Wave 4 Reflection – OMDE 601 9040
The grid on the future trends has completely broadened my mind on how distance education (DE) has transformed over the years. Early in the year DE was just an education through correspondence but now my view has been changed. The grid made me to realize that so many researchers contributed in shaping the context of distance education world-wide different theories such as social presence.
I completely agree with Terry Anderson (2010) in his analysis of Albert Einstein's analogy of building on the DE theory. DE has been there for centuries and where it is now came from the theories of the fathers of DE. The aim of education remains as sharing information from the point of a teacher to a learner though the mode of doing it evolved over the years. Theories varied based on the scholar's point of view and their area of influence.
I also agree with Clark (2011) who mentioned the role played by technology on pedagogy. The evolution of the pedagogies over the years is determined by the technological transformation over the years. All in all the understanding of students towards their study materials made all the difference. The technological innovations introduced were meant to simplify things so that students could feel supported and valued at all times.
The emergent of OERs and mass open online courses (MOOCs) came as results of bringing better services to students so that their lives could be better. This shows that technology will continue to evolve in order for education to be easily accessible to every person of the world.
I strongly believe that the grid allowed us to separately share our views on different topics and to learn to accommodate each other. It was not easy at first to put different views together as one, but as time went by things became manageable. We were able to give each other tasks to perform and in the end it worked well. We learned to accommodate our differences and tolerated each other for the sake of our progress. Grid as a tool enabled us to freely share our viewpoints without intimidation and that made us trust one another.
My original DE definition lacked its dependency on technology and I know realise the important role played by technology. Technology has made DE accessible to every interested person all over the world through the emergence of OERs, MOOCs and etc.
The objectives of the course are well covered to a satisfactory level.
As a group, we worked well together. Even though we were far apart our frequent discussions on the discussion area made a difference. We listened and respected each other all the time. We were not afraid to suggest our viewpoints and we found ways to accommodate each other. Allocating tasks helped us a great deal and everyone honoured their responsibilities very well. I remember on the third wave, we came to an understanding that let us all feel part of the group and take charge. We then agreed and everyone contributed and was completed on time.
To improve grid activities has to do with openness amongst the group with one person taking a coordination role.
References
Anderson, T. (2010). Theories for learning with emerging technologies. In G. Veletsianos (Ed.), Emerging technologies in distance education (pp. 23-40). Canada: Athabasca University Press. Retrieved from http://www.aupress.ca/books/120177/ebook/99Z_Veletsianos_2010-Emerging_Technologies_in_Distance_Education.pdf
Clark, D. (2011). More pedagogic change in 10 years than last 1000 years – all driven by 10 technology innovations. [Blog post.] Retrieved from http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2011/12/more-pedagogic-change-in-last-10-years.html
Cormier, D. (2011). What is a MOOC? [5 minute YouTube video.] Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW3gMGqcZQc
The grid on the future trends has completely broadened my mind on how distance education (DE) has transformed over the years. Early in the year DE was just an education through correspondence but now my view has been changed. The grid made me to realize that so many researchers contributed in shaping the context of distance education world-wide different theories such as social presence.
I completely agree with Terry Anderson (2010) in his analysis of Albert Einstein's analogy of building on the DE theory. DE has been there for centuries and where it is now came from the theories of the fathers of DE. The aim of education remains as sharing information from the point of a teacher to a learner though the mode of doing it evolved over the years. Theories varied based on the scholar's point of view and their area of influence.
I also agree with Clark (2011) who mentioned the role played by technology on pedagogy. The evolution of the pedagogies over the years is determined by the technological transformation over the years. All in all the understanding of students towards their study materials made all the difference. The technological innovations introduced were meant to simplify things so that students could feel supported and valued at all times.
The emergent of OERs and mass open online courses (MOOCs) came as results of bringing better services to students so that their lives could be better. This shows that technology will continue to evolve in order for education to be easily accessible to every person of the world.
I strongly believe that the grid allowed us to separately share our views on different topics and to learn to accommodate each other. It was not easy at first to put different views together as one, but as time went by things became manageable. We were able to give each other tasks to perform and in the end it worked well. We learned to accommodate our differences and tolerated each other for the sake of our progress. Grid as a tool enabled us to freely share our viewpoints without intimidation and that made us trust one another.
My original DE definition lacked its dependency on technology and I know realise the important role played by technology. Technology has made DE accessible to every interested person all over the world through the emergence of OERs, MOOCs and etc.
The objectives of the course are well covered to a satisfactory level.
As a group, we worked well together. Even though we were far apart our frequent discussions on the discussion area made a difference. We listened and respected each other all the time. We were not afraid to suggest our viewpoints and we found ways to accommodate each other. Allocating tasks helped us a great deal and everyone honoured their responsibilities very well. I remember on the third wave, we came to an understanding that let us all feel part of the group and take charge. We then agreed and everyone contributed and was completed on time.
To improve grid activities has to do with openness amongst the group with one person taking a coordination role.
References
Anderson, T. (2010). Theories for learning with emerging technologies. In G. Veletsianos (Ed.), Emerging technologies in distance education (pp. 23-40). Canada: Athabasca University Press. Retrieved from http://www.aupress.ca/books/120177/ebook/99Z_Veletsianos_2010-Emerging_Technologies_in_Distance_Education.pdf
Clark, D. (2011). More pedagogic change in 10 years than last 1000 years – all driven by 10 technology innovations. [Blog post.] Retrieved from http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2011/12/more-pedagogic-change-in-last-10-years.html
Cormier, D. (2011). What is a MOOC? [5 minute YouTube video.] Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW3gMGqcZQc