Hello, and welcome to my reflective journal for OMDE 601! I’m excited to be starting this journey (although I’m already tired!). When we first began discussing “distance education” (DE) at the start of this course I couldn’t imagine what all the fuss was about. The definition of DE seemed painfully obvious. My response to this question in the discussion forum was as follows:
“I consider distance education to be, quite simply, a situation where the learner and the teacher are not in the same space/time continuum. The “distance” could be 20 feet, 20 miles or half way around the world. The teaching and learner could be at the same time (synchronous) or not (asynchronous). Holmberg confirms that distance education is a situation where “students and their teachers do not meet face to face” (p. 9). He further confirms that “Distance education is characterized by teaching and learning being brought about by media” (Holmberg, p. 9). The media could take a variety of forms – TV, radio, print, internet-based and so forth.
I must confess that I’m a mind-map groupie. Just the thought of doing something with a mind-map gets me excited! Thinking ahead to creating a mind-map for distance education, I believe my major branches would include the following: institution, technology/delivery, teacher/learner relationship, and students. I can’t wait to jump in!”
Holmberg, B. (2005). Concepts and terminology - Student bodies. The evolution, principles, and practice of distance education. Oldenburg, Germany: BIS-Verlag der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg.
In just the few short weeks since writing that definition I have certainly been exposed to many more elements of DE. I really enjoyed listening to lectures from Professors Peters and Holmberg, and putting a face to a name. In addition to very precise elocution and a darned cute accent, they brought other elements to consider. Professor Peters talked about the humanitarianism of DE; it never occurred to me that providing education from a distance was a humanitarian effort. I can see how you would think that when considering the origins of DE (“raising people up from poverty,” meeting the needs of women, home-bound and disabled learners), but is it still a humanitarian effort today? I certainly consider the ability to be able to work on my degree from home, in my own time and at my own pace a tremendous convenience; perhaps at the 10,000 foot level DE still serves a humanitarian role. I was very interested to read Dr. Bernath’s explanation that the “forefathers” of DE (Peters, Holmberg and Moore) all had theoretical backgrounds in humanistic psychology and andragogy; perhaps their involvement early in DE sparked their humanitarian slant.
I was also very interested and pleased to watch a video recorded by Professor Holmberg, and his discussion on empathy in DE. I equate empathy with caring, compassion and being unafraid to show your passion for your area of expertise and for the art of teaching itself. Students immediately sense the educator’s passion and compassion and the synergistic excitement that results is palpable. Seriously, I have felt that in the classroom – the air can actually vibrate when the educator and learners are “in the zone” together. I think this can be achieved through DE, but I think both the learners and educators may have to work a little harder to achieve that level of energy.
When I first learned we were going to develop a mind map I was quite excited – I LOVE mind maps! I first learned about creating mind maps as part of a productivity seminar through Franklin Covey and have long used them to plan projects, lectures, whole courses, etc. I even purchased Mind Manager Pro software, which allows you to transfer your terminal observations into tasks in Outlook. Now that’s productivity! My originally planned “branches” for my DE map included institution, technology/delivery, teacher/learner relationship, and students. However, after reading Dr. Moore’s chapter on “Basic Concepts” I realized there is much more to it than my original four branches. Here’s a comparison:
Original Mind Map Branches:
*Institution
*Technology/delivery
*Teacher/learner relationship
*Students
Final Mind Map Branches (see posted MindMap in artifacts):
*Sources of knowledge
*Design of content/courses
*Delivery of content/courses
*Interactions with learners
*Learners
*Management Systems
In my final mind map I more fully developed the four original concepts, and added the sources of knowledge, design of content/courses and management system. Distance education may be a humanitarian act (Peters) and egalitarian (Holmberg), but it still takes a village to pull it off!
I did take the “Distance Education Aptitude and Readiness Scale (DEARS)” test and apparently I’m ready to rock and roll (70 points). I chuckled when I read the introduction that stated “Perhaps nothing is more true than the old adage that what you get out of something is in proportion to what you put into it.” I developed the first pharmacy practice residency in pain management and palliative care in the world, and I am ALWAYS telling my residents the exact same thing. It’s a VERY hard year for them, but they are amazed at their accomplishments when they are done. I don’t want to waste this opportunity and get through with “good enough” performance. I have a clear vision of how I want to use the information I’m gaining from this program to operationalize my own distance education program.
Last, I did enjoy the MDE orientation and library guide. I’m especially impressed with UMUC’s library services. The resources are quite rich and extensive, and it’s clear the a lot of effort went into developing user guides and tutorials. I am very pleased to have access to this resource.
Well, that’s it for my first reflective journal entry! I look forward to making progress in this course, as well as all the other courses!
