Browsing by Subject "distance education"
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Item Barriers to distance education as perceived by managers and administrators: Results of a survey(2000-01) Berge, Zane L.; Muilenburg, Lin Y.It is becoming increasingly unusual to pick up a professional training or education journal without seeing articles concerning alternatives to in-person teaching and learning. Distance education is not new, but the new technologies used for delivery in recent decades have fueled different perspectives, methods, and debates than had been the case starting a century ago. The technologies used to deliver education at a distance have changed, and have also allowed a broader range of teaching methods to be used. Still, no one believes now, if ever they did, that this is a panacea. There are many barriers to successful distance education—some are new but many have plagued distance education since it was first conceived.Item Barriers to Distance Education: A Factor-Analytic Study(Taylor & Francis, 2009-09-24) Muilenburg, Lin; Berge, Zane L.This article reports on a large‐scale (n = 2,504), exploratory factor analysis that determined the underlying constructs that comprise barriers to distance education. The ten factors found were (1) administrative structure, (2) organizational change, (3) technical expertise, (4) social interaction and quality, (5) faculty compensation and time, (6) threat of technology, (7) legal issues, (8) evaluation/effectiveness, (9) access, and (10) student‐support services.Item Barriers to Distance Education: Perceptions of K-12 Educators(Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, 2003-01) Berge, Zane; Muilenburg, Lin Y.Instructional-use computers are continuing to migrate into the classrooms, with public schools reporting over half the installed base now located in classrooms. Still, education struggles with the rapid expansion of technology. This article reports on findings from a survey (n=2504) of respondents working in elementary, middle, and secondary schools (n=159). The survey concerns barriers perceived in distance education and is based on prior research involving content analyses of the case studies along with an extensive review of the literature. Demographic data about the respondents is reported for job functions, delivery systems, individual expertise in distance education, and organizational capabilities regarding distance education. Perceptions of these respondents concerning barriers to distance education reported, along with comparisons to respondents not working in K-12.Item Barriers To Online Teaching In Post-Secondary Institutions: Can Policy Changes Fix It?(University of West Georgia, 1998-06) Berge, Zane L.Recent technological advances have increased the overall amount of information available and improved accessibility to that information, while at the same time the costs of publishing information have decreased. These general shifts throughout society are true in education and have caused students to be more demanding and more knowledgeable about alternatives for their education. Combined with demographic trends, political forces, economic factors, the need for lifelong learning, and the changing emphases in teaching and learning, there is a resurgence of interest in distance education both at traditional institutions of higher education and in organizations whose sole mission is distance education (Dede, 1990; Knott, 1992; Lewis and Romiszowski, 1996). Can higher education at "traditional" universities change to meet the new student demands and the intense competition among education providers that distance education brings? The use of computer-mediated communication in distance learning to create online classrooms has become a popular means of distance learning, both in mixed mode with face-to-face instruction or as a sole channel of education at a distance. By online teaching or online instruction for the purposes of this article, I mean those activities limited to primary delivery by computer-mediated online instruction, as opposed to delivery systems such as audio or video/TV. Additionally, I am referring to instruction in which the course interaction is conducted completely online, or significantly online (i.e., where, at the minimum,. 50% of the graded part of the course is online).Item Book reviews : Distance education, learning, research(Educational Technology Publications Inc., 2012-02) Berge, ZaneItem Distance Education and Corporate Training in Brazil: Regulations and Interrelationships(Athabasca University, 2008-06) Porto, Stella C. S.; Berge, Zane L.Distance education in Brazil has evolved more slowly than distance education offerings in other developing countries. This is because all aspects of Brazil’s publicly-funded educational system are excessively regulated, highly bureaucratic, and tightly centralized. Such highly centralized bureaucracy and strict control has resulted in tremendous hurdles that work to thwart the adoption, provision, and diffusion of distance education. This is not good news: Like many developing countries, Brazil is also characterized by wide gaps in wealth distribution, with 20 percent of its population functionally illiterate and living below the poverty line. Distance education, therefore, could be used to help train Brazil’s citizens. Brazil’s emerging status in the global