Evaluating Teaching and Learning at a Distance Ch. Objectives

4.1 Differentiate between research and evaluation.

When differentiating between research and evaluation one must know what they mean. Research produces generalizable knowledge, scientific inquiry based on intellectual curiosity, advances broad knowledge and theory and controlled setting while evaluation judges merit or worth, policy & program interests of stakeholders paramount, provides information for decision-making on specific program, conducted within setting of changing actors, priorities, resources, & timeline.

4.2 Define evaluation.

Evaluation, as contrasted to research is the systematic investigation of the worth or merit of an object. Evaluation of programs is used to identify strengths and weaknesses well as the benefits and drawbacks of teaching and learning online. There are five steps when discussing evaluation and distance education which are reactions(did they like it), learning(did they learn it), transfer(will they use it)results(will it matter) and return on investment.

4.3 Explain the six categories of evaluation information: in measures of activity, efficiency, outcomes, program aims, policy, and organizations.

The six categories of evaluation information are measures in activity (questions such as how many courses were produced and how many students were served), efficiency (questions include how many students successfully completed the course and what was the average students workload how much did the course cost), outcomes (measures of adequate learning and documenting the borrowing and use of courses and course materials), program aims (surveys of learners), policy and organizations (evaluation).

4.4 Describe the AEIOU approach to evaluation and its five levels—

accountability, effectiveness, impact, organizational.

Accountability is defined as did the project planners do what they said they were going to do, effectiveness is how well done was the project, impact  is did the project, course, or program make a difference, organizational context which means what structures, policies or events in the organization or environment helped or hindered the project in accomplishing its goals and unanticipated consequences which is what changes or consequences of importance happened as a result of the project that was not expected.

Evaluating Teaching and Learning at a Distance URL's

http://crlt.umich.edu/resources/evaluation-teaching/methods

This article is about evaluation of teaching can have many purposes, including collecting feedback for teaching improvement, developing a portfolio for job applications, or gathering data as part of personnel decisions.

http://www.euromedinfo.eu/evaluating-teaching-and-learning.html/

This article was informative because it goes in to detail about the goal of evaluation to see if the student has learned what was being taught. It also discusses the role of documentation which promotes communication.

http://www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/evaluation.htm

This article goes in depth about evaluation which is the key to the improvement of teaching: if you do not review what you have done and achieved, how can you know how to improve it? The most important thing to know is that evaluation is to teaching as assessment is to learning.

Evaluating Teaching and Learning at a Distance Definitions

1.    . Effectiveness is when evaluators conduct interviews and focus groups to determine what impact the availability of the ICN had on classroom education.

2.    Measures of efficiency are defined as measures of efficiency are closely related to measures of activity, and often administrative records can be the source of efficiency information.

3.    Accountability is when evaluators check records, interview staff, and visit classrooms to determine if the status of the development of the ICN, both as a physical system and as a tool used by teachers to deliver courses to distant learners. The accountability focus shifted during the project as its activities shifted from construction to implementation and finally to maintenance.

4.    Measures of activity are measures that count the numbers of events, people, and objects. Administrative records often provide data for activity questions.

5.    The six components of evaluation is teaching and learning, developing a community of learners, the instructor, the student, implementation of the course, and technology use.

6.    It is important to know that an evaluation plan must provide accountability, effectiveness, impact, organizational context and unanticipated outcomes.

7.    Measures of program aims is when some distance teaching programs specify their aims in terms of what and whom they intend to teach, and evaluation information is collected to establish the extent to which these aims were met.

8.    Measures of outcomes are measures of adequate learning are usually considered the most important measures of outcomes of distance education activities.

 10. Measures of organizations are important to evaluate in a distance education institution in terms of its internal organization and procedures. Evaluators sometimes are asked to monitor the process of course development or program delivery to help an organization be more efficient.

Evaluating Teaching and Learning at a Distance Prezi

https://prezi.com/lyaxmgmgh520/evaluating-teaching-and-learning-at-a-distance/

Managing and Leading in a Distance Education Organization Ch. Objectives

4.1 Describe the functions of a distance education administrator in each of the four subsystems of a distance education system.