Kizlik, B. (2007, January 1). Distance Education Aptitude and Readiness Scale. Retrieved March 5, 2015, from http://www.adprima.com/dears.htm
Moore, M., & Kearsley, G. (2012). Basic Concepts. In Distance education: A systems view of online learning (3rd ed., pp. 1-22). Belmont, CA.: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
“I consider distance education to be, quite simply, a situation where the learner and the teacher are not in the same space/time continuum. The “distance” could be 20 feet, 20 miles or half way around the world. The teaching and learner could be at the same time (synchronous) or not (asynchronous). Holmberg confirms that distance education is a situation where “students and their teachers do not meet face to face” (p. 9). He further confirms that “Distance education is characterized by teaching and learning being brought about by media” (Holmberg, p. 9). The media could take a variety of forms – TV, radio, print, internet-based and so forth.
I must confess that I’m a mind-map groupie. Just the thought of doing something with a mind-map gets me excited! Thinking ahead to creating a mind-map for distance education, I believe my major branches would include the following: institution, technology/delivery, teacher/learner relationship, and students. I can’t wait to jump in!”
Holmberg, B. (2005). Concepts and terminology - Student bodies. The evolution, principles, and practice of distance education. Oldenburg, Germany: BIS-Verlag der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg.
In just the few short weeks since writing that definition I have certainly been exposed to many more elements of DE. I really enjoyed listening to lectures from Professors Peters and Holmberg, and putting a face to a name. In addition to very precise elocution and a darned cute accent, they brought other elements to consider. Professor Peters talked about the humanitarianism of DE; it never occurred to me that providing education from a distance was a humanitarian effort. I can see how you would think that when considering the origins of DE (“raising people up from poverty,” meeting the needs of women, home-bound and disabled learners), but is it still a humanitarian effort today? I certainly consider the ability to be able to work on my degree from home, in my own time and at my own pace a tremendous convenience; perhaps at the 10,000 foot level DE still serves a humanitarian role. I was very interested to read Dr. Bernath’s explanation that the “forefathers” of DE (Peters, Holmberg and Moore) all had theoretical backgrounds in humanistic psychology and andragogy; perhaps their involvement early in DE sparked their humanitarian slant.
I was also very interested and pleased to watch a video recorded by Professor Holmberg, and his discussion on empathy in DE. I equate empathy with caring, compassion and being unafraid to show your passion for your area of expertise and for the art of teaching itself. Students immediately sense the educator’s passion and compassion and the synergistic excitement that results is palpable. Seriously, I have felt that in the classroom – the air can actually vibrate when the educator and learners are “in the zone” together. I think this can be achieved through DE, but I think both the learners and educators may have to work a little harder to achieve that level of energy.
When I first learned we were going to develop a mind map I was quite excited – I LOVE mind maps! I first learned about creating mind maps as part of a productivity seminar through Franklin Covey and have long used them to plan projects, lectures, whole courses, etc. I even purchased Mind Manager Pro software, which allows you to transfer your terminal observations into tasks in Outlook. Now that’s productivity! My originally planned “branches” for my DE map included institution, technology/delivery, teacher/learner relationship, and students. However, after reading Dr. Moore’s chapter on “Basic Concepts” I realized there is much more to it than my original four branches. Here’s a comparison:
Original Mind Map Branches:
*Institution
*Technology/delivery
*Teacher/learner relationship
*Students
Final Mind Map Branches (see posted MindMap in artifacts):
*Sources of knowledge
*Design of content/courses
*Delivery of content/courses
*Interactions with learners
*Learners
*Management Systems
In my final mind map I more fully developed the four original concepts, and added the sources of knowledge, design of content/courses and management system. Distance education may be a humanitarian act (Peters) and egalitarian (Holmberg), but it still takes a village to pull it off!
I did take the “Distance Education Aptitude and Readiness Scale (DEARS)” test and apparently I’m ready to rock and roll (70 points). I chuckled when I read the introduction that stated “Perhaps nothing is more true than the old adage that what you get out of something is in proportion to what you put into it.” I developed the first pharmacy practice residency in pain management and palliative care in the world, and I am ALWAYS telling my residents the exact same thing. It’s a VERY hard year for them, but they are amazed at their accomplishments when they are done. I don’t want to waste this opportunity and get through with “good enough” performance. I have a clear vision of how I want to use the information I’m gaining from this program to operationalize my own distance education program.
Last, I did enjoy the MDE orientation and library guide. I’m especially impressed with UMUC’s library services. The resources are quite rich and extensive, and it’s clear the a lot of effort went into developing user guides and tutorials. I am very pleased to have access to this resource.
Well, that’s it for my first reflective journal entry! I look forward to making progress in this course, as well as all the other courses!
Kizlik, B. (2007, January 1). Distance Education Aptitude and Readiness Scale. Retrieved March 5, 2015, from http://www.adprima.com/dears.htm
Moore, M., & Kearsley, G. (2012). Basic Concepts. In Distance education: A systems view of online learning (3rd ed., pp. 1-22). Belmont, CA.: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.