Institutional challenges-Budget and technology

According to an estimate, 3.2 million students are currently enrolled in online programs in the United States (Allen & Seaman, 2006). The numbers are still showing good annual growth and are expected to rise further in near future. But, ’there are extensive issues
within an institution that must be resolved for an innovative online programs to succeed’, as Karen Kaminski and William D. Milheim refer in the "Institutional Challenges in the Creation and Delivery of an Online Degree Program".   

Among many of those extensive issues, for me, two issues seem vital in the development of an online program. The first one is the budget issue and the second one is technology environment.

  

The given graph clearly shows budget is one of the factors, that impede institutional efforts to expand online program development and management. A successful online program needs good infrastructure support. The administrators know that going online may not be profitable and easy. This fact is very well highlighted in case of CSU. There were budget issues because of which the number of courses was brought down to 15 initially. The online courses require periodic upgrading, along with regular repair and maintenance cost of hardware and software.  To start with, the program developers persuade faculty and students that the online software programs will be beneficial in the long run and it will clearly outweigh the cost in future.

In case the online software program needs an upgrading or change, both faculty  instructional services and personnel, and student services and students will again have to be trained, if required. Getting the instructors trained can be an expensive affair. Sometimes, selected representatives from various academic departments are sent for an online technology conference for training and professional development. In order to inspect the  software and keep it updated, technology experts are often called.   The experts may also train the faculty and staff members. All these things put strain on already tight budget allocation. Additionally, intellectual-property rights is a delicate, messy and expensive issue if not handled well.

The second caveat of a technology program is keeping it updated. A central principle of good online course design is to focus on the development and research that takes place through continuous cycles of design, enactment, analysis, and redesign (Cobb, 2001; Collins, 1992). Cobb, P. (2001). In order to take an online course, students need to have some advanced understandings of computer skills and technologies. Students should be familiar with a variety of computer skills, including file management, e-mail use, and website navigation. Also, online courses require students to meet specific deadlines for posting course assignments to the discussion forums or electronically submitting assignments to instructors (Gould, 2003). Moreover, the course management system (CMS) used in higher online education in the United States make use of management of course information, assignments, grades, and student records, delivery of tests, posting Web-based references, and communication capabilities. Administrators must choose the appropriate computer hardware and software so that the online experience is smooth and easy for the learners. Zemsky and Massey (2004) state, "We see the success of course management systems and PowerPoint-software packages that focus on the distribution of materials rather than on teaching itself". This point is further supported by Herrington, Reeves, & Oliver (2005). "The ultimate technical goal for facilitators, according to Berge, is to "make the technology transparent." When this occurs, learners may concentrate on the academic task at hand. The more familiar facilitators are with the technology, the more they can focus on learners rather than technology"(Wearing Four Pairs of Shoes: The Roles of E-Learning Facilitators By Ed Hootstein).

Some institutions having inadequate technological support mechanisms are struggling with programmatic changes to meet the demands of online learners.In an incompatible technology environment faculty and students may experience frustration. Moreover, students usually do not have the patience and solution for unexpected technical difficulties arising because of slow Internet lag time, computer or browser related issues. This fact is very well established by looking at the high volume of phone calls on support desk, e-mails and voice-mail in the initial stages of the course. Online courses should use the technologies those are fully operational at homes, cyber café or the library(Berger, 1999).

Another very crucial aspect is that program website   needs to be updated regularly. The website must  explain admission process, deadlines, fee, curriculum, information about faculty, support services contact information, FAQs, troubleshooting, financing information and other such details explicitly. If the online support and the information is clear and  user-friendly, it will be  motivating for faculty and students. Thus, as Karen Kaminski and William D. Milheim, mention that, an institute or the university has to develop and maintain an up-to-date  website  about the program, various procedures, and specific deadlines. 

Conclusion: Online course design and development requires an updated, user friendly technology and often involve significant start-up costs.