economy, however, is generating enormous opportunities that are fueling demand for change. For example, in their quest to be competitive in the emerging global economy, Brazil’s corporate sector has addressed this challenge by establishing corporate universities to train and educate their employees; much of this corporate training and education takes place online and at a distance. The established and emerging educational opportunities provided by Brazil’s corporate sector, in turn, is fuelling the demand for the provision of distance education throughout Brazil. Indeed, most Brazilians are ready for distance education. Many Brazilian households own television sets and cellular telephones, and its expanding communication infrastructure has capacity to support distance and continuing education models. Moreover, this capacity is currently being used by Brazil’s rapidly expanding corporate university sector. In spite of Brazil’s emergence in the global marketplace and its private-sector educational success stories, Brazil’s public educational institutions have not kept pace. This is due to Brazil’s long-standing stringent regulation of its public education sector. Recent public initiatives, however, such as the Open University of Brazil, do hold promise in fueling the growth of distance education to meet the needs of its citizens, poor and rich alike. This paper analyzes the evolution of distance education in Brazil. It explores interrelationship between the nation’s corporate and publicly-funded higher-education sectors, and the influences Brazil’s highly regulated distance education practices has on the corporate environment. The paper concludes with a broad-brushed overview of ‘success stories’ of Brazil’s corporate universities.Item A Few Thoughts on the Flipped Classroom(ICST, 2013-10) Vincenti, Giovanni; Braman, JamesThere are many ways educators can enhance their curriculum and experiment with new pedagogical models to engage students. There have been numerous studies that have shown improvement as well as the potential for additional success with many of these models. From our own experience, certain classroom settings and topics lend themselves to a particular learning style that may be more advantageous. Experience coupled with keeping up with the literature and research on best practices can be very helpful to create the best learning environment for students. Technology can often greatly enhance the strategies used in and out the classroom and can also greatly enhance access to certain materials. With increased usage of online materials educators can reach a larger number of students as well as facilitate learning far beyond the classroom walls.Item Implementing and Sustaining E-Learning in the Workplace(IGI Global Disseminator of Knowledge, 2006-10) Berge, Zane L.; Giles, LenoraNew information and communication technology, specifically computer networked systems, create both a demand and an opportunity for businesses to approach training and knowledge management from new perspectives. These new training perspectives are driven by the need for businesses to provide the right training quickly and efficiently and to support knowledge systems that are current, accessible, and interactive. This article will discuss strategic planning in terms of the organizational elements and the e-learning program requirements that are necessary to build a framework in order to institutionalize and sustain e-learning as a core business process. The elements of the organizational framework include leadership, change management strategies, the technology infrastructure, and the organizational structure. The e-learning program requirements include instructional systems, roles and competencies of key staff people, and budgeting. The building blocks in a framework to sustain e-learning and knowledge building start with a foundation laid out by the strategic plan. The next two building blocks of the framework are the organizational support processes and the e-learning and knowledge management systemItem Implementing and Sustaining E-Learning in the Workplace(IGI Global Disseminator of Knowledge, 2008-07) Berge, Zane L.; Giles, LenoraNew information and communication technology, specifically computer networked systems, create both a demand and an opportunity for businesses to approach training and knowledge management from new perspectives. These new training perspectives are driven by the need for businesses to provide the right training quickly and efficiently and to support knowledge systems that are current, accessible, and interactive. This article will discuss strategic planning in terms of the organizational elements and the e-learning program requirements that are necessary to build a framework in order to institutionalize and sustain e-learning as a core business process. The elements of the organizational framework include leadership, change management strategies, the technology infrastructure, and the organizational structure. The e-learning program requirements include instructional systems, roles and competencies of key staff people, and budgeting. The building blocks in a framework to sustain e-learning and knowledge building start with a foundation laid out by the strategic plan. The next two building blocks of the framework are the organizational support processes and the e-learning and knowledge management