Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Online vs Distance Education
Garrison wrote an article that attempted to show that online learning was distinct form distance education. He claimed that the goal of distance education was independence and the goal of online education is collaboration. he then contends that online theories and distance education theories can not be combined.
Anderson then wrote an article is in response to Garrison's article. Anderson's first contention with Garrison's article is that it "seems to have missed many important developments relating to distance education and obscures the evolution of distance education in its use of online technologies" (p. 111). Garrison tends to only view distance education in its earliest form. Anderson takes the view that distance education has evolved in include new forms of interaction, pedagogy, and support services over time as technology has evolved. Although Garrison sees independence as the goal of distance education, Anderson states that very little of today's distance education is independent study. Garrison also makes the distinction between online learning and distance education. Again, Anderson disputes this separation and considers online education as one form of distance education. Interestingly he uses Garrison's own definition of distance education as support (see page 112).
Anderson describes the evolution of distance education in three stages. The first was main correspondence. Second,was mass media or television and radio broadcast. Third, was marked by video, audio, and text conferencing--much like online learning. "Arguing that distance education is inherently about independent study is akin to arguing that operating an automobile means cranking the engine by hand-just because engine cranks were once a feature of all automobiles" (p. 113).
Anderson also takes issue with Garrison's assertion that there is a lack of theoretical development in distance education. He cites that 3.5% of articles are theory based. Next, Anserson's disagrees with Garrison's thought that Moore's theory of Transactional Distance is an Independent/distance education theory and sees this theory as having clear application to online learning. Anderson also considers Garrison's question of the possibility of a convergence of distance and online learning as meaningless because he sees online learning as part of distance education.
Anderson then wrote an article is in response to Garrison's article. Anderson's first contention with Garrison's article is that it "seems to have missed many important developments relating to distance education and obscures the evolution of distance education in its use of online technologies" (p. 111). Garrison tends to only view distance education in its earliest form. Anderson takes the view that distance education has evolved in include new forms of interaction, pedagogy, and support services over time as technology has evolved. Although Garrison sees independence as the goal of distance education, Anderson states that very little of today's distance education is independent study. Garrison also makes the distinction between online learning and distance education. Again, Anderson disputes this separation and considers online education as one form of distance education. Interestingly he uses Garrison's own definition of distance education as support (see page 112).
Anderson describes the evolution of distance education in three stages. The first was main correspondence. Second,was mass media or television and radio broadcast. Third, was marked by video, audio, and text conferencing--much like online learning. "Arguing that distance education is inherently about independent study is akin to arguing that operating an automobile means cranking the engine by hand-just because engine cranks were once a feature of all automobiles" (p. 113).
Anderson also takes issue with Garrison's assertion that there is a lack of theoretical development in distance education. He cites that 3.5% of articles are theory based. Next, Anserson's disagrees with Garrison's thought that Moore's theory of Transactional Distance is an Independent/distance education theory and sees this theory as having clear application to online learning. Anderson also considers Garrison's question of the possibility of a convergence of distance and online learning as meaningless because he sees online learning as part of distance education.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Industrialized Education
Last class we talked a little about Industrialized Education and Peter's theory. Now it feels like every article I read talks about it. I wouldn't mind spending some more time talking about it class. Is there a Peter's article that you recommend reading?
Monday, February 7, 2011
I have to say that I found more variety in researchers rationals then I thought I would. I can also tell that I will find a lot of variety in research methods. I found at least two studies that use grounded theory and one of the articles reads more like a novel than a typical research paper. I was also surprised that research questions were not more clearly written. In a few articles I had to go searching for them. I found a lot of good articles from some top authors in Journal of Distance Education. I will have to review that journal more closely. I don't know if it is a top journal but Garrison, Rovai, and Anderson were all publishing in it (it fact they all kind of got into a debate about CoI).
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