References:

Allen, I. E., and Seaman, J. (2006), Making the Grade: Online Education in the United States. Needham, MA:The Sloan Consortium.

Berger, N.S. (1999). Pioneering experiences in distance learning: Lessons learned. Journal of Management Education, 23(6), 684-690.

Collins, A. (1992). Toward a design science of education. In E. Scanlon & T. O'Shea (Eds.), New directions in educational technology (pp. 15-22). New York: Springer-Verlag.

Diana Oblinger, "A Board's-Eye View of Online Education." September/ October 2007. "Technology in Context: 10 Considerations for Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities" (AGB Press, 2010). The Campus Computing Project, www. campuscomputing.net.

Gould, T. (2003). Hybrid classes: Maximizing institutional resources and student learning. Proceedings of the 2003 ASCUE Conference, June 8-12, 2003, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Retrieved on July 4, 2009, from www.ascue.org

Herrington, J., Reeves, T., & Oliver, R. (2005). Online learning as information delivery: Digital myopia. Journal of Interactive Learning Research

Minielli, M. C., & Pixy Ferris, S. (2005). Electronic courseware in higher education. First Monday, 70(9). Retrieved July 5, 2007, from http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue 10_9/minielli/index.html

 Zemsky, R, & Massy, W. (2004) Thwarted Innovation: What happened to elearning and why? A Final Report for The Weatherstation Project of The Learning Alliance at the University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved July 3, 2007, from http:// www.thelearningalliance.info/WeatherStation.html).

Creating new work takes time. In modern era, time is money. The creation of new   work takes time which should equal money. Thus, proper compensation and rights over the work is need of the hour. The United States government is constitutionally committed to protect the property rights of its citizens in their creations.

"The primary objective of copyright is not to reward the labor of authors, but "[t]o promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts." To this end, copyright assures authors the right to their original expression, but encourages others to build freely upon the ideas and information conveyed by a work. This result is neither unfair nor unfortunate. It is the means by which copyright advances the progress of science and art." 

One of the issues you discussed was of convincing the’ fellow faculty members that this form of instruction will not destroy their job security as we lead the district to understand what online teaching and learning really is.’ I can totally understand the worries of teachers. Teachers are expected to do administrative work, organize meetings with school teachers and students, design procedures for using online environment in the classroom, and eventually improve and maintain that after their use in the classroom (Combes & Valli, 2007). Additionally, they have little control over technical issues( because of the absence of  professional developers and usability specialists to assist them). But, their pedagogical background in teacher education is clearly an advantage when it comes to pedagogical design. Thus, What I think is that we need to further simplify the technological environment for school children especially so that it is becomes easier for teachers and students to use it without apprehensions.

Reference:

Combes, B., & Valli, R. (2007). The future of learning objects in educational settings. In K. Harman & A. Koohang (Eds.), Learning objects: Applications, implications, & future directions (pp. 423-461). Santa Rosa, CA: Informing Science Press. 

How will I manage my Web-based classroom:Week 3

Today I read the lecture and first reading material for week 3. I came to know that Text based systems can have certain limitations. An online course can offer much more than just the text. One can have illustrations, graphics, video and even online labs. One such amazing online chemistry lab is http://www.onlinechemlabs.com/. I was totally amazed by the advancement of technology. So we don’t need expensive labs in schools perhaps. No need to buy a white lab-coat anymore. I remember my chemistry teacher Ms Sunita Deewan never allowed us to enter the chemistry lab without a lab coat. On the day of final lab exam in grade 11, I forgot to bring my lab-coat. I took it home the day before to get it washed. First Ms Sunita didn’t let me in the lab but when I requested she let me take the exam but she deducted my 10 marks!! I can never forget that silly mistake of mine. But now you needn’t remember to take lab coats. You can sit in your couch and do chemistry lab practical. WOW!

Lecture 3 explains the basic tools used in the Web-based classroom. Here are my views on how would I implement a Web-based classroom:

·         How would you (the instructor) ensure that you would have enough personal contact with your students to discover their individual needs?

