Example 1: Collaborative Training Environment
This week we are selecting a real life example of a scenario where technology is needed.For this week’s blog I am considering the example listed below:
A new automated staff information system was recently purchased by a major corporation and needs to be implemented in six regional offices. Unfortunately, the staff is located throughout all the different offices and cannot meet at the same time or in the same location. As an instructional designer for the corporation, you have been charged with implementing a training workshop for these offices. As part of the training, you were advised how imperative it is that the staff members share information, in the form of screen captures and documents, and participate in ongoing collaboration.
Considering there are six regional offices that need training and that geography and time are training problems in this business. I decided that using the Cisco WebEx meeting application would be a good technology to meet business needs for this scenario. WebEx let people meet online share information and collaborate (Cisco, 2011). Even though this technology is costly for a business that requires training and they have offices in different locations, it is worth the investment.
WebEx offers many features for communicating that benefit everyone. One of them is that everyone can meet via the web application at any time. Web conferencing offers three main features; a web meeting area, web training and support services. The Cisco serve allows you to train up to 1000 people at a time. The training center has tool to evaluate the training and it runs reports. The training center offers high quality video integrated audio and multimedia sharing (Cisco, 2011). The training center offers assessments which are always an important tool for an instructional designer, in order to measure the effectiveness of training.
One of the interesting things that I found that the training center offers is break out session in where the trainer can divide people in to groups for brain storming. Instructors can share power points, videos or any type of documents. Students can join the conferences via a phone bridge or VOIP.
One of the companies that use WebEx successfully is TalktoCanada.com. The company’s core business is offering English language training to individual clients or businesses. They use to train their instructors and also to interact with their clients. Since they decided to use WebEx they have been able to establish relationship ships all over the world. Instructors and students find that WebEx is an easy and highly functional tool to use.
Glen Raven manufactures fabrics globally. They realized that they need to offer new hire training for the new employees and that it was not cost effective to travel every time training was needed. Cisco was a good match for them because they supported the Glen Raven’s current router and all existing networks (Cisco, 2011). The company saved a lot of money and gained more customers after using WebEx.
Please click on the link below to view an example of an instructor using WebEx.
http://youtu.be/N8ZiT3hL5kw
Another choice that maybe a small company would prefer because the cost is less than WebEx could be Skytap. In the Skytap environment the trainings would occur in a cloud. With Skytap you can set up virtual classrooms and you can also create a library with all the training material the student will need for the training. One of the great benefits is that remote access is through the internet and the students or employees can log in from anywhere as long as they have internet connectivity.
Skytap also offers labs in the classroom area where students can complete activities that relate to the training. With Skytap it is easy for the trainer to help out the student. If the student needs help the instructor and the student can view class room at the same time and see exactly what the student is seeing without having to share. Instructors can always reuse a classroom and easily change the content of the class area without having to go through tech support. A company that used Skytap successfully is VDIworks. VDI works core business is to create and manage virtual desktops (Skytap.com, 2011). Since they acquired the training tool, they lowered their travel cost, the time it took them to set up a classroom reduced. They were also able to collaborate with clients across the world.
Click on the link below to see an example of the Skytap technology
http://www.skytap.com/solutions/virtual-training/
Both distance learning technologies that I selected provide the core benefits a distance learning program should provide; 24 access, the student can participate from anywhere and they both can save money and time (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009).
References:
Cisco. (2011, November 16). Web conferencing. Retrieved November 16, 2011, from Cisco:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/hmpgs/index.html
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance:
Foundations of distance education (4 ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Skytap.com. (2011, August 1). Customers. Retrieved November 18, 2011, from Skytap.com:
http://www.skytap.com/customers
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Distance Learning
Distance Learning and the Future
The main reason I feel that distance learning is evolving is because of all the advances of technology. As we saw in the distance learning timeline resources, we can see how distance learning has evolved through the years. We can see that distance learning started through mail and now we are using computers. New technologies, lead to new ways of communicating and learning. As technology advances , people's perspective on learning online also grow. People and society are embracing online learning. The benefits that online learning provides to adult learners and or any non- traditional learners are huge. The flexibility to log into a class whenever you can, the advantage of avoiding a commute are some of the obvious benefits of online learning. The course text explains that all the changes in society and technology impact distance learning ( Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009).
Before I started online school I thought that online learning was an easy way to obtain a degree that I did not have to travel to school. I also had pre conceived idea that I would be watching a recording of teacher in a live classroom teach a class. I thought that the course would be exactly as a traditional classroom environment but online. I also did not realize how much interaction would be involved between other classmates and I. Surprising to me , was the amount of writing involved , the quality discussions and participation involved in online learning. As a traditional student, I barley participated in any of the discussions during the four years of my undergraduate education. As I ponder on the definition of online learning as per the course text.
