Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Educ 639: Most Important Point
The most important trend that I found from my interview was the integration of social networks into their distance education courses. This distance education instructor used the social network facebook to communicate with her students. Facebook was also used in this instructors online course as a means to have the students further collaborations among themselves for course material. This point is important because in todays society there is always a need to incorporate various forms of technology into distance education programs. The one factor that seperates distance education from a traditional classroom is the distance factor. Therefore social networks offer the ability to enhance the communications and make a more positive classroom environment. This did not change my view on distance education because I too feel that social networks can have a positive effect on distance education and can be incorporated into distance education courses in a variety of ways. The only part was a little muddy was a better description or example of how the social network facebook can be used in an online course beyond posts and chatting. Overall social networks as an important trend in distance education is a great point to help better the distance education experience.
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Yes, I agree that social media is important in today's technology. I had the same question when I read your posts. I am not sure how a teacher would use Facebook for a college course other than social posts. There are many environments where learners may collaborate online that are not as "social" as facebook. I still have yet to see facebook as a learning tool, although I also do not doubt that with the right plan it could be. I just do not have a plan for it! What social networks would you see as important to distance education?
ReplyDeleteHi Tysheonna,
ReplyDeleteHMMMMM.... Social networks are everywhere and yet blocked by most districts. How can we fix this? It's important for students to use social networks but this is difficult to manage. What are your recommendations?
Best,
Jennifer
ReplyDeleteHi Tysheonna,
I agree with your interview findings that social networking allows for students to collaborate and enhances communications. I believe that social networks also allow for the building of strong online communities which are vital for students to succeed in the online environment. According to Simonson (2012) student experiences within a community directly relate to their satisfaction of online learning (p.72). Also, Hobgood (2003) states that distant educators should create a learning community and provide several settings in order to create the learning community and he believes these learning communities prepare us as lifelong learners.
Blessings,
Sarah
References:
Hobgood, B. (2003). Becoming an online teacher. Retrieved from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Education website http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/665?ref=search
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., and Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distant: Foundations of distance education, 5th ed., Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
I agree that it would be difficult to manage having facebook as an online collaboration tool in distance education. However, I feel it would be best used as an additional resource in conjunction with perhaps a blackboard. There is really no way to ensure that a network like facebook is used soley for educational purposes unless the professors requires the students to set up new accounts and only become friends with the other students in the class.
ReplyDeleteHi, Tysheonna,
ReplyDeleteI looked into some of the pros and cons of Facebook in the last course I took. I can see some very strong benefits, but I am concerned about the security. Because Facebook is so widely used, it is more likely to be hacked. I also looked into Edmodo because it is set up to be used exclusively as an educational tool but has a lot of the benefits of the structure and the intermingling of communication systems that are available on Facebook. In Edmodo, educators can have a structure similar to Blackboard at no (or little) cost to them or their schools, and yet it is familiar to their students because of their use of Facebook. I can see how this would be good in distance education.
Alma
HI Tysheonna,
ReplyDeleteI need to change your group assignment. I have sent you several email messages but I'm not sure how to get a hold of you. Please check your email and respond as soon as possible.
thank you!
Dr Courduff