Distributed Learning

My experiences with distributed learning cover a variety of software and span approximately a decade and a quarter. The lacking attribute throughout all of them, has been the engagement of students throughout the course delivery. I teach in a traditional classroom, but have made many attempts to utilize technology to broaden the scope of my teaching, and to simplify, where possible, the learning process for both my students and their parents. What I hope to take from this course is the knowledge as to how to strike the balance between traditional classroom delivery with online support to achieve a more optimal system. In our course readings, Jain et. al researched the need for interactivity in an online environment, indicating that it had been previously stated by Kearsley (1998) that the “single most important element of successful online education is interaction among participants” (p.538). While Jain et. al. indicate that the need for interactivity appears to be discipline-dependent and requires further research (p.543), I feel that my attempts at distributed learning have been seriously lacking in the participation of the learners. At times, this was because of the limitations of web 1.0, at other times it was because of my own agenda with respect to my use of my online presence. To enlighten, I will outline my history at amateur attempts to facilitate distributed learning. I will try not to write a novel.

My first foray into distributed learning was through my first formal computer technology course, a course offered by Athabasca University in approximately the year 2000. Most of the course was delivered by a traditional distance delivery format where they mailed printed materials to me home however, some of it was using a new tool called the Internet.

I didn’t begin using any sort of distributed mechanism for teaching until approximately 2002, and my reasons for doing so, were not pedagogical in nature. I was seeking a mechanism for student accountability that would not be open for debate. Ultimately, what I wanted, was the date and time stamp on an assignment and a deadline when they were posted. Each week, there are approximately 360 students who make their way through my classroom, and keeping track of schoolwork on their behalf is an impossible task. I needed something that would put accountability on to the children as opposed to me. I started off using an MSN groups as they existed at that time. I simply posted assignment details and deadlines there so that students and parents could be informed, removing the burden of making dozens of phone calls each week regarding late or missing assignments. I was able to make a point to parents that they had one or two students to keep track of, and I had gone out of my way to make it easy for them to do so. It ended “blame the teacher” arguments quickly. I wish I could say that my intention had been more pedagogical, but I will not rewrite history.

Other teachers began to see that my MSN experiment was efficient, so in around 2003 I undertook the creation of a school-wide initiative that we termed our homework forum. It was a PHPBB Bulletin Board that ran from a MySQL database.  Each teacher had their own space on this forum, and it was completely public. Initially, it only had the capacity to provide simple details such as assignment dates, deadlines, and test schedules. Over time, as bandwidth evolved, so did the capacity of the forum and eventually we had the ability to upload documents to it as well, so notes and other class work were able to be provided to students. My Principal backed this initiative completely, and held teachers to an expectation of posting to this forum on a weekly basis. Teachers loved this system. They were able to quickly post information that they felt parents should have, and they were able to provide notes and other details in the instance where students had lost that information from class. We could also see statistics showing how many times I given assignment had been viewed, and teachers, it seemed, felt empowered by this

The assignment forum eventually gave way to a divisional initiative; a portal developed through Microsoft SharePoint. This was an unfortunate turn of events from the point of view of our teachers. No longer was the assignment information public-facing, it required a log-in, and it was generally felt that parents were accessing it much less than they had the old assignment forum which had simply required a quick visit to our school’s website. Sharepoint had greater capacity to share documents, however, at this stage of our history in education, most teachers, especially the more seasoned ones, did not have many of their materials in a digital format yet. The general consensus was that the Sharepoint portal was simply not being used by parents or students. SharePoint was designed for business, we were trying to use it for education, and it just did not seem to be working. Even if there had been a way to make it work, the buy-in from teachers was lacking, after they had felt so positively about our old assignment forum. It was a good example of Technology moving forward, but people clinging to a technology that was comfortable to them. I still, over a decade later, receive remarks from time to time from my colleagues about how they would “just like to have the old assignment forum back”.

In 2009 I attended a meeting at Golden Hills School Division. I came away from the meeting with a sense that they were considering moving toward Moodle for our Learning Management System. With that information, I set up a database and installed Moodle for my own school. I administrated it for two years before Golden Hills actually took the plunge to utilize Moodle division-wide. I found Moodle to be robust, thorough, and overall an excellent platform with much potential, unfortunately, I think it was a little bit too vast for the needs of our traditional classroom teachers, in particular, the older generation. Many were simply posting deadlines, as opposed to leveraging the power of an actual Learning management System. Certainly, the learning curve in this area is steep for any educator, but it seems that Moodle was much more than what was actually required or even wanted.