Research shows that Email and Texting are students’ two most common electronic communication tools with 75% of students classifying themselves as frequent email users and 74% of students classifying themselves as frequent texters. Thus, I would use email to remain in contact with my students.

·         How would you respond to those needs? I would provide feedback and scaffold student’s learning.

·         How would you objectively assess students' attainment of learning objectives? I’ll use tools like self-assessment, journals, collaborative skills and  peer-assessment methods.

·         By what means will you assess student participation? The kind of reflections, peer assessment, online materials learnt and applied to asynchronous discussions will help me in assessing the participation

·         How will you encourage students to communicate directly with the you (both privately and publicly)? How will you encourage students to communicate with each other? How can you implement "team learning" strategies and accomplishment of small group discussions or projects?

·         Will synchronous interactions be an important part of your course? How do you view the split between asynchronous and synchronous interactions? No, I think I will not include synchronous discussion. Asynchronous interaction enables groups that are separated in time and space to engage in the active production of shared knowledge" (Gunawardena, Lowe, & Anderson, 1997, p. 410). Asynchronous discussion enables students to work independent of time constraints. It also encourages reflection, metacognitive processes, and articulation of students' own learning.

These views are, I would say, are in infancy. I’m pretty sure as I move forward in the MS OTL course, my thought process and views will mature.

Reference:

Vonderwell, Selma., Liang, Xin., Alderman, Kay.. "Asynchronous Discussions and Assessment in Online Learning." Journal of Research on Technology in Education. 01 Apr. 2007: 309. eLibrary

. Web. 16 Apr. 2012.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0

http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-WEBCONTENT-19990505

Week 2 Excerpt

One  issue I came across this week was deciding on what to make my online course on. It’s been a while that I did any classroom or online teaching. I haven’t taught in any US school. I don’t know the syllabus and the way it works. I called my friends and found answers to my questions. I wanted to develop something in chemistry or environment. During my graduation years, Chemistry was my major whereas my post-graduation was in Environment. So I thought that I should go with something I really know. I ended up with the course ABCs of chemistry which has comparatively wider audience.

I know, I shall be able to do it pretty well because my classroom experience in schools will help me understanding the learners perspective and learning process.

I have really found good team members. I am looking forward to work with each one of them. I hope my experience in Mini project 2 is going to be exciting.

Week two has been exciting. There were two interesting readings-Institutional Challenges in the Creation and Delivery of an Online Degree Program by Karen Kaminski and William D. Milheim and Wearing Four Pairs of Shoes: The Roles of E-Learning Facilitators by Ed Hootstein.

Other than the institutional issues discussed in the discussion forum, I think that there are few other issues those have same weightage as the ones I discussed. These issues include identifying the viability, positioning, and operational best practices of the online course. Also, in increasing environment of competition and marketing, it is  important to stay competitive. In order  stay in competitive market the product needs revision. It needs to get updated and revised after a period of time when any new technology hits the market. If institutes need to maintain a good position they have to adapt to the new technology. This needs qualified staff, equipment and professional help. Again, this will be related to the budgetary issues.

Also, the matter of intellectual property rights is very crucial and needs to be addressed in a legal way. We have  evolved from a society where education and words of wisdom were passed from one generation to other via oral communication in form of discourse and stories. With the advancement of civilization the method got changed and print media and other forms came into existence. The creators of intellectual products like music, art, written material and inventions, deserve to be rewarded by society for their special creations. Furthermore, in order to ensure that this reward reaches in right hands, that is the original creator, it seems to be justifiable to rely on the machinery of copyright and patent protection mechanisms. But, sometimes these mechanisms become intolerably broad and burdensome that they resulted in widespread dissatisfaction and unrest in the population. It also hinders   further development of creative work and stagnates the pool of intellectual products.