The administrative functions are to provide strategic leadership and direction, conduct program analysis, maintains the organizational website ensures availability and responsiveness for all student support requirements  and ensures fiscal responsibility for online courses and programs.

4.2 Describe the major national, regional, and local issues that affect distance education programs.

The things that affect the different levels are financial aid, how distance education is being taught and telecommunications.

4.3 List and explain the significant areas of cost in the development, delivery, and evaluation of distance education programs.

Distance education is expensive. Personnel costs typically are the majority of the total budgets for distance education programs. Even if these costs are prorated portions of the organizational budget, they can be extraordinary, depending on the size of the program. When budgets get cut development and delivery was cut first.

4.4 Describe a successful program for training faculty to teach effectively in a distance education environment.

A successful and effective curriculum should include the unique attributes and needs of distance learners, assessments of students at a distance, course evaluation, course management factors such as office hours, course instructional design for distance delivery and effective use of embedded technologies.

4.5 Explain how the federal and state governments and accreditation agencies evaluate distance education programs.

Their primary emphasis is on program quality, to protect the public from diploma mills. The federal government evaluates it by student financial aid, copyright, school and public access, and data gathering. The state governments evaluate it having students participate in lab or clinical at an in state site and the instruction participates in in-state college affairs. The regional accreditation agencies in particular are rapidly becoming distance education administrations best friends in promoting distance education and upholding quality standards.

4.6 Explain how access and accessibility issues should influence distance education programs.

The web can be an important tool for disabled students. Students at a distance, however, can be  a greater disadvantage if they are without easy access to campus based disability resources and advocacy for accessible web resources.

4.7 Explain how intellectual property issues should be addressed at the local level.

In the absence the ownership of online courses or course materials developed by a teacher should be specified in the employment contract or collective bargaining agreement. The best thing to do before questions become issues is to develop an organizational intellectual policy to which all parties agree.

Managing and Leading in a Distance Education Organization URL's

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/distance-learning/distance-education-administrators-face-unique-challenges/

This article is about how many distance education administrators must constantly juggle concerns about academic integrity, technology, and student access, along with campus politics and their own learning curve. They are also affected because of lack of power, loss of autonomy, and staff concerns.

http://cde.athabascau.ca/syllabi/mdde605.php

This article discusses the role of planning and management in distance education and what is expected of the student.

http://sydney.edu.au/education_social_work/professional_learning/resources/papers/StanleyG_06_SustainableLeadership.pdf

This article is talking about how planning changes is always easier than implementing it. It states that data and analysis are essential elements as a base for planning change.  It goes in depth on how educators are a critical community and will require engagement with their criticism throughout the process.

Managing and Leading a Distance Education Organization Definitions

1.Course Subsystem covers a range of responsibility than the design and development of courses, although these are the primary functions.

2. Intellectual Property Rights related to online courses and the media embedded within are a significant issue in distance education. The essential concerns are ownership of components of online courses and rights.

3. A distance learning leader has competence in knowing, designing, managing, leading, and visioning distance education.

4. A Distance Learning Leader is one capable of action who guides an organization’s future, its vision, mission, goals, and objectives. The leader guides the organization and its people who have faith in the leader, and have a clear understanding and acceptance of the organization.

5. The Costs of Distance Education is expensive, it costs range from basic operation of the administrative office for distance education to faculty salaries to instructional design and technical support personnel to student support personnel to the delivery technology infrastructure. Personnel costs typically are the vast majority of the total budgets for distance education programs.

6.   Compensation is a related issue because of the extra workload, many faculties feel that teaching distance education courses should rate additional compensation or as an alternative they may seek released time that they can dedicate to course development and delivery.

7. The rights of students are an important concern of distance education managers.

8. Constant communication with students is imperative throughout a distance education course.

9. Work for Hire is an important part of the intellectual property rights debate. Under work for hire, if an employee creates a work during the course of her or his employment, the copyright of the work normally belongs to the employer.

10. Distance Education Policy is known as the policy development and implementation, it is an important topic to be addressed when an organization considers offering distance courses and programs.

