June 10, 2004
THE "DISTANCE" IN DISTANCE LEARNING
As you begin thinking about online learning, one of the first issues to consider is the relationship and "distance" between the instructor/facilitator and learners in both the traditional and online environments.
There is always some sort of social, psychological, and communications space between instructor and students in the learning "transaction", even in traditional classes. ...
For example, in traditional lecture-based classes, the instructor is the "expert" who provides information to learners in a largely one-way transaction; there is little or no discussion among participants. In these courses, the interaction is highly structured, and the psychological "distance" between instructor and learners (as well as the distance among the group of learners) can be quite large.
When interaction and dialog are increased (for example, in a seminar-style course), this so-called "transactional distance" is decreased. However, an increase in dialog and interaction also requires a less rigid structure for the course and less control for the facilitator.
In online learning, the physical separation between instructor and learners requires some sort of mediated communication (e.g., though web pages, email, and multimedia applications) for learner-instructor and learner-learner interactions, thus further increasing the potential transactional distance.
By using two-way communication technologies in facilitated classes, this distance can be greatly decreased, but too much of an emphasis on group communication can cause the class to lose structure and fail to meet learning goals. Finding the right balance between structure and interaction is one of the course designer's key goals in the early phases of defining a course.
Posted by jtzanis at June 10, 2004 12:57 PM
CommentsGood question, Chris - It might be a good idea to post this in one of the Forums
Posted by: Joanne at June 18, 2004 02:50 AMI noticed in one of the readings (Instructional Design for Metacognition Activities) there was a 'side bar' that said, "I have described six instructional design activities...you may see other design implications and if you do please share your insights with me."
I thought this was a smart way to increase interaction between learner and instructor and learner and learner. It can be applied to asynchronous classes too, because the link "share your insights" can take the learners to a specific topics based forums page.
I'd like to hear from others how else you might increase interactivity in a self-paced learning environment.
Thank you,
Chris Davis
Posted by: Chris Davis at June 12, 2004 09:50 AM