My most recent venture into distributed learning has involved Google Classroom. Google deployed their classroom application in August of 2014, so it is less than two years old. I admit, that I was doubtful as to its robustness when I made the choice to try it out, and was surprisingly quite impressed with it as it would turn out. As I work with 12 – 14 year olds, it is critical that I keep the online portion of my course simple. I was struck in class today when Dr. Johnson asked us how we knew what to do when we walked into the classroom today. The further in-class commentary regarding the fact that the online environment in a distributed learning environment must be simple really hit home with me. SharePoint was not simple, Moodle, depending on who was administering it, had tons of potential, but when not administered with diligence, was overwhelming. Google Classroom, simply put, was simple. Simple enough for junior high students to navigate successfully. Google Classroom has a short Falls. It has a number of things which need improving, but Google is constantly soliciting feedback regarding this application, and I always willingly give it. The only way they can know what a teacher needs is by asking a teacher and receiving a response. They are coders, they are programmers. I am a teacher. If we work together, perhaps eventually, we can create something excellent.

A Hashtag as a Community of Practice

For my first learning task, I chose to write my paper on a hashtag! The topic was #Edchat on Twitter as a community of practice. To look at microblogging through the lens of distributed learning and professional networking was highly engaging for me.

The more I learn, the more I need to know – D2L post – July 14, 2016

As we progress through the research in both this course and EDER 679, I am finding that the content has a fairly seamless overlap, but without duplication. In both environments, we are taking an analytical look at the learners who populate our classrooms, and the implications that has on teaching and learning.

Pereira et al (2013) speak to the pervasiveness of social technology and give several examples of how “information and communication technology (ICT) has pervaded every aspect of people’s personal and social life” (p. 4). While we understand this to be accurate, it is more impactful to see it laid out in a researched and published article.  Williams et al. (2011) extend the knowledge when they state “The number of blogs, emails, texts, and tweets has gone from zero to numbers in the billions in just a few years” (p. 40). This statement is staggering in its power. But beyond that, it is a call to action for all teachers.  We are teaching students who don’t remember the world when that number was zero; now it is in the billions. We need to adjust our teaching, our instructional design, our classroom procedures and our perspective to account for this abrupt and profound change.

While that sounds obvious, it is by no means easy. Prior to Monday, I had a very rigid view as to what distributed learning (DL) was. I envisioned software targeted specifically at education, but had no set of criteria with which to distinguish a Dl environment from a website. I never would have imagined sites such as Digg or Amazon to be actual Distributed Learning Environments. This was a completely foreign concept to me, and though I don’t yet have a full understanding of all the criteria that contribute to a DL, it is starting to come into focus for me.

From a web-design perspective, and bringing the experience I do have with DL to this class, I had a vague awareness that clarity and ease-of-use were important, but difficult to achieve. I had no clue as to the complexity that is actually involved in quality online presentation of course materials. To see Pomades-Garcia et al. (2010) lay out the criteria of organization, structure, clarity, simplicity and excitement as being the primary requirements for a quality DL was eye-opening. Particularly the quality of excitement. There is a challenging balance to strike to have both simplicity and excitement, yet both are necessary.

My peers have offered me valuable feedback and challenges; Andrea in particular with her commenting on my previous reflection. She has given me a new direction in which to take my reading this weekend. It’s interesting for me to be meta-cognitive to my reaction to a peer’s remark with respect to literature I am not yet familiar with. I feel like because it came from her, it catapulted it in terms or priority for me, not out of a feeling of competitiveness, but out of appreciation that she took the time to cite something outside the range of this course’s readings in a response to me. The time and thought that went into that type of response compels me to action. It also drives home for me, on a very personal level the statement that “the single most important element of successful online education is interaction among participants” (Jain et al., 2011, p. 538). I am looking forward to reading the research that Andrea has brought to my attention, and I feel grateful for the feedback that she offered.

I am eager to further solidify my understanding of Distributed Learning as we move forward tomorrow and through next week’s lectures.

Using Social Software to turn grassroots educational media into globally accessible learning – D2L Post – July 19, 2016

I think I posted this to the wordpress, but just to have myself backed up in case it failed, I shall post it here as well…..

