The document discusses the evolution of distance education technologies over time. It outlines 6 dominant systems from correspondence studies using postal mail to modern two-way audio and video communication using computer networks and telecommunications. The general principles discussed are that technology has been the main driver of change in distance education and new technologies are widely adopted after gaining acceptance in broader society. Emerging technologies discussed include e-books, mobile learning, and virtual reality environments. The document also examines how virtual learning communities and new pedagogies will shape the next evolutionary step in online learning.

1. The Next Evolutionary
Step in Online Learning
Fabio Chacon, Ph D
Chacon Ph.D.

2. Recent Evolution of Distance Education
1910-
1910-2010
Technology Dominant systems
1. Correspondence studies Postal system
Photocopy machines
2. Prerecorded media Recording systems for audio and video
3. Two-way audio & graphics Computer network, software
Television classroom
4. One-way video Broadcasting (cable, satellite)
Telephone /Satellite TV array Telecommunication
array,
5. Two-way audio & video network (leased telephone lines, ISDN, fiber optics,
microwave)
6. Desktop/laptop communications Multimedia computer (camera, microphone), TCP-IP,
high-speed network. World-wide access t resources
hi h d t k W ld id to

3. Which of these media prevailed
in DE?

4. General principles
G l i i l
 Technology has been the motor of change in
distance education (DE)
 Prior to d ti by DE, technologies h
P i t adoption b DE t h l i where
widely accepted in society
 Many technologies were b i fl adopted and
M t h l i briefly d t d d
later discarded
 “Survival” f technologies is determined b
“S i l” of t h l i i d t i d by
ecological laws

5. Which are some of these laws?
(Shaw and Chacon, 2010)
 Reduction of transactional distance
 Equivalence
 Industrialization
 Convergence
 Requisite variety (multimodality vs. single
modality)

6. More recent technologies
Technology Medium
9. E-Book Digitized book, approaching to multimedia
Requires special reader
Allows hypertext and search
Increased use by e-learning programs
10. Mobile, hand-held devices Worldwide extended use
Text, image and voice messaging
Use of push technologies
Capabilities near personal computer
Mobile learning (on the go)

7. Emerging technology: immersive
environments or virtual reality
i t it l lit

8. Persona = Avatar
P A t
Plus
 Gesture communication
 Enhanced social presence
p
 Skills learning (incipient)
Minus
 Longer learning curve
 Technical requirements
 Communicational “noise”
 Financial aspects

9. Virtual training environment

10. Ecological b i
E l i l barriers
= 101 / 10
= 101 / 10 pins
= 101 / 2

11. Ecological b i
E l i l barriers
= noise/signal
= asynchronous world
y
= mouse + keystrokes
= mouse + keystrokes

12. ¿What is then an instructional
medium?
di ?
 Device(s) able to transport and manipulate
information in different formats
 Enables user to perform operations with
information (read, edit, store, create, etc.)
 Physical form adapted to preferred use
 Capabilities and standards converge across
media
 Physical differences become marginal to
users

13. Human dimension (Palloff & Pratt):
Virtual Learning Community (VCL)
C
Community = social group th t can b
it i l that be
distinguished from a category or conglomerate
 Traditional concept = group with a territory base
 Modern concept= group with diffuse limits,
distributed in
di t ib t d i a geographic space and with
hi d ith
capability for interaction

14. What is a virtual community?
Wh t i it l it ?
 Still a social group, with a sort of territory
group
 The territory is electronic/virtual so all
intervening objects, processes and people are
digitally represented
 Virtual communities support and strengthen
knowledge acquisition (Palloff and Pratt)
 Three integrative forces: goals, interaction and
common language
g g

15. Communities in online courses
C iti i li
 Wheel-type interaction  Networked interaction
 Low cohesion  High h i
Hi h cohesion
 Focus medium to high  High focus
 Social learning p
g prevails
 Cognitive l
C iti learning
i  Frequent affective
prevails elements
 Occasional affective  Engagement,
Engagement joy
elements  Lingers on after the
 Disappears with the course
course
Functionality Solidarity
F. Chacón