The main components of distance learning are the following: institutionally based, separation of teacher and student, interactive telecommunicate ions and sharing of data, voice and video (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009). The two components that I did not think about before the class as much are the last two , interactive telecommunications and sharing of data, voice and video. The course text explains that interaction should be important but that is should not be the primary characteristic of interactions (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009).
Before this class, I really felt that interaction was the primary source of learning and that content was important but not as much as interaction. I thought this because I believed mainly that we were learning more from each other , rather than with the resources provided. I now know that we are learning from each other but rather more a combination of connections, classmates, learning resources and the instructors. All the factors are equally important. Reading and understanding the definition of distance learning clarifies things for me things in the sense that that distance learning is not defined as one thing but it is a combination of elements in order to be considered real distance learning.
Finally, as I think about the future of distance learning I envision great things. I am hoping for more opportunities within the K-12 environment within the public school system. In the state of Maryland, they do not offer students in public schools online classes. As technology advances, online learning also will advance. Technology will provide students more tools to assist with learning , greater ways to communicate and share information. Another thing that I envision is that traditional higher education universities will be providing programs of better quality and there will be choices. Hopefully more instructional design training will be provided to faculty and course development will be even more student centered as result. Jeong, concludes in his research that in the future he would like to see more criteria in designing, implementing and evaluating online discussions. I agree and hope that rubrics for discussions are designed in a way that truly measures what the student learned.
I included the following mind map. Please take a look.
http://www.webspirationpro.com/view/1026279a1d1c4
References:
Jeong, S. (2010). Towards rigor of online interaction research:
Implication for future distance learning research. Turkish Online Journal
Of Educational Technology, 9(2), 256-263.
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and
learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA:
Pearson.
The main reason I feel that distance learning is evolving is because of all the advances of technology. As we saw in the distance learning timeline resources, we can see how distance learning has evolved through the years. We can see that distance learning started through mail and now we are using computers. New technologies, lead to new ways of communicating and learning. As technology advances , people's perspective on learning online also grow. People and society are embracing online learning. The benefits that online learning provides to adult learners and or any non- traditional learners are huge. The flexibility to log into a class whenever you can, the advantage of avoiding a commute are some of the obvious benefits of online learning. The course text explains that all the changes in society and technology impact distance learning ( Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009).
Before I started online school I thought that online learning was an easy way to obtain a degree that I did not have to travel to school. I also had pre conceived idea that I would be watching a recording of teacher in a live classroom teach a class. I thought that the course would be exactly as a traditional classroom environment but online. I also did not realize how much interaction would be involved between other classmates and I. Surprising to me , was the amount of writing involved , the quality discussions and participation involved in online learning. As a traditional student, I barley participated in any of the discussions during the four years of my undergraduate education. As I ponder on the definition of online learning as per the course text.
The main components of distance learning are the following: institutionally based, separation of teacher and student, interactive telecommunicate ions and sharing of data, voice and video (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009). The two components that I did not think about before the class as much are the last two , interactive telecommunications and sharing of data, voice and video. The course text explains that interaction should be important but that is should not be the primary characteristic of interactions (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009).
Before this class, I really felt that interaction was the primary source of learning and that content was important but not as much as interaction. I thought this because I believed mainly that we were learning more from each other , rather than with the resources provided. I now know that we are learning from each other but rather more a combination of connections, classmates, learning resources and the instructors. All the factors are equally important. Reading and understanding the definition of distance learning clarifies things for me things in the sense that that distance learning is not defined as one thing but it is a combination of elements in order to be considered real distance learning.
Finally, as I think about the future of distance learning I envision great things. I am hoping for more opportunities within the K-12 environment within the public school system. In the state of Maryland, they do not offer students in public schools online classes. As technology advances, online learning also will advance. Technology will provide students more tools to assist with learning , greater ways to communicate and share information. Another thing that I envision is that traditional higher education universities will be providing programs of better quality and there will be choices. Hopefully more instructional design training will be provided to faculty and course development will be even more student centered as result. Jeong, concludes in his research that in the future he would like to see more criteria in designing, implementing and evaluating online discussions. I agree and hope that rubrics for discussions are designed in a way that truly measures what the student learned.
I included the following mind map. Please take a look.
http://www.webspirationpro.com/view/1026279a1d1c4
References:
Jeong, S. (2010). Towards rigor of online interaction research:
Implication for future distance learning research. Turkish Online Journal
Of Educational Technology, 9(2), 256-263.
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and
learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA:
Pearson.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Welcome
Welcome
Greetings fellow bloggers! Welcome to my blog for my EDUC - 6135 - Distance Learning class. My name is Sheila and I am from the island of Puerto Rico. I am currently working for an online university as a product delivery specialist during the day and at night I work as linguist. I have three boys and a Boxer puppy.
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