Optimizing the learning potential for the distance learning students - Focusing on the tension between experience and competence.

Please, check out this article, appears in e-learning and education (eleed) Journal!


An analysis of nursing education offered in three different learning programmes.
The focus is on analysing the distance learning programme in relation to the other learning programmes.
By Trine Ungermann Fredskild

Abstract
The distance learning programme has made its entrance into nursing education, and many see it as a break with the education’s traditions of teaching in the classroom, in practise rooms and at the patient’s bedside (Chaffin & Maddux 2004)(5).

Traditionally, many of the technical skills and personal qualities that nurses must acquire are learned through interaction with others. The distance learning programme has therefore given rise to some new problems and challenges, and this article discusses some of these.

Empirically, the article builds on a comparative study of three student nurse classes from two Danish nursing schools, including one based on the distance learning programme. By following both distance learning and traditional nursing students in their clinical training, light is cast upon the differences and similarities that may exist in the clinical skills and competences that the students gain under the two programmes.

Theoretically the article builds on Etienne Wengers theory on learning in communities of practice, focusing on the relationship between experience and competence in learning related communities of practice (Wenger 1998; Wenger 2004)(36)(37).

The article contributes with findings that are related to the differences between the programmes and the different types of students that each programme attracts. The article argues that an increased didactic and pedagogical focus upon the field of tension between experience and competence will enable an optimisation of the learning conditions of the distance learning students in their clinical teaching. The article, in conclusion, thus places focus on the questions surrounding teaching design in relation to the distance learning programme.
Read more...

Related links
University College Syd (from Wikipedia)
http://seminar.net/

Source: eleed

Optimizing the learning potential for the distance learning students - Focusing on the tension between experience and competence.

Please, check out this article, appears in e-learning and education (eleed) Journal!


An analysis of nursing education offered in three different learning programmes.
The focus is on analysing the distance learning programme in relation to the other learning programmes.
By Trine Ungermann Fredskild

Abstract
The distance learning programme has made its entrance into nursing education, and many see it as a break with the education’s traditions of teaching in the classroom, in practise rooms and at the patient’s bedside (Chaffin & Maddux 2004)(5).

Traditionally, many of the technical skills and personal qualities that nurses must acquire are learned through interaction with others. The distance learning programme has therefore given rise to some new problems and challenges, and this article discusses some of these.

Empirically, the article builds on a comparative study of three student nurse classes from two Danish nursing schools, including one based on the distance learning programme. By following both distance learning and traditional nursing students in their clinical training, light is cast upon the differences and similarities that may exist in the clinical skills and competences that the students gain under the two programmes.

Theoretically the article builds on Etienne Wengers theory on learning in communities of practice, focusing on the relationship between experience and competence in learning related communities of practice (Wenger 1998; Wenger 2004)(36)(37).

The article contributes with findings that are related to the differences between the programmes and the different types of students that each programme attracts. The article argues that an increased didactic and pedagogical focus upon the field of tension between experience and competence will enable an optimisation of the learning conditions of the distance learning students in their clinical teaching. The article, in conclusion, thus places focus on the questions surrounding teaching design in relation to the distance learning programme.
Read more...

Related links
University College Syd (from Wikipedia)
http://seminar.net/

Source: eleed

Sloan-C View: February 2009

Check out these highlights from Sloan-C View below.
Please have a look!

K-12 Online Learning: A 2008 Follow-up of the survey of U.S. School District Administrators

In 2007, the Sloan Consortium issued K-12 Online Learning: A Survey of U.S. School District Administrators a report on the extent and nature of online learning in K-12 schools. This report was welcomed by professional organizations and the popular media interested in the use of online technology for instruction in the public schools. It was based on a national survey of school district administrators during the 2005-2006 academic year. It was one of the first studies to collect data on and compare fully online and blended learning (part online and part traditional face-to-face instruction) in K-12 schools. The new study replicates the original study in order to substantiate its findings and to examine what if any changes occurred in online learning in K-12 school districts. The current study is based on a national survey of school district administrators during the 2007-2008 academic year.
Read more...