I believe that if something is not shared then it is not information. The issue of intellectual property can be solved through mutual understanding, taking care the legal aspect and respecting  creator’s emotions and needs.
 I also realized that role of an instructor  in an online environment is very tough. There are so many things to do. The role of an instructor is to keep the learning community functional in virtual classes by designing the course to allow participation of all the students as community members and help to increase the participation. The sense of community will help remove the sense of isolation among online students and subsequently help them remain in the class and continue the learning process (Farahani, 2003).

I really feel how much work would be there to for Anne to do…So many Journals, reading every part of discussion, reading responses, responding to queries and so on. As an instructor  you need to make changes in your instructional skills, your skills in engaging with your learners and your management skills! Wearing Four Pairs of Shoes: The Roles of E-Learning Facilitators  by Ed Hootstein claims that facilitators guide learners to play a part in determining course direction by discovering content on their own, carrying out assignments and projects, and creating learning opportunities to meet their own needs. Thus, it is going to be  somewhat difficult to be an instructor but I am ready for it!

Welcome letter for an online course

ABC’s of Chemistry: Chemistry on Fingertips

Welcome to the online course ‘ABC’s of Chemistry’. This online course will familiarize you with the basic principles of chemistry. This course is geared towards students majoring in most sciences, pharmacy, and chemical, biological and environmental engineering. This eight-week online course would help you to learn a new skill or enhance your existing ones. You'll spend roughly six to seven hours each week completing two course lessons in an enjoyable and interactive learning environment. If you are new to online learning environment don’t worry. My aim is to provide an optimal and user-friendly format for students with differing computer skills. In this course you can be certain of quality instruction, personalized assessment, and tracked progress. I’m excited to have you on board!
Before you begin, test and configure your system for use with this course. The first step is to view ‘How to take online course’ video which is designed to familiarize you with the virtual classroom set up. Before starting course lessons, I advise that you spend some time to learn how to navigate the course website. Navigation tools located at the top of every page are extremely user-friendly and consistent throughout the website. They provide access to every corner of your classroom environment, such as communicating with the instructor, getting assistance from the ‘help desk’, submitting assignments, discussion board, accessing net links, and viewing your grades.
The second step is to download syllabus under the heading syllabus and course material. This link will take you to a page that has a description of the course, course requirements, course goals, recommended books, and grading policy. Read the syllabus thoroughly and direct any course questions or concern to me. My contact information is located on navigation bar under "your instructor".
For coming eight weeks, one lesson will be released every Tuesday and Friday. Your lessons will include text-based reading material, illustrations, audio  or video files if required. Each lesson has an assignment and a brief multiple-choice quiz. You will receive an instant analysis of your multiple-choice quiz. This classroom has 17 interactive discussion forums where you can interact with your classmates; ask questions, share ideas and concerns. You are required to respond to two classmates each week. I strongly recommend that you complete each lesson within ten days of its release because the assignments and discussion forums, accompanying each lesson, will not be accessible after that. Your first assignment is to introduce yourself through first Discussion forum.

The course concludes with a final exam, which can be completed within two weeks of the release of Lesson 16. If you do not understand any aspect of your coursework, contact me for clarification or post your question in discussion board so that others can get the answer if they have the same query.

What can you expect from this course: You can expect support in all aspects of the learning environment including but not limited to communication with me, timely grading on assignments, updates on your progress and e-mails help from technical support and administrative personnel on any issue or concerns you might have.

-Savneet Singh

 
Letter Construction Analysis

The course EDUI 6701 has helped understand what  online learning is all about and enabled me to write this welcome letter using whatever knowledge I have gained till date. In the first paragraph of my welcome letter, I mentioned that my aim is to provide an optimal and user-friendly format for students with differing computer skills. In Mini lecture 1 , Dr. Chico indicates, ”Actually, there’s no such thing as “best” practices – ones which fit all learners in all situations. But there are a lot of good practices in teaching and learning, online or elsewhere.”(Chico, N. (2012). Mini-Lecture EDUI 6701-1). Thus, I wanted to create, perhaps, the ‘best’ online format so that the students having both basic and  advanced computer skills can take the course with same ease.  The target audiences of the course are students majoring in most sciences, pharmacy, and chemical, biological and environmental engineering. I clearly mentioned this in first few lines. Know your audience is the key-Anne Guptill (Guptill, A. Discussion board, EDUI 6701).

