Delivering Distance Education
| Course Code | BGN108 |
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| Fee Code | S2 |
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| Number of Assignments | 9 |
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| Duration (approx) | 100 hours |
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Growth of Distance Education
Distance Education is one of the strongest growth areas in vocational and tertiary education. There are two main reasons for this:
- People are busier than ever before, moving location, working odd hours etc, so there is a greater need than ever for people to be able to study where and when they are able to find the time.
- Technology has enabled distance education to be delivered more effectively than ever before.
Disadvantages of distance education are obvious:
• The teacher/trainer cannot see the students face to face continually throughout every part of the course
• The students cannot see and hear the teacher/trainer continually throughout all parts of the course.