Below are blog posts of interest collected from www.sloanconsortium.org.
Feel free to share your ideas by posting comments.

Quality Matters Course Design Initiative - Lessons Learned
By Ron Legon
The Quality Matters Program, focused on improving the design of online and hybrid courses through a 40 standard Rubric and a peer-to-peer course review process, is in its sixth year of activity and its third as a self-supporting non-profit initiative of MarylandOnline. QM has benefited from the strong and sustained concern about quality in the distance learning community, among both traditional institutions and the emerging for-profit sector.

Workload Management
By Shari McCurdy Smith
Workload Management. The name alone is daunting, much less the task. We know we need to find a balance; yet, the demands of teaching online do not offer much time to determine where things could be improved. As online instructors, it is presumed we are pedagogical wizards, 24/7 reference guides, futuristic soothsayers, and omnipresent overseers every single day, every single moment. Or at least it feels that way.

Web 2.0 Selection Criteria: Save Time Choosing an Appropriate Tool
By Bethany Bovard
Finding the right type of Web 2.0 tool to support the educational goals and learning objectives of your course can be challenging; making a selection from among several seemingly similar tools can be even more difficult and time-consuming. Over the years, I've developed my own selection criteria to help me quickly come to decisions about the appropriateness of specific tool. I hope you find the attached checklist as helpful as I have for saving time and improving the tool selection process.

Inclusive Design
By Nan Chico
Most of us are probably aware of "universal design" for course materials, where we take students with disabilities into account as we prepare our online courses (alt text for graphics, closed captions on videos).

Learn From the Experts - The Sloan-C 2009 Workshop Series

Getting Started in Second Life - Feb 4 - 13
Second Life is an extremely popular 3D virtual environment that has many applications for education, from increasing social interactions to deepening learning. In this workshop, you'll learn some of the basic Second Life skills that will help you successfully enjoy your second life. You'll also get a brief introduction to some of the educational possibilities of Second Life.
Read more...

Using the Community of Inquiry Framework to Design and Assess Online Courses - Feb 11 - 20
The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework developed by Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000) provides a theoretical model of online learning processes that has been used by many scholars and practitioners in the field of online education. CoI is a constructivist process model, assuming effective online learning requires the development of community.
Read more...

Delivering Content, Fostering Student Interactivity, and Assessing Learning in Blended Courses - Feb 16 - March 8

Effective blended teaching requires significant rethinking and design. When designed effectively, blended courses can improve learning and offer more effective use of available resources. Additionally, the blended modality provides for less passive learning and more active learning.
Read more...

Video Tools for Teaching and Learning - Feb 25 - March 6
Video is a powerful media for teaching and learning and an asset to any distance course. With video, you can present information and your students demonstrate learning. You also can use video to communicate efficiently and effectively.
Read more...

Using the Quality Matters Rubric to Improve Your Online Course - Feb 25 - March 13
Recognizing quality is much like recognizing art; everybody sees something different. With regard to online courses, your students, faculty, administrators, peers, and accrediting bodies may not know what to look for in assessing quality. Defining quality standards proves crucial to successful course design and implementation.
Read more...

Source: The Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C)

Sloan-C View: February 2009

Check out these highlights from Sloan-C View below.
Please have a look!

K-12 Online Learning: A 2008 Follow-up of the survey of U.S. School District Administrators

In 2007, the Sloan Consortium issued K-12 Online Learning: A Survey of U.S. School District Administrators a report on the extent and nature of online learning in K-12 schools. This report was welcomed by professional organizations and the popular media interested in the use of online technology for instruction in the public schools. It was based on a national survey of school district administrators during the 2005-2006 academic year. It was one of the first studies to collect data on and compare fully online and blended learning (part online and part traditional face-to-face instruction) in K-12 schools. The new study replicates the original study in order to substantiate its findings and to examine what if any changes occurred in online learning in K-12 school districts. The current study is based on a national survey of school district administrators during the 2007-2008 academic year.
Read more...