The welcome letter introduces learners to the kind of online environment, they will be exposed to, during the course. It is very important that students feel comfortable in the virtual classroom and know every corner of it. So, I provided the details of look and feel of their virtual classroom. According to Ed Hootstein’s model, I tried to fit in Program manager’s role here, whose work is to  “”Develop study guides for courses to help ease learners' anxiety and address both content and technical concerns. (Ed Hootstein, E-Learning 1.0.). The letter clearly mentions that learners are required to participate in the Discussion Board. Ed Hootstein placed great emphasis on the importance of encouraging and ensuring a high degree of interactivity and participation as one of the most important facilitation skills in online learning environment and, this is, Social director’s role to  create such a collaborative environment.
According to Nancy Levenburg, ‘The curriculum for online courses must be based in clear learning objectives. Achievement of objectives may be facilitated through the use of cohort lectures and provocative and informative readings/articles geared to conveying the basic concepts and facts’. Keeping this fact in mind, I plan to include text- based reading material, illustrations, audio  or video in course lessons. Using a single mode of instruction, such as lecture, PowerPoint, discussion can be boring. Blending audio, video, images, charts, graphs and other visual can increase student interest and motivation.
This course will include assignments and a brief multiple-choice quiz those have to be submitted by deadlines.  Jones & Martinez found that if the instructor of the course aggressively engage students in course activities and require students to submit segments of the project by deadlines, the students completed the course with a very satisfactory project that needed minimal revisions. (Jones & Martinez, 2001; Martinez, M., 2001)
In last paragraph I mentioned what learners can expect from me as an instructor or the support staff. Judith Hughes claims that, ‘Learners need to know both what is expected of them, and what services they can expect to receive from the institution’. (Huges Judith A., Supporting the Online Learner). When students understand what is expected of them, they have a clear focus of what they must do in order to achieve success.

Online learning is a great equalizer?

We need to proceed with a cautious regarding the mindset of technology. The world’s educational systems need more funding and better online providers.  Every child--regardless of socioeconomic status, ability or geography--should have equal access to a quality education. Education is one of the fundamental rights in India. But I am not sure that Indian government can provide that for all children across the country.

The proponents of online education claim that online learning is a great equalizer. It can reach everyone despite what their social, economic, religious, ethnic or physical or mental differences are. The e-learning  gives all students the same opportunity to reach their full potential. But the question arises if all states of India, its schools and colleges, homes cyber café and the libraries are equipped with equal access to technology.

The computers have reached in rural areas but what  is the number? How many computers and internet connections can be located in a remote village of Bihar. Thus, we need more resources in order to make online education everyone’s cup of tea. 

Blended e-learning

Recently the tech gurus have given a Mantra of blending learning technologies which is not only the mixture of celluloid, textbooks and an instructor's lectures but also include desktops, CD-ROM software and the media-rich material as the ingredients. The Internet has made learning an around-the-clock, self-paced proposition which can be used by anyone. I came across an interesting write up which talks about the blend of various ingredients in an online program as referred in The article Wearing Four Pairs of Shoes: The Roles of E-Learning Facilitators (Hootstein, 2002) . Marc Rosenberg, principal at DiamondCluster International in Chicago, and author of E-Learning: Strategies for Delivering Knowledge in the Digital Age (McGraw-Hill, 2001), says that while blended learning is most often thought of as a marriage between classroom and computer-based instruction, the union dissolves when a company or academic institution fails to get the mixture right. "The question is not if we should blend," he says. "Rather, the question is what are the ingredients?"

The ingredients can be any. One can choose according the need of learners but keep in mind blend more than two.