16. Principles
Pi i l
 Learning community is difficult to achieve in a
distance course
 However,
However it is one key factor of success
 In the formation of the virtual community
there are factors of:
 Course organization
 Instructor
 Students
 Learning Management System
F. Chacon

17. WEB 2.0
How media contribute to the
emergence of learning
g g
communities?

18. p
podcasting
g

19. wikis
iki

20. social
networking
t ki

21. social bookmarking
g

22. blogging

23. Criteria f S l ti
C it i for Selecting Tools
T l
 Effectiveness
 Availability
 Cost
 Convenience
 Comfort
 Learning/communication styles
g y
 “Culture” of the institution/locale

24. The digital divide

25. Congo - 2010
C
Classroom for 125 students and one teacher

26. The great forces of change in
DE at the beginning of the
decade of the 2010
d d f h 2010s
 Technology
 Virtual communities
Virt al comm nities
 The new pedagogies
Let us examine them, briefly
y

27. Future Technology
gy
 The bandwidth is unlimited
 The
Th processing power is unlimited
i i li it d
 Computers will become more specialized
 Personal media will be (more) embedded in
everyday life
 Converging: Operating systems, CMS / LMS,
libraries, student information systems, etc.
 Keywords: simplicity, integration and
modularity
 Learning systems are tailored to the user and
not vice versa.

28. Future Communities
 The community technologies around us are
creating a new culture of learners
g
 Today students prefer to work in teams in peer-
to-peer situations within a structured
environment that affords a fair amount of
flexibility
 We are getting closer to a new apprenticeship
era fostered by virtual communities
 Universities and colleges must b ready f
U i iti d ll t be d for
“edgeless design”, recognizing that students
belong to various communities of practice

29. An Example
A E l
Queensland University of Technology (Australia)

30. To what extent does
technology and virtual
t h l d it l
communities change the
nature of learning?

31. Inquiry-based
How might technology Construction
support active learning? Conceptual understanding
C t l d t di
Taking tests
Inquiry-based education Problem-solving
Constructivism Narrative
Literacy
Mediated learning Game authoring
Discovery learning
y g Techno computing skill-learning
Techno-computing skill learning
Learning as conversation Fieldwork
Problem-based learning Communication
Reflective practice Collaboration
Learning identities
Meta-cognition Conceptual networks
Experiential learning Manipulation skills
Learner-oriented approach Informal interests
Social constructivism Self-worth
Situated learning
g Modelling
Scenarios
Evaluating evidence

32. Is there a change in the nature
of learning?
• what it takes to learn’ will not change
• what is learned is changing
• how it is learned is changing
• technology makes more feasible the idea of
learning as an active, interactive, adaptive,
personalized, situated, collaborative process
•Collaborative learning is social learning: modeling,
vicarious reinforcement, enactive learning, self-
efficay, self-regulation

33. WHAT INTERNATIONAL TRENDS
ARE SHAPING DISTANCE
EDUCATION?

34. Source:
http://www.studymentor.com/

35. The
Th trends
d
 Large-scale
Large scale programs
 More than 100,000 students
 Decentralized systems
 Large investments in technology
 Industrialized model predominant
 There seems no growth limit

36. Source:
http://www.ambientinsight.com/Reports/eLearn
ing.aspx

37. Example
E l
2009: Top U.S. Higher Education Online Institutions by Enrollment Totals
Institution 2009 Online Enrollment Online Enrollment
Totals Growth from 2008 to
2009
University of Phoenix Online 310,400 22%
Kaplan University 68,200 47%
DeVry 56,300 26%
Strayer University 54,300 25%
American Public Education 53,600 49%
Bridgepoint Education 45,500 101%
Walden University 40,500 17%
UMassOnline 40,000 18%
Liberty University 36,200 15%
Education Management 34,800 54%
Capella Education 33,900 26%
Grand Canyon Education 32,600 53%
University of Maryland University 30,400
30 400 17%
College
Source: The Worldwide Market for Self-paced eLearning Products and Services: 2009-
2014 Forecast and Analysis , Ambient Insight, February 2010.