system.Item Interaction in Post-Secondary Web-Based Learning(Educational Technology Publications Inc., 1999-01) Berge, Zane L.Distance education in the industrialized nations has seen dramatic changes in delivery technologies over the past few decades. Computer-mediated communication and the World Wide Web allow significantly faster interaction between student and faculty and among students during teaching and learning compared with the correspondence or mass communication models of distance education. Questions like the following are under increasing scrutiny: What does "interaction" mean in the context of teaching and learning? Why is interaction perceived as so important in post-secondary education? How can technology be used to promote the types of interaction that facilitate learning at a distance? The answer is often "It depends" - based on the motivation, individual capabilities, and learning style of the student, the subject matter, and a dozen or more other factors that affect the type and level of interaction needed for learning. This article will discuss the more salient dimensions of interaction in the context of Web-based instruction and hopefully provide a useful framework for thinking about interaction in a Web-based learning environment. Interaction is typically thought of as "sustained, two-way communication among two or more persons for purposes of explaining and challenging perspectives" (Garrison, 1993, p. 16). If done in a formal, educational environment, then, interaction is usually between a student(s) and instructor, or among students. It is, and will continue to be, the strength of this ongoing interaction with faculty and other students which distinguishes the university experience from independent learning or one-way, mass communication educational programs (Rogers & Wells, 1997).Item Learning analytics as a tool for closing the assessment loop in higher education(2012) Mattingly, Karen D.; Rice, Margaret C.; Berge, Zane L.This paper examines learning and academic analytics and its relevance to distance education in undergraduate and graduate programs as it impacts students and teaching faculty, and also academic institutions. The focus is to explore the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of data as predictors of student success and drivers of departmental process and program curriculum. Learning and academic analytics in higher education is used to predict student success by examining how and what students learn and how success is supported by academic programs and institutions. The paper examines what is being done to support students, whether or not it is effective, and if not why, and what educators can do. The paper also examines how these data can be used to create new metrics and inform a continuous cycle of improvement. It presents examples of working models from a sample of institutions of higher education: The Graduate School of Medicine at the University of Wollongong, the University of Michigan, Purdue University, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Finally, the paper identifies considerations and recommendations for using analytics and offer suggestions for future research.Item Linking Strategic Planning with Program Implementation for Distance Education(EDUCAUSE, 1998) Berge, Zane L.; Schrum, LynneThis article outlines some of the major factors and issues a college or university needs to address in planning for and implementing distance education. The authors propose that there is a need to conduct such planning and programmatic implementation simultaneously and to integrate these activities into the fabric of the institution as seamlessly as possible.Item Obstacles faced at various stages of capability regarding distance education in institutions of higher learning(Springer US, 2001-07) Berge, Zane L.; Muilenburg, LinFaculty compensation concerns and the lack of development and maintenance time are the greatest barriers to distance education across all organizational stages of capabilities. It may be that certain factors such as legal issues and evaluation, both of which show a steady increase from Stage 1 organizations to Stage 5 organizations, are the last to be tackled because other obstacles are more important in the earlier stages of maturity. The evidence from the responses to this survey indicates that there is a relationship between an organization’s level of capability in distance education and the barriers to distance education reported by respondents for some but not all barriers. Separately, we found evidence to support Moore’s assertions that barriers associated withItem Providing Effective Feedback Online(International Council for Open and Distance Education, 2005-11-23) Berge, Zane; Collins, MauriIn the context of teaching and learning, both students and teachers give and receive feedback. A course should provide a non-threatening environment where students can express themselves to the instructor and other students. Students need continuing and timely feedback about their work and their performance. Using effective feedback helps ensure that students’ needs are being met and that they engage in high quality learning. The focus of this paper is to explore formative feedback where the main purpose is to instruct and help the learner have a greater opportunity to learn in the future. Examples, lessons learnt, and best practices