Tips for Distance Learning

The Web tips will help you obtain assistance in designing an effective distance course by considering (a) frequently asked questions related to distance education course design and delivery and accessing (b) links to useful online distance resources and a selected bibliography for distance education.

What factors have accelerated the growth of distance education? The demand for distance education by educational institutions and in corporate training programs will continue to expand. Advances in telecommunication and technologies and the pervasiveness of the Internet have made Web-based training popular. Companies are outsourcing training and partnering with educational institutions to provide training and retraining of a geographically dispersed workforce. To address changing student demographics, institutions of higher learning must provide distance education to sustain or increase enrollments. Convenience is extremely important to the higher percentage of university students who are older, have children, and work full-time.

What are the significant differences between a traditional classroom and a course taught in a traditional manner? Distance education and its technologies present additional challenges because students are isolated from students with similar backgrounds and interests, have limited opportunities for interacting with the instructor outside of class, and must rely on technology to bridge the communication gap.

Can distant students learn as well as students receiving traditional face-to-face instruction? Research comparing distance education to traditional face-to-face instruction indicates that teaching and studying at a distance can be as effective as traditional instruction, when the method and technologies used are appropriate to the instructional tasks, there is student- to-student interaction, and there is timely instructor-to-student feedback.

What are the components of a well-designed distance course? Researchers have identified general principles that are essential to successful course design: good structure, clear objectives, small units, planned participation, completeness, repetition, open-ended assignments, and feedback. The course should also use methods and technologies that are appropriate to the instructional task.

What distance education choices are available? Many campuses have adopted a particular platform for delivering distance education that allow instructional designers to choose from a myriad of technological choices that include both synchronous and asynchronous delivery systems. However, a quality instructional design will likely result in a mix of media that serves a specific purpose: • Strong basic instructional content in the form of a course text, readings, the syllabus, and day-to-day schedule.

• Interactive audio or videoconferencing to provide real-time, face-to-face (or voice- to-voice) interaction and a way of incorporating guest speakers, and content experts.

© 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. • Chats, blogs, email, and other means to send messages, assignments, feedback, and other targeted communication to one or more classmates and to increase interaction among students.

What suggestions will assist me in using the Web for supplemental or web-based instruction? Begin with a few online tools and implement additional online tools as your competency develops or as you recognize other applications. Consider the following:

Provide students access to important class documents anytime and anywhere.  Post a course syllabus and any changes made throughout the term to aid students who are absent when a change is discussed. Modify your traditional syllabus to address your new needs: computer requirements needed to access the course website; office hours to accommodate students who cannot physically attend class; procedures for proctoring exams, submitting assignments; policies for assuring academic honesty and setting deadlines for assignments submitted from different time zones and delivery methods, and more.  Provide a course calendar that gives students a look at the advance organization of the course. ─ Establish major due dates, test dates, guest speakers, and other important dates. ─ Post class assignments that can be updated as needed and include clear, complete instructions for preparing assignments, anticipate questions, and provide exact due dates. ─ Provide links of interests to other places on the Web for further exploration or required course assignments. ─ Post course content so that it is available for students to review anytime and anywhere. You may post class handouts, complete class lecture notes, presentation slides, study guides, and other images to enhance student learning. As you gain experience, you may want to consider video streaming lectures to decrease your remoteness to distance students, to provide a contingency plan in the event of technology failures, to reinforce important ideas to both distance and local students, and to free class time for other learning activities.

Use the online communication tools to encourage faculty-to-student interaction and student-to-student interaction: • Use a private course email system to enable students to exchange messages and files with individuals or groups within the class. This system also assists you in organizing and archiving email messages for the course within this course environment rather than mixing them with other University mail.

• Encourage students to post messages to ask questions about assignments or class discussions. As you monitor students' comments, you may see the need to post clarifications on your instructions, class lectures, etc.

© 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. • Conduct online threaded discussions and live chats to extend a classroom discussion, to encourage less-vocal students to participate, and to allow the students and teacher to participate in everyone's conversations and not just a particular group.

• Set up shared work areas within the course web site if technology permits to give teams experience in collaboration skills (fast and secure access to messages and files, real-time communication tools to reach agreement from various locations, etc.)