38. The trends
 System Integration
 Convergence between CMS / LMS, student
information system and library support systems
 There are still many gaps that indicate areas of
Th till th t i di t f
possible development
 Rapid changes in technology and software make
it difficult to integrate – e.g. mobile learning blues
 The greater the integration, the lower the cost
g g ,

39. The Trends
 The standardization of courseware and
learning objects
 Goal: Integration of courses and free resources
platform
l tf
 Achievement: Large repositories of learning
objects (MERLOT MIT Open Courseware
(MERLOT, Courseware,
Ariadne, etc.).
 SCORM standard emerges as more finished
g

40. The trends
 The market trend
 Book publishers have great influence on how
resources are used in distance courses
 Competence makes the systems try to be
more efficient (improved effectiveness/cost)
 Large-scale operations force institutions to
think the course as a product in all aspects
 CMS/LMS are highly competitive and use
tactics to "hook" the user

41. The trends
 Mobile learning
 Is becoming the new generation of distance
education
 Based on an enormous capacity for cellular and
satellite networks spread across the world
lli k d h ld
 Communication devices and personal
organization have become more sophisticated
and replace the computer
 This revolution is accompanied by new ways of
delivering old media: e-book, pod cast, web cast,
d l ld d b k d b
text messaging and picture mail
 Accelerated convergence has solved some
technical problems

42. The trends
 Globalization
 Harmonization of degree levels is spreading
g p g
across the world
 Several countries have become educational
centers for the world: USA Canada, Australia,
USA, Canada Australia
India, South Africa ...
 A small group of CMS/LMS has catapulted itself
g p / p
to the great majority of countries
 Two major operating systems dominate the
personal computer market with the possibility of
a third (Linux)
 English has become the lingua franca of global
g g g
education, followed by Spanish (Chinese is the
most spoken)

43. Today's News: The College of 2020
 It will certainly be a hybrid model
 Offer of educational program is governed
by the principle of convenience
 Universities that have resisted eLearning
will have to mutate or be minimized
 Students expect to have access to
content and activities through personal
mobile devices
 Colleges and universities must be ready
to offer all possible options
http://research.chronicle.com/reports.html

44. Today’s News: The third p
y phase of
eLearning
 Near monopoly of Blackboard Inc has
caused a resurgence of open source
d f
software
 Enrollment i online programs i growing
E ll in li is i
faster than HE in general (17% in the US in
2009)
 The student-teacher interaction and
student student
student-student interaction in virtual
environments are getting closer to real time
 Sophisticated measurement tools enable a
360 º assessment of the student

45. The
Th next evolutionary step
t l ti t
 The technology
 Ubiquitous computing
 Two or three devices supported instead of one
 Seamless integration between devices
 Asynchronous communication dominates
 Convergence of three macro-systems: LMS, SIS
and the Library
 Integration with Web 2 technologies (more open)
 C oud computing
Cloud co pu g will e a ce co abo a o
enhance collaboration

46. New Network Map
Jonathan Mott (2010)

47. Networked services
Jonathan Mott (2010)

48. The
Th next evolutionary step
t l ti t
 The course
 A branched structure rather than a sequence
 Collaborative and experiential
 Social-cognitive learning models prevail
 Engagement and student retention is the key
 Multiple resources available in multiple digital
formats
 Downloadable courses preferred to only web-
based
 Agents keep track of students and facilitate
communications

49. The
Th next evolutionary step
t l ti t
 The program/institution
p g
 Provisions to counteract the digital divide
 Small footprint, large extension
 Many tasks are outsourced
 Tight interaction with publishers and open
repositories
 Multi-language programs and staff (prevalence of
English,
English Spanish and Chinese)
 Student retention and graduation strategies in place
 Catering multiple needs of students: connections to
students’ lives, jobs, and communities

50. THE END