are included from the author’s experience of teaching online, and from nearly 200 online teachers. This paper is mainly concerned with providing feedback to students, and as such, feedback is a response to a learner’s work or activity that helps the learner understand more clearly his or her progress, or serves to help the learner improve his or her learning or performance. This can be communication between the instructor and the student, among the students, or self-reflection and self-evaluation of the student in terms of his or her strengths and aspects related to improvement regarding learning activities. To be effective, feedback provided to students should focus on closing the gap between the student’s present thinking or performance and the desired goal. Ongoing formative assessment should be undertaken during the course or the programme.Item Strategic Planning and Online Learning(i-Manager Publications, 2005-12) McLaughlin-Graham, Karen; Berge, Zane L.Strategic planning is a critical part of sustaining distance education. Through such planning, the organization can solve business problems that involve training and education in an effective and often cost savings manner compared to inperson training efforts. This paper examines the strategic planning process as it relates to sustaining distance education and training.Item A Tangled Web Indeed: The Difficulty of Developing a Research Agenda for Distance Education(The Pennsylvania State University, 2011-01-28) Berge, Zane L.This article reviews the basic structure of distance education research as it currently exists in the literature. It also reviews the literature that has made recommendations for priorities to be set within distance education research. It is my contention here, however, that while there is a need to narrow or prioritize the most productive areas that should appear on a research agenda in distance education, the field remains too complex to gain consensus necessary for such a consistent or unifying framework to emerge.Item Technology and Education: an Ever-Growing Intersection(The Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering (ICST), 2012-08) Vincenti, Giovanni; Braman, JamesTaking with it many facets of everyday interaction, including that of teaching and learning. As the educational forefront is continually advancing through the introduction of new ideas, technologies and media, it is important to report all of these changes in order to stay abreast of its impacts. It is with great pleasure that we introduce our second issue of the ICST Transactions on e-Education and e-Learning. It has always been our belief that it is important for educators to experiment with new instructional tools and pedagogical approaches in order to find innovative ways to enhance teaching and learning. It is through the expertise of many educational pioneers that we are able to gain invaluable insight into new methods of teaching. Education should change and adapt as both society and technology evolve.Item Unleashing Organizational Know-How(Chief Learning Office, 2004-03-27) Berge, ZaneThis article examines distance education and training, knowledge management and how the strategic, systematic linking of the two would create more value for large companies. It focuses on rethinking the organizational learning structure and processes to better “develop” the work force, something that every company must improve to ride out the perfect storm described above. After briefly describing the current state of distance learning and knowledge management, the most valuable benefits and common challenges of executing this merger of learning functions will be explored. Also, examples of companies that have made progress in these areas will be examined.Item Where Interaction Intersects Time(The University at Buffalo Institutional Repository, 1996-06) Berge, Zane L.Educators normally do not have the opportunity or time to analyze individual students and tailor instructional materials or activities specifically to them. Students are usually grouped together into classes for economic reasons if nothing else. Varying the media selection, the methods used, and the class activities, is an attempt to compensate for the lack of individualized programming. This is as true for distance education as it is for place-based education. Ellington (cited in Dekkers, et. al., 1990), suggests three classes of instruction: individual learning, mass communications, and small group. Historically, in distance education there were few ways to vary delivery and teaching methods. The correspondence model, an example of individual learning, was used nearly exclusively for the first 120 years of distance education in the United States (Moore and Kearsley, 1996). Earlier in this century, mass communications (i.e., radio; television) expanded the range of delivery tools. Still, the prevailing model is of students passively listening to or watching a program alone, attempting to make sense of the material. To check the students' "making of meaning" in what they read or saw, they are asked to submit a written paper to the instructor showing analysis, synthesis, or evaluation. What is missing are opportunities for the use of group learning models. Over the past two decades, emerging technologies have opened more opportunities to vary medium and methods, leading to significant changes in the way.