         

Managing and Leading a Distance Education Organization Prezi

https://prezi.com/xntycr8hyj23/managing-and-leading-a-distance-organizationeducatio/

Copyright and Distance Education Ch. Objectives

4.1 Differentiate between myth and fact related to copyright applications in distance

education.

A work has to be published and registered with the United States Copyright Office to receive copyright protection, if it doesn’t have a copyright notice it is a public domain, anything on the internet is public domain, a work copyrighted in another country is public domain in the United States, the doctrine of “fair use” means that copyrighted materials can be used in an educational setting without permission and lastly any copyrighted materials can be digitized and placed on a course website without permission, as long as the site is password protected.  

4.2 Recognize the exclusive rights granted to copyright holders by U.S. copyright law.

The exclusive rights are to reproduce the copyrighted work, prepare derivative works based on the copyrighted original, distribute copies of the copyrighted work, perform the copyrighted work, and display the copyrighted work publicly.

4.3 Determine when copyrighted material enters the public domain.

 It can enter the public domain most often simply through expiration of copyright protection and when owners abandon their copyrights.

4.4 Apply the four essential fair use criteria and published guidelines to determine whether use of copyrighted materials requires permission from rights holders.

The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole, and the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

4.5 Identify and track the status of current copyright legislation in Congress, and be aware of the implications of new legislation.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) 1998, and the Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act 2002

4.6 Determine whether learning materials may be used in a video-based distance education course without permission or require authorization from the rights holder.

 According to the Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act (TEACH)   digital materials must only be available to the students during approximately the same time period in which they would be available to an face to face class, unless unusual circumstances exist, your institution holds the copyright to these videos, and you should be able to use them  anytime without restrictions.

4.7 Recognize what materials may be placed on the Internet without permission.

Materials that may be placed without permission are name, position, institution, mailing address and phone and fax number. Identification of the item to be used, complete description of the intended use and date by which permission is requested.

4.8 Recognize the circumstances under which Internet materials copyrighted by others may be forwarded, downloaded, and printed.

Under the circumstances and broadly speaking, one can copyright any original work of authorship that can be "fixed in any tangible medium of expression," such as written on paper, or encoded on disk or tape, or recorded on film

4.9 Follow appropriate procedures for obtaining permission from rights holders to use copyrighted materials in a distance education course.

Distance educators must obtain permission from rights holders before using copyrighted materials in their courses, they should begin by contacting the publisher or distributor, if no address or phone is provided one must check catalogues or refer to the librarian and the last resort is a plea for help sent to the appropriate Internet mailing list. 

4.10 Facilitate the development of an effective intellectual property rights policy.

The development is who owns an online course the school/university, the faculty member providing the content, should the ownership be shared between the two , and if so under what conditions or is it even possible to “own” an entire online course.

4.11 Recognize the potential consequences of copyright infringement

If a copyright infringement is found on a website maintained by a service provider, the rights holder may request that the service provider “take down” or block access to the infringing material and escape organizational liability for the infringement.

Coopyright and Distance Education URL's

http://horizon.unc.edu/projects/resources/intellectual_property.html

The purpose of this article is to link to Web-based articles that review the literature in this area or that pose substantive arguments as to the current state of affairs. This article was very informative. It talks about fair use and the United States Copyright Office Guidelines.

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/copyright/teachact/distanceeducation

This article was very informative and went into detail about the Distance Education and the TEACH Act and the gave some important dates about the act.

 http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/distance-learning/copyright-and-fair-use-issues-in-online-education/

This article talked about copyright infringement and the three main legal issues that can cause trouble in online educational programs: ownership issues, copyright issues, and issues of harassment and defamation.

Copyright and Distance Education Definitions

1.     Intellectual Property -The matter of intellectual property (IP) rights is currently one of the hot buttons in distance education, particularly among faculty unions.

2.    Public Domain-Any work in the public domain may be used freely in a distance education course. Works may enter the public domain several ways, most often simply through expiration of copyright protection.

3.    Photographs and Digital Images The reproduction of photographs, illustrations, graphic designs, and other still images for use in a distance education course presents a perplexing copyright dilemma because intellectual property may be involved at several levels.