Utilize evaluation tools to provide rich, rapid feedback; communicate your expectations for course mastery and direct student learning, assess student learning, or obtain student feedback. • Post mini pop quizzes to keep students on task and in pace with the class.

• Post practice quizzes with feedback, flash cards, crossword puzzles, games, and other engaging electronic study guides to assist students in mastering content.

• Administer timed quizzes for assessment of learning outcomes.

• Post surveys to gain valuable insights from the students regarding the effectiveness of class administration or content.

• Release grades to students to provide rich, rapid feedback. Allow them to compare their performance with the class's performance when you deem appropriate.

• Use tracking tools if available to monitor student time on task and types of activities performed while online. Encourage students to use this tool to evaluate their own participation in the class.

What is the instructor's role in a distance course and how can I retool for these new challenges? To be an effective distance instructor (a) develop an understanding of the characteristics and needs of a distance students with limited or no face-to-face content, (b) adapt teaching styles based on the needs of diverse distance audiences, (c) be skilled in the use of the delivery technology while remaining focused on instruction, and (d) function effectively as a skilled facilitator and content provider.

The following suggestions are helpful for an instructor preparing to teach a distance class:

• Interview experienced distance instructors to gain a realistic view of the demands of teaching by distance. These instructors can share techniques for developing a course site, providing orientation for new or prospective distance students, handling administrative issues, encouraging interaction, maintaining office hours and establishing policy for technology glitches, online conduct, academic honesty, and more.

• Observe several distance classes to observe the mix of instructional materials and activities each instructor uses, the interaction of the instructor/students, the technological demands on the instructor and the students, etc.

© 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. • Commit to extensive training with the distance technology you will be using. You will need to investigate the development of a course website, effective design of an exceptional print component and presentation visuals, use of Web development software, cameras, microphones, presentation software, document cameras, etc.) so that you can remain focused on important teaching/learning activities.

What support is available for building Web content for a course if you don't have the time to build your own? Major publishers are generating courses in various course management platforms to accompany their textbooks making it easy for instructors to use the Web without having to create an entire course themselves. The fully customizable content is provided with the functionality of the course platform's powerful class management, navigation, and communication tools.

A WebTutor product is available with Business Communication, 16e by Lehman and DuFrene. This technology includes text-specific content: e-lectures, quizzes, discussion questions, games and puzzles to make the learning experience more enjoyable for students with various learning styles. Aplia is an online, interactive tool that enables students to review language skills and reinforce text concepts. Aplia improves learning by increasing student effort and engagement. The benefits of this product are illustrated at http://www.aplia.com/cengage/

How can I prepare my students for being successful as distance students? First, help your students understand your expectations and characteristics of a successful online student. Provide a questionnaire for prospective students to complete to assess whether they are good candidates for online learning. Provide reference links to resources and tips for your students to use to help them become more successful online learners. Begin with the following list of qualities contributing to an online student's success (Illinois Online Network, 2007):

• Be open minded about sharing life, work, and educational experiences as a part of the learning process. Be able to reflect on information and related experiences and think through ideas before responding.

• Be able to communicate through writing as nearly all communication is written in the Virtual Classroom.

• Be self-motivated and self-disciplined in order to keep up with the flow of a flexible online environment.

• Be willing to speak up if problems arise; otherwise, the instructor may not recognize difficulties.

• Be willing and able to commit to 4 to 15 hours per week per course. Recognize that online education may require much more time than traditional instruction.

• Be able to meet the minimum requirements for the program. Student must view online as a convenient way to receive education, not an easier way.

© 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. • Accept critical thinking and decision making as a part of the learning process.

• Have access to a computer and modem.

• Feel that high quality learning can take place without going to a traditional classroom.

The following general tips will help students adjust to online learning:

• Familiarize yourself as much as possible with the platform and website for your course.

• Log in to the website on a regular basis to be aware of updates, progress in discussions, assignments, and messages.

• Participate in the discussions designed for your course. Commit to adding value to the overall conversation; simply agreeing or disagreeing is not adequate.

• Contact your professor or teaching assistant with questions. Post general questions to the course bulletin board as class members may have similar questions.

• Understand that your course is a public place. Speak and behave as you would in a classroom.

Source: Illinois Online Network (2007). What makes a successful online student? Retrieved from www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/pedagogy/StudentProfile.asp