In the case of the high school teacher who wants to take his students on a virtual tour of 2 New York art museums, the distance technologies that would work the best would be a combination of a videoconferencing (Synchronous) system for the interaction with the museum curator and a course management system (Asynchronous) such as a Web 2.0 for attaching the virtual tour and creating a blog to discuss the works of art. The Web 2.0 could be any of the CMS’ we discussed this week such as Edu 2.0, Blackboard, School Rack, etc. The teacher would be able to use this to set up the assignments of critiquing the artwork and the threaded discussions or blogs for the groups to collaborate. "The Internet promotes active learning and facilitates student's intellectual involvement with the course content" (Simonson, 2009). The videoconferencing session would take place in a group session with the students all interacting with the curator. Ideally, they would have taken the virtual tour first and could then ask the curator questions based on their observations. The curator might also walk through the museum with a video camera discussing the works and answering questions as he goes along. This week's video titled "The Technology of Distance Eduation" discusses some of the methods needed for conducting courses. "Research shows that use of visual and verbal modes of learning together significantly increases learning." If students are given the visual opportunity to see the parts of the museum and the verbal presentation by the curator, then learning will increase. Ideally, the students would each have a laptop computer and could access the tour while the videoconferencing session was being broadcast on a screen at the front of the class.
There are a multitude of possibilities for making this assignment work, and the following are some of the technologies that I discovered for creating the virtual tour and some examples of virtual tours of other museums.
For fun, I spent some time on The Louvre’s website. http://www.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home.jsp?bmLocale=en
Since it might be a while before I am able to travel to France and take the tour myself, this was a fun way to see what the museum has to offer. The 360-degree tours of the different galleries were wonderful, and each one was described in detail as to what it contained and its historical relevance. I was also able to look at several works of art close up in order to examine them in detail. This would be very helpful in this scenario for the teacher to have his students examine the works up close.
I found a sample virtual tour that a company called Virtual Tours uses to show the services they provide. They create virtual museum tours for museums and other events for a small, unlisted price.
Sample Virtual Tour
http://www.virtualgallerytours.com/Sample-Gallery/index.html
In this tour, I was able to view the gallery from a 360-degree rotation. When I wanted to look at a picture up close, I was able to click on it and pull it off the wall. It was presented in front of me with the name of the painting and the artist. This would have allowed me, had I been assigned to critique a painting, the opportunity to view it up close and evaluate its different features.
They don’t tell us what software they use, but in my research, I believe it might be Tourweaver 6.0. http://tourweaver.en.softonic.com/
This Tourweaver software allows the user to create virtual tours which include, according to the website, “Spherical panoramas, cylindrical panoramas, still images, sound, URL, hotspots, interactive map/floor plan, slideshows, and text.” The virtual tour could then be placed in a flash box somewhere on the web page and viewed in Quick Time, or a similar program.
The other site I found allows customers to subscribe to a virtual tour engine ranging from $15/month to $200/month. It is user friendly and merely requires the user to paste the URL of the finished tour onto his/her website. Instead of hiring a company to create this tour, I could create it myself. It is called Virtual Tours. http://www.virtualtourengine.com/default.aspx
Both these products are easy to use and would work well with any of the CMS’ that we have reviewed in this course. By merely pasting the URL onto Edu 2.0, Blackboard, School Rack, etc., the instructor would have a virtual museum tour available for his students whenever they wanted to view it.
There are a great many advantages to using virtual learning in the classroom. The Internet and online courses open up educational opportunities in a way that can not be addressed in a four-walled, self-contained classroom. "Virtual worlds appear to have exciting potential for placing students in real-life applications of course content, for example, in problem-solving situations, and especially experiences in other places and times that would otherwise be inaccessible, such as visiting Mars, traveling through the human body's circulation system, or witnessing rituals at Stonehenge" (Simonson, 2009). If we embrace this technology and incorporate it into our classrooms, then the possibilities for student growth are endless.
Louvre http://www.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home.jsp?bmLocale=en
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.
"The technology of distance education." (ND): Laureate Online Education.
Tourweaver 6.0. http://tourweaver.en.softonic.com/
Virtual Tours. http://www.virtualtourengine.com/default.aspx
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Defining Distance Learning
The Evolution of Distance Learning
My definition of distance learning before entering this course was similar to that of Dr. Michael Simonson’s. “Distance education can be defined as formal education in which the learning group (teacher, students, resources) are separated by geography and, sometimes by time” (Simonson, ND). This is my second Master’s program, but it is the first one that is exclusively online. My first program was through California State University and was only partially online. We were required to report to a classroom on campus every other week for 4 hours in order to have a live lecture/discussion with a professor. The coursework was similar to these courses where there was a threaded discussion and 1-2 posts per week. I never took into account any of the actual instructional design involved and only now can I alter my definition of distance learning. This was of course in contrast to my profession as a 6th grade teacher where there is a lack of distance between my students and myself.
This week, what I have learned about distance education is that there is a lot more involved than just creating a lesson and teaching it online. The most important thing I learned is that what works in the classroom does not always translate to an online situation. There has to be specific methodologies involved in designing something that works well when you don’t have a face-to-face situation. It seemed to me that online learning would be an ideal method for teaching programs such as independent study where students could learn at their own pace. What I didn’t realize though is that part of the success of these programs is the ability and opportunity to interact in a social learning situation. “Meaningful learning is more likely to occur when learners have access to a supportive community that encourages knowledge building and social reinforcement” (Moller, 2008). This has changed my definition somewhat to reflect the social aspect. My new definition for distance learning is, “Distance learning is learning that takes place in an environment that separates students from instructors by time and distance. This learning is most effective in online learning communities where students are able to collaborate among themselves and with instructors.”
Distance learning has a great future that will continue to grow and evolve with time. This type of learning could revolutionize the future of education. I currently teach 6th grade English/History in a small town that has a large percentage of students living below the poverty line. 46% of our students speak English as a second language, and many of them have parents at home that don’t speak any English. As a result, the ability levels in my class range from kids who read at a 3rd grade level to kids who read at a 12th grade level. I try and teach somewhere in the middle hoping not to lose the low kids and bore the high ones. If I could incorporate distance learning in my own classroom, it might help to close that gap.
If in addition to teaching in the traditional classroom, I could set up an online learning situation I might be able to reach more of my students. I could group them and work with each group at the level they need. The remaining students would be able to access the online community and work in discussion groups while assisting and collaborating on an assignment. “Learners benefit by having access to all the tools for success available in one setting, being able to review and practice as needed, and going at their own pace” (Huett, 2008). This would also help them to have homework help at home. The complaint I get from a lot of my students’ parents is that they don’t understand the work and are unable to help their kids. If all the information, descriptions, and examples were published in an online community, then the parents and students both could access it and find success in completing the assignment. They could also communicate with other students through the blog and assist one another in that way.
Online learning will continue to grow by leaps and bounds. It will not replace the traditional classroom, as Dr. Simonson states, but will be incorporated into it instead. Colleges will continue to offer these courses, and more and more students will enroll in them. High schools will develop independent study courses and credit retrieval type courses online. Instructional designers will be in great demand (hopefully) as schools begin to acknowledge the benefits and necessity of well-designed and executed distance learning programs. The sky’s the limit, and we are at the forefront of what could be a revolution that will change the face of education forever.
Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Coleman, C. (2008). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part
3: K12). TechTrends, 52(5), 63–67.
Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008). The evolution of distance education:
Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 1: Training
and development). TechTrends, 52(3), 70–75.
Simonson, M. (ND): Distance education: The next generation. Laureate Online
Education.
My definition of distance learning before entering this course was similar to that of Dr. Michael Simonson’s. “Distance education can be defined as formal education in which the learning group (teacher, students, resources) are separated by geography and, sometimes by time” (Simonson, ND). This is my second Master’s program, but it is the first one that is exclusively online. My first program was through California State University and was only partially online. We were required to report to a classroom on campus every other week for 4 hours in order to have a live lecture/discussion with a professor. The coursework was similar to these courses where there was a threaded discussion and 1-2 posts per week. I never took into account any of the actual instructional design involved and only now can I alter my definition of distance learning. This was of course in contrast to my profession as a 6th grade teacher where there is a lack of distance between my students and myself.
This week, what I have learned about distance education is that there is a lot more involved than just creating a lesson and teaching it online. The most important thing I learned is that what works in the classroom does not always translate to an online situation. There has to be specific methodologies involved in designing something that works well when you don’t have a face-to-face situation. It seemed to me that online learning would be an ideal method for teaching programs such as independent study where students could learn at their own pace. What I didn’t realize though is that part of the success of these programs is the ability and opportunity to interact in a social learning situation. “Meaningful learning is more likely to occur when learners have access to a supportive community that encourages knowledge building and social reinforcement” (Moller, 2008). This has changed my definition somewhat to reflect the social aspect. My new definition for distance learning is, “Distance learning is learning that takes place in an environment that separates students from instructors by time and distance. This learning is most effective in online learning communities where students are able to collaborate among themselves and with instructors.”
Distance learning has a great future that will continue to grow and evolve with time. This type of learning could revolutionize the future of education. I currently teach 6th grade English/History in a small town that has a large percentage of students living below the poverty line. 46% of our students speak English as a second language, and many of them have parents at home that don’t speak any English. As a result, the ability levels in my class range from kids who read at a 3rd grade level to kids who read at a 12th grade level. I try and teach somewhere in the middle hoping not to lose the low kids and bore the high ones. If I could incorporate distance learning in my own classroom, it might help to close that gap.
If in addition to teaching in the traditional classroom, I could set up an online learning situation I might be able to reach more of my students. I could group them and work with each group at the level they need. The remaining students would be able to access the online community and work in discussion groups while assisting and collaborating on an assignment. “Learners benefit by having access to all the tools for success available in one setting, being able to review and practice as needed, and going at their own pace” (Huett, 2008). This would also help them to have homework help at home. The complaint I get from a lot of my students’ parents is that they don’t understand the work and are unable to help their kids. If all the information, descriptions, and examples were published in an online community, then the parents and students both could access it and find success in completing the assignment. They could also communicate with other students through the blog and assist one another in that way.
Online learning will continue to grow by leaps and bounds. It will not replace the traditional classroom, as Dr. Simonson states, but will be incorporated into it instead. Colleges will continue to offer these courses, and more and more students will enroll in them. High schools will develop independent study courses and credit retrieval type courses online. Instructional designers will be in great demand (hopefully) as schools begin to acknowledge the benefits and necessity of well-designed and executed distance learning programs. The sky’s the limit, and we are at the forefront of what could be a revolution that will change the face of education forever.
Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Coleman, C. (2008). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part
3: K12). TechTrends, 52(5), 63–67.
Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008). The evolution of distance education:
Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 1: Training
and development). TechTrends, 52(3), 70–75.
Simonson, M. (ND): Distance education: The next generation. Laureate Online
Education.
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