4.     Section 110 of the copyright law permits the performance or display of a work during the face-to-face teaching activities of a nonprofit educational institution, in a classroom or similar place devoted to instruction, with a lawfully made or acquired copy.

5.     The first copyright legislation in the United States was enacted by Congress in 1790, a bill modeled after the Statute of Anne.

6.     The reproduction of photographs, illustrations, graphic designs, and other still     images for use in a distance education course presents a perplexing copyright dilemma because intellectual property may be involved at several levels.

7.     Most materials published by the U.S. government are specifically excluded from copyright protection by section 105 and are in the public domain from the date of creation.

8.     The copyright law itself is a document in a perpetual state of change. The law was amended by Congress a total of 63 times between its enactment in 1976 and the end of 2009.

9.     The DMCA requires educational institutions to engage in an ongoing program for educating its Internet users about copyright issues.

10.Videotapes and other Audiovisual Media- works that consist of a series of related images which are intrinsically intended to be shown by the use of machines or devices such as projectors, viewers, or electronic equipment into courses transmitted to remote sites.

Copyright and Distance Education Prezi

     https://prezi.com/ozv0g3grn0ly/copyright-and-distance-education/

Assessment Prezi

http://prezi.com/wle49sjitmkt/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Internet Based Slideshare

http://www.slideshare.net/elboni1/internet-based-learning-slideshare

Handouts, StudyGuides and Visuals Slideshare

Handouts slideshare from Elboni Todd

Assessment Ch. Objectives

4.1 Discuss the role of assessment in the instructional design process, especially for distance education.

The role of assessment in the instructional design process is a corollary development of learning objectives. The assessment activities are matched to expectations and instruction is then based on assessment plans. When designing assessment measures one must focus on the cognitive domain.

4.2 Describe the characteristics of several types of assessment activities and the appropriate uses of each within a distance education environment.

One of the most important characteristics of a good assessment tool is that it matches the objectives which are also known as alignment, which indicates an acceptable degree of synchronicity among objects. Another characteristic is known as validity which is when an assessment provides an accurate estimate of learning gains. Another characteristic of a good assessment is clarity of expectations and it is referred to how easy the assessment is for the learners or others to understand. The most important thing is does the assessment activity measure learning gains and allow an accurate generalization of results beyond the immediate situation.

4.3 Implement practical strategies for assessing learner progress in a distance education course.

When wanting to implement some various assessment strategies to improve the effectiveness of the distance education environment these strategies are helpful: ongoing and non graded assessment measures. Ongoing strategy is known also as embedded it is when assessment activities are woven into the fabric of the instructional process to see if the student progress doesn’t represent a student’s threat. The purpose is to monitor progress toward intended goals in a spirit of continuous improvement. When using non graded assessment one must assign scores to massive amounts of students work. Balancing flexibility and structure is when students have the opportunity to prepare their assignments on their own time. It should be based on the maturity of the student.

4.4 Discuss issues related to academic misconduct and describe how cheating, plagiarism, and other forms of unethical behavior may be preempted or alleviated in a distance education course.

Many institutions have their own policies stating their academic misconduct. The most important thing we know as students and educators is that cheating and plagiarism are serious problems. Plagiarism is when one has the intent to claim someone else work as their own and misuse sources. Of a\the technologies that have influenced them both the most frequently one used is online entrepreneurs which sell papers that are already formatted for easy submission. In distance education programs cheating is when students submit assignments, participate in discussions or request the instructor assistance with no face to face identity. Technological measures cheating on test includes randomizing the order of test items. A Media report of unethical behavior in politics, business, journalism and other professions says “it’s not a big deal” in fact leads to dishonesty in people. An honor code is a great way to eliminate cheating.

Assessment 3-URL's

www.learningoutcomeassessment.org/documents/onlineed.pdf

This article was very informative because it goes into detail  about online learning and technology. It goes into great depth on why some universities have online courses.

https://www.apa.org/.../finalreport.d

This article explains what is distance education and why is there is such a huge demand for it. This article states in distance education programs its purpose is to provide training to place committed individuals and to enhance traditional educational programs.

https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eqm0213.pdf

This article summarizes that evaluation goes along with evaluation. It goes into detail on formative evaluations. It clearly states that online learners can have the possibility to fail if not given the correct support.

