Flagstaff, AZ 86011Phone: 928-523-0671 Fax: 928-523-1929
Office hours: By appointment via e-mail, phone, chat room, or in person
Credit hours: 3

Pre-requisites & Requirements

Course prerequisites: ETC 547 & ETC 567.

Notes: It is highly suggested that students complete ETC645 prior to attempting ETC655. Students will have more positive learning experiences if they take ETC645 first then ETC655. Students are highly suggested to take ETC645 and ETC655 in the same semester later in ETC program. Both ETC645 and ETC655 are offered in spring and fall semesters; generally not during the summer session.

Course Descriptions

The terms "distributed education," or "distributed learning" have been applied interchangeably by many different researchers to a great variety of programs, providers, audiences, and media. Its hallmarks are the separation of teacher and learner in space and/or time, where much of the control over the learning environment can be by the student rather than the distant instructor, and asynchronous communication between student and teacher, mediated by print or some form of technology.

Distributed learning technologies are expanding at an extremely rapid rate. Too often, instructional designers and curriculum developers have become enamored with the latest technologies giving less thought to: a) the underlying issues of learner characteristics and needs, b) the influence of media upon the instructional process, c) equity of access to interactive delivery systems, and d) the new roles of teacher, site facilitator, and student in the distributed learning process.

This course is designed to provide learners opportunities to explore various distributed learning systems, also known as learning management systems. More importantly, however, the course will provide learners with the opportunity to design and develop distributed learning units that take great consideration in those issues listed above and to employ the theory of distributed cognition or situated cognition.

Learning Goals & Outcomes

Student Learning Expectations/Outcomes for this Course

The Goals of this course are for students to:

develop an understanding of distributed learning environments in terms of current learning theories
develop an understanding of the role of technology in distributed learning environments
develop an understanding of the importance and types of collaboration and community-building distributed learning environments
develop an understanding of the issues of diversity within a distributed learning environment

To determine if the course goals have been attained, students should be able to demonstrate the following outcomes:

utilize skills with online learning technology
utilize skills with technology programs as they relate to distributed learning
utilize distributed/situated cognition to enhance online learning
describe issues of diversity that pertain to distributed learning
develop a distributed learning unit based upon current distributed learning theory for adults that includes the following elements:

Learner Interaction
Learner Resources
Learner Collaboration
Learner Planning and Publishing
Learner Assessment
Global Digital Citizenship

Course Structure/Approach

This course is VERY labor intensive. Each student is expected to engage in online participation in class discussions, group activities, assignments, and individual work. There may be many times when you will need to be able to troubleshoot complex problems on your own -- be prepared.

A variety of instructional methods will be used in this class. They include, but are not limited to:

Assigned readings,
Online discussions,
Online discussion moderation,
Application utilization,
Research papers,
Individual and group work.

Course Materials

Text and other Materials: Required Textbook:

Anderson, T. (Ed.) (2008). Theory and practices of online learning (2nd ed.). Athabasca, AB, Canada: AU Press.
- Selected chapters will be assigned as required readings.
- Paperback
  - 978-1-897425-08-4 (SC)
- Ebook (Free to download)
  - 978-1-897425-07-7 (pdf)
  - 978-1-897425-07-7 (epub)
- If you would like to start the readings, you can start reading the chapters in this book
Internet Access with appropriate browser(s).
Productivity Software (i.e. MS Office, or Google Apps.)

Optional Textbook: Recommended optional materials/references

Tu, C. H. (2004). Online collaborative learning communities: Twenty-one designs to building an online collaborative learning community.. Westport, CT.: Library Unlimited. ISBN-10: 1591581559

If you would like to start conducting the required readings, you may read (Log in NAU account if needed):

Personal Learning Environment (PLE)

Weller, M. (2020). Personal Learning Environments Links to an external site.. In 25 Years of Ed Tech (pp. 123–128). AU Press.
Tu, C. H. (2014). Construct your PLE. In C. H. Tu, Strategies for building a Web 2.0 learning environment. ABC-CLIO. Santa Barbara, CA.

Foundation of Online Learning

In Ally's Chapter 1: Foundations of Educational Theory for Online Learning
- a model of online learning components is proposed. Don't forget to read Gunawardena's chapter to help you to obtain better understanding.
Gunawardena, C. N., & McIsaac, M. S. (2003). Distance education. In D. Jonassen (Ed.), Handbook for research on educational communications and technology (pp. 355-396). New York: Simon and Schuster.
- Focus your reading on the sections of: 14.2.1 Defining Distance Education (p.357-358) & 14.3.1 Theoretical Developments (p.360-363)
- Obtain good understandings on: Guided Didactic Conversation; Independence and Autonomy; Transactional Distance; Control; Interaction; Sociocultural Context; & Social Presence.

Attributes of Learning & Interaction

Anderson's Chapter 2

Delivery System

NAU Canvas platform (https://canvas.nau.edu/)

Notes