Elements of Distance Education Diffusion
In George Siemens' video presentation, he claims that one of the main things we need to do to help with the diffusion of distance education is to bridge the comfort gap so that students can feel empowered as they enter the world of DE. I feel that communication has evolved so much over the past few years in the online environment that it could be at the root of the collaboration and global issues. Different people from all over the world can be present in a meeting using some of the new tools of the 21st century. Using iphones, smartphones, laptops, and other technology devices, people can have discussions and share experiences. Voices are just as clear now as if the people are in the room together, skype allows people to look at each other and interact with each other. Tools can be used to help with visualization and communication efforts soon become collaborative efforts, reaching globally.Jessica Barr blogged about the capabilities of building relationships through remote access prior to meeting someone in a study abroad program. Students felt as theough they had travelled together thanks to the capabilities of this type of communication. This blog can be accessed at http://www.dontwasteyourtime.co.uk/conferences/designs-on-elearning-del12-student-showcase-my-digital-life/
Many people travel abroad, create relationships, and complete learning projects with students from other countries, but Jessica is right about how the new remote communcation access can build these relationships as students who have never met F2F can share so many experiences through these new technologies. On the Edutopia blog, http://www.edutopia.org/blog-teaching Jessie Thaler speaks of using a blog for his 8th grade students to write essays and journal entries. He claims that this gives them real motivation to write knowing that others besides their teacher will be reading their work. This will open a whole new door for communication with the students as they comment on their writing, converse with the teachers and peers about the writing, and learn to communicate in different ways. I think this is a great idea and feel that it certainly is an improvement over the handwritten essay, the drop box, and the typed papers.