Assessment Definitions

1.     Assessments often function as a motivational activity. Most learners want to do well, and knowing that they will be held accountable for a body of knowledge or set of skills can put them on the right track.

2.     Assessing a learner’s readiness to begin an instructional unit can be particularly important in a skills training environment.

3.     Asynchronous Communication these flexible online utilities can be used to implement a wide variety of assessment activities.

4.     Cheating to a great extent, teachers assume that students are honest individuals. For example, few instructors in a face-to-face classroom environment would consider checking identification to verify that each person sitting in that room is, in fact, who they claim to be.

5.     Journal Writing is defined as when students participating in field experiences or clinical rotations are frequently required to track their progress through journal writing, often in response to specific learning objectives or for accountability and accreditation purposes.

6.     Validity is known as the degree to which an assessment provides an accurate estimate of learning gains.

7.     Criterion-referenced is when the rater compares the learner’s performance with that of a predetermined set of standards drawn from the learning objectives.

8.     Reliability refers to the stability of an instrument or activity.

9.     With planning, almost any technique for assessment possible in a regular classroom is also possible for distant learners.

10.            Formative assessments are those activities that lead to the refinement of the instruction itself.

Internet- Based Ch. Objectives

4.1 Describe how the physical structure of the Internet facilitates the delivery of distance education to learners in a wide variety of locations and at varying educational levels.

The whole physical structure of the Internet has introduced a various amount of telecommunications technologies. It is categorized into four different tiers which are tier1 is the National/International Backbone Network, tier 2 is the regional networks, tier 3 is the Internet Service Provider while tier 4 is the Internal Networks. This is very important for students and teachers using the internet for educational purposes, because no quality-control mechanism exists to ensure that information are accurate and unbiased.

4.2 Discuss why the Internet relates well to transformations taking place in the general paradigms for teaching and learning.

It has went from lecturing to coaching, taking attendance to logging on, distribution requirements to connected learning ,credit hours to performance standards. It has also turned from competing to collaboration, from library collections to network connecting. Passive learning has gone to active while textbooks are now considered course materials.

4.3 Discuss the advantages and limitations of Internet-based learning.

There are so many compared with face to face teaching such as unless information is restricted students can work from a variety of different places when learning, students can work at their own pace, learning materials are available across the entire web, once information is developed students can have access to all current information, when it comes to limitations online courses require students to take more responsibility for their own learning, some topics may not adapt to well to delivery by computer, online courses may put emphasis on technology rather than content and learning opportunities.

4.4 Discuss the evolution of the Internet and its functions that most directly relate to

Distance education, such as electronic mail, mailing lists, and the World Wide Web.

It is a protocol which is an electronic language that computers use to communicate with each other and exchange data. It has no international headquarters or mailing address or telephone number. It is in a constant state of evolution with thousands of vendors making changes on a daily basis.

4.5 Identify the typical components of a course management system and their functions in Internet-based distance education.

Course management components may include a syllabus, course calendar, announcements, assignment instructions, learning objectives and the student roster, they typical parts are readings which is information that can be read online, content presentations which are slides and power point presentations, course communications which is emails, blogs or video -conferencing, group project space,  and student assessment which are exams and quizzes to see what the student has learned in the course and digital drop box.

4.6 Describe ways in which a course management system can be enhanced with

third-party products.

Course supplements which is when desire 2 learns and blackboard partner with textbook publishers to provide online course materials, partner applications and electronic course packs there are other components such as grading and plagiarism.

4.7 Select course activities that maximize active learning opportunities for students in an Internet- based distance education course.

 E-learning is a perfect example as well as synchronous and asynchronous learning.

4.8 Describe the potential of Web 2.0 for promoting learning in a distance education

setting.

Blogging, wikis, social networking and virtual worlds and social book marking and podcasting are just a few.

4.9 Describe trends in Internet-based distance education and their implications for educational programs.

It indicates when there is a shift in the synchronous and asynchronous learning environment and the evolving methods of delivery and emerging.