I’ve really enjoyed exploring the concepts of social media as a form of distributed learning. Social software has evolved learning in ways that were unforeseen by the software creators. For example, when former Paypal employees Hurley, Chen & Karim founded YouTube in 2005, they could not have imagined Khan Academy emerging from their creation. Yet, every day in classrooms around the world, teachers use YouTube for both content consumption and content creation.

At its development level, Sal Khan was merely using YouTube (initially Yahoo’s “Doodle notepad”) as a means to tutor his cousin who lived too far away to face-to-face tutor and who was struggling with mathematics concepts. When YouTube arrived on the scene, Khan moved his instructional content he had created for his cousin over to the Youtube platform. Gradually, the videos, posted to YouTube began to be watched by others struggling with the same mathematical concepts and a new resource was born – Khan Academy. In his book, Salman Khan dispels the myth that his nine presence was ever intended to stand on its own as a program of study. Indeed, it was a grassroots use of social software. Khan Academy is a prime example of the teacher finding the medium for deliver, as opposed to taking the web 2.0 tool and trying to bend it to fit. Khan Academy could not have become the enormous figure (albeit controversial) in education that it has become, were the criteria not in place for an optimal distributed learning environment. Whether you love it or hate it, Khan Academy exemplifies distributed learning.

Pomales-Garcia & Lopez (2010) assert that “the research literature suggest that several dimensions or aspects of design should be taken into consideration when designing Web screens. These dimensions generally include simplicity, aesthetics or visual attractiveness, organization, clarity, excitement and structure” (p. 22). A quick glance at Khan Academy’s website reveals that these criteria are met; including a bright greeting which states “You can learn anything”

The origins of Khan Academy begin in 2003. It was not until 2013 that the website underwent a huge overhaul to turn it into the educational powerhouse that it has become today.  (Cargile, 2015, p. 38).

Wikis as a tool for Distributed Learning in the Middle Years

My final learning task in this course was a paper entitled Wikis as a tool for Distributed Learning in the Middle Years.

Final Course Reflection – D2L Post – July 21, 2016

At this point in the two-week intensive, I am almost at a loss for words. I feel as though there has been so much information gone into my head that it may take some time for all the connections to be made. The volume of information that I am leaving this course with is almost mind-boggling, and that is despite having done the majority of the readings ahead of time. Interestingly, I did not find that to be particularly helpful. The lecture and discussion that resulted from each day made re-reading the articles a necessity, and in light of the new learning that had taken place in-class, it felt as though I had not pre-read the assigned readings. In no way do I feel this was a waste of time; it is just interesting to note how the evolution of learning changed what I internalized (or had failed to previously internalize) as I read.

I enjoyed the reflections, and with there being only four in total (as opposed to daily reflections), I feel that they were an opportunity to try to synthesize the massive amount of information I was taking in on a daily basis. Coming out this side of the course, I feel like I had no idea what distributed learning even was when I set foot in your class last Monday morning.  The research, the criteria, the content; it’s all brought so many things together for me. I think at the end of the day (or at the end of the two weeks in this case), I leave with a lot of answers as to why I have failed so many times in my efforts to provide online access to materials for my students.  I was missing not just one or two of the criteria for a successful distributed learning environment, but sometimes as many as half…. or more!

Thank you, Carol, for not only the instruction in distributed learning, but the role modelling and the mentorship as to how to teach in this style. You did not just give us the information, you modelled it for us.  Thank you.

References

Cargile, L. (2015). Blending instruction with Khan Academy. National council of teachers of mathematics 109(1) 34-39.

Jain, P., Jain, S., & Jain, S. (2011). Interactions among online learners: A quantitative interdisciplinary study. Education, 131(3), 538-544.

Jewett, P. (2011). Multiple Literacies Gone Wild. Reading Teacher, 64(5), 341-344. 
Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41000927

Kearsley, G. (1998). A guide to online education. Retrieved from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/online.htm

Khan Academy (n.d.) retrieved from https://www.khanacademy.org

Khan, Salman. (2012). The one-world schoolhouse: Education reimagined. New York: Machete.

Pomales-Garcia, C., Lopez, A. D., & Liu, Y. (2010). Design Dimensions and Attributes for Web-Based Distance Learning Modules. American Journal of Distance Education, 24(1), 21-39. Doi: 10.1080/08923640903507820