Key issues in distance learning
Underlying themes/principles
This course gives you the opportunity to experience being a distance
learner as well as develop skills which we hope you will find useful for
your role as a distance tutor. We hope that through this experience, you
will understand the issues that are faced by distance learners, and
develop an empathy with them. We'll encourage you to pull out the
implications for you as a tutor.
We all have prior experiences of education which influence how we teach and how we approach our learning. We go into a lecture theatre and already have expectations about who will do what and what behaviour is appropriate and expected. We have some idea about what activities we will undertake in order to study effectively. In distance learning, and particularly in online learning, the prior experiences which shape our approaches to teaching and learning are of less use. Working alone as a distance learner, we are unsure of how to approach our study and form our expectations through the course materials and any communications with tutors. As distance tutors, we need to be much more explicit about what we expect from students, and what they can expect from us, than in face to face teaching.
In this first unit then, we will need to establish how we are going to work together in this online environment. We'll spend some time introducing ourselves, and importantly, clarifying the roles each of us will take on and what to expect from each other. This is an important step in establishing an effective learning dialogue or learning community.
During the next two weeks we will
- introduce ourselves in a variety of different ways
- share, discuss and summarise the issues which are important to distance learners
- highlight and record the implications for DL tutors
Tasks
Task 1. What can you see from your window?
Go to the Unit 1 discussions and the introductions thread. Here you will find a message from the course tutors inviting you to introduce yourself.
We'd like you to do this by telling us something about what you can
see from your window. Say a bit about what you see, about why you're
doing this course and what you hope to get out of it. You might put a
photograph up. Does that help to get to know each other or not?
Task 2. Experiences of distance learning
In the Unit 1 discussions go to the learner experiences thread.
One of the great benefits of an online environment such as this is the
opportunity to reduce the isolation faced by distance learners, not just
to offer them a way of contacting tutors, but to support and learn from
each other. In this discussion topic, we will begin to form our learning
community. We will ask you to share information about your experiences
and expectations of distance learning and prompt you to read and respond
to the experiences of others such as Clare
Gill.
As you reflect on your experiences and expectations of distance
learning, you may find that questions arise about ways of working with
LSHTM which you would like answered. Please post these questions in the
Ask the 'local' expert forum in the 'Ongoing discussions' section of the
course site, where our 'expert participants' will respond. Our 'expert
participants' are experienced LSHTM tutors who have completed this
course in the past. They will keep an eye on the 'Ask the 'local'
expert' forum and be ready to answer your questions throughout the
course.
Task 3: Reflections
Having thought about the experiences of the distance learner in Task 2,
we finish this unit's activities by highlighting and recording the
implications for tutors. Take a look at these Attributes
of an ideal tutor and note which of these you consider most
important for your role. You might have other attributes that you want
to add to this list.
We'll start this discussion by asking you to complete the following
sentence:
Distance Learners need tutors because… (list up to 3 things)
Post your thoughts in the Unit 1 reflections discussion topic. Please
also feel free to use this discussion area to raise any other issues
which have been important to you during this unit.
Finally, remember to complete the Assignment for this Unit, which is
due on Monday 19 November.
Readings
Core readings
- Confessions of a Neophyte Distance Learner and Full-Time Procrastinator. By Clare Gill (2006), published in eLearn Magazine at http://elearnmag.acm.org/featured.cfm?aid=1165338.
Further resources
- Distance Education at a Glance: An Overview. This guide is one in a series developed by Barry Willis and the University of Idaho based on work done in 1993-94. While 20 years old, the principles remain true.
- What makes for a successful online student? from the Illinois Online Network. A more recent piece from 2010.
- Online Graduate Study Of Health Care Learners’ Perceptions of Instructional Immediacy by Sherri Melrose and Kim Bergeron (2006) published in the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning . 7 (1)