Internet- Based 3-URLS

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4300861/

This is article is about the five ways that internet based higher education can enhance learning. It states that it  promotes critical thinking skills and improve writing skills. It requires students to look at study materials daily.

http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1436

This article was informative because it states the effectiveness of internet-based distance learning.

https://www.isoc.org/inet96/proceedings/c1/c1_4.htm

This article goes into great depth about the internet. It states that with internet based learning students have the opportunity to move and learn on their own pace. It allows flexibility because online education is designed for people with busy lives who can’t go into the classroom.

Internet Based Definitions

1.     The most important part of the framework is provided by a worldwide configuration of high- bandwidth networks call backbones. Backbones can be regional, national or even international in coverage for examples Sprint and Verizon.

2.     Distributed Learning indicates how the learner centered educational model is being implemented and taught in today’s school.

3.     Advantages of Online Learning are when online course materials once fully developed is easy to use and update providing students with access to current information.

4.     Limitations of Online Learning states that copy right violations on course web pages that are not password protected is in view for other people to see or use.

5.     Web2.0 technologies include so many different areas such as blogging, wikis, social bookmarking, social networking and virtual worlds.

6.     The Internet is not a single, clearly defined entity, but a meta-network of interconnected networks that share a common language, TCP-IP (transmission control protocol/Internet protocol).

7.     E-Learning Adoption cycles is categorized into four distinct cycles which are enhancements to traditional course programs, course management systems, imported course objects and new course configurations.

8.     Open-source software is a free but licensed application and available for anyone to use.

9.     It is very important for students as well as educators to know that when using the internet for educational purposes, because it has no quality control mechanism to ensure that information found on the internet is accurate and unbiased anyone can view it freely no matter what age.

10.                        A protocol is an electronic language that computers use to communicate with one another and exchange data.

Handouts, StudyGuides and Visuals Ch. Objectives

4.1 Develop a distance education course syllabus?

In order to develop a distance education syllabus one must include course logistics (title), course policies (attendance and homework assignments), instructional activities (course goals and objectives) assessment information (grading system) and any additional information such as student information. It should be made available by the first day of school or earlier.

4.2 Use interactive study guides.

The purpose of the interactive study guide is to make note taking a more structured process. It leads the student through concepts and requires some student involvement active and interactive. It is a organized and systematic process and it is also a management tool that directs course activities before during and after the learning process.

4.3 Apply graphic design principles.

When applying a graphic design principle one must use the correct size, font, color and contrast, alignment and capitalization in order to have an effective learning system.

4.4 Develop word picture?

A word picture is a graphic representation of concepts, principles and information. It should contain chunks of information rather than the entire document. It should also apply principles of graphic design and emphasize communication via the visual scene.

Handouts, StudyGuides and Visuals 3- URL's

http://www.studygs.net/visual.htm

This article was very useful to me because it goes into detail about the visual leaner and ways to help them succeed such as organization, observation and learning strategies.  It gives study habits and useful ways on how to use technology.

http://thenextweb.com/dd/2014/05/21/importance-visual-content-deliver-effectively/#gref

This article was very informative because it tells the importance of visual  content and ways to deliver it effectively.

http://totalcommunicator.com/vol4_1/handouts.html

This article goes into detail on why should we use handouts and it importance.

Handouts,StudyGuides and Visuals Definitions

1.     Lines are generally considered to be one-dimensional; it has length but no width.

2.     Colors should be bold and simple and should not be overdone. It is often misused in television.

3.     Font- Two types of font works best, one is used for category of information and the other one is used for background or secondary information.

4.     Size is very closely related to legibility. Five words per line per page is the maximum.

5.     Alignment is known for centering text for television display.

6.     Texture is the perceived or actual roughness or smoothness of a surface.

7.     Capitalization is made clear that information whether it is uppercase or lowercase should be bold and legible to read.

8.     Colors have hue, value and intensity. Value is the lightness or darkness where as he describes a specific color.

9.     Value is accomplished through shading and shows changes in space.

10.            Shape is used to symbolize objects to tell if they are small or large. It has two dimensions which are height and width.