Below are blog posts of interest collected from www.sloanconsortium.org.
Feel free to share your ideas by posting comments.

Quality Matters Course Design Initiative - Lessons Learned
By Ron Legon
The Quality Matters Program, focused on improving the design of online and hybrid courses through a 40 standard Rubric and a peer-to-peer course review process, is in its sixth year of activity and its third as a self-supporting non-profit initiative of MarylandOnline. QM has benefited from the strong and sustained concern about quality in the distance learning community, among both traditional institutions and the emerging for-profit sector.

Workload Management
By Shari McCurdy Smith
Workload Management. The name alone is daunting, much less the task. We know we need to find a balance; yet, the demands of teaching online do not offer much time to determine where things could be improved. As online instructors, it is presumed we are pedagogical wizards, 24/7 reference guides, futuristic soothsayers, and omnipresent overseers every single day, every single moment. Or at least it feels that way.

Web 2.0 Selection Criteria: Save Time Choosing an Appropriate Tool
By Bethany Bovard
Finding the right type of Web 2.0 tool to support the educational goals and learning objectives of your course can be challenging; making a selection from among several seemingly similar tools can be even more difficult and time-consuming. Over the years, I've developed my own selection criteria to help me quickly come to decisions about the appropriateness of specific tool. I hope you find the attached checklist as helpful as I have for saving time and improving the tool selection process.

Inclusive Design
By Nan Chico
Most of us are probably aware of "universal design" for course materials, where we take students with disabilities into account as we prepare our online courses (alt text for graphics, closed captions on videos).

Learn From the Experts - The Sloan-C 2009 Workshop Series

Getting Started in Second Life - Feb 4 - 13
Second Life is an extremely popular 3D virtual environment that has many applications for education, from increasing social interactions to deepening learning. In this workshop, you'll learn some of the basic Second Life skills that will help you successfully enjoy your second life. You'll also get a brief introduction to some of the educational possibilities of Second Life.
Read more...

Using the Community of Inquiry Framework to Design and Assess Online Courses - Feb 11 - 20
The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework developed by Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000) provides a theoretical model of online learning processes that has been used by many scholars and practitioners in the field of online education. CoI is a constructivist process model, assuming effective online learning requires the development of community.
Read more...

Delivering Content, Fostering Student Interactivity, and Assessing Learning in Blended Courses - Feb 16 - March 8

Effective blended teaching requires significant rethinking and design. When designed effectively, blended courses can improve learning and offer more effective use of available resources. Additionally, the blended modality provides for less passive learning and more active learning.
Read more...

Video Tools for Teaching and Learning - Feb 25 - March 6
Video is a powerful media for teaching and learning and an asset to any distance course. With video, you can present information and your students demonstrate learning. You also can use video to communicate efficiently and effectively.
Read more...

Using the Quality Matters Rubric to Improve Your Online Course - Feb 25 - March 13
Recognizing quality is much like recognizing art; everybody sees something different. With regard to online courses, your students, faculty, administrators, peers, and accrediting bodies may not know what to look for in assessing quality. Defining quality standards proves crucial to successful course design and implementation.
Read more...

Source: The Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C)

Closing the Gap Between Education and Technology by Chris Riedel

According to Apple curriculum evangelist Mark Benno, we live in a time when "our kids are being pushed harder, faster, and in ways we never would have imagined." And that, he insisted, is creating a variety of challenges for today's educators.

During his recent talk at the FETC 2009 conference in Orlando, FL, Benno opened with an interesting factoid: "Nine out of 10 students don't wear wristwatches," he said. "And the one that does doesn't use it as a timepiece; they use it to make a fashion statement." So why does that matter? It matters, said Benno, because it speaks to the fact that kids use technology in very different ways from what most of us are used to.

From cell phones to iPods to a wide array of Web-based tools, "kids today are very fluid and open about their use of technology," Benno said. And if we are going to prepare them for a world that is constantly changing, he added, we need to rethink the ways we use and interact with these very same tools in the classroom.
Not so long ago, Benno mused, students learned by consuming professionally developed media. Audio, video, written documents; things were developed, reviewed, approved by committee, and then, after all that, produced and distributed.

But now students are producing their own media. From videos to podcasting to blogs, kids are creating the content themselves, or else interacting with media that is being produced by their friends and contemporaries. And that has a lot of educators struggling to keep up.

Read more...

Source: T.H.E. Journal

Closing the Gap Between Education and Technology by Chris Riedel

According to Apple curriculum evangelist Mark Benno, we live in a time when "our kids are being pushed harder, faster, and in ways we never would have imagined." And that, he insisted, is creating a variety of challenges for today's educators.

During his recent talk at the FETC 2009 conference in Orlando, FL, Benno opened with an interesting factoid: "Nine out of 10 students don't wear wristwatches," he said. "And the one that does doesn't use it as a timepiece; they use it to make a fashion statement." So why does that matter? It matters, said Benno, because it speaks to the fact that kids use technology in very different ways from what most of us are used to.

From cell phones to iPods to a wide array of Web-based tools, "kids today are very fluid and open about their use of technology," Benno said. And if we are going to prepare them for a world that is constantly changing, he added, we need to rethink the ways we use and interact with these very same tools in the classroom.
Not so long ago, Benno mused, students learned by consuming professionally developed media. Audio, video, written documents; things were developed, reviewed, approved by committee, and then, after all that, produced and distributed.

But now students are producing their own media. From videos to podcasting to blogs, kids are creating the content themselves, or else interacting with media that is being produced by their friends and contemporaries. And that has a lot of educators struggling to keep up.

Read more...

Source: T.H.E. Journal

Interactive Websites for Grades Pre-K-12

Esther Shamsunder writes, "Students love to engage themselves online for hours if allowed. When guided to good interactive websites, they learn what they need to and much faster. Just make sure they do not stray into sites not meant for them or you can opt for a parental control software."

Interactive Websites provide standards-based cross curricular web resources designed to enhance online learning opportunities. These sites interact with the user usually through either a text-based or graphical user interface.
Read more...

Source: GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Interactive Websites for Grades Pre-K-12

Esther Shamsunder writes, "Students love to engage themselves online for hours if allowed. When guided to good interactive websites, they learn what they need to and much faster. Just make sure they do not stray into sites not meant for them or you can opt for a parental control software."

Interactive Websites provide standards-based cross curricular web resources designed to enhance online learning opportunities. These sites interact with the user usually through either a text-based or graphical user interface.
Read more...

Source: GREAT EXPECTATIONS

No (learning) distance too great by Peter Brown

Distance-learning MBAs offer fantastic flexibility.


Hendrik de Hertogh, 43, from Vilvoorde, near Brussels, had been a senior manager in various document-related multinationals before setting up his own consultancy in 2002 – but experience wasn't quite enough. He needed some academic input.
"Having met a number of highly competent MBAs, I wanted to be at the same level as them," he says. On-campus training was impossible – he spent too much time travelling. The answer? A distance-learning MBA.
Read more...

Source: independent.co.uk

No (learning) distance too great by Peter Brown

Distance-learning MBAs offer fantastic flexibility.


Hendrik de Hertogh, 43, from Vilvoorde, near Brussels, had been a senior manager in various document-related multinationals before setting up his own consultancy in 2002 – but experience wasn't quite enough. He needed some academic input.
"Having met a number of highly competent MBAs, I wanted to be at the same level as them," he says. On-campus training was impossible – he spent too much time travelling. The answer? A distance-learning MBA.
Read more...

Source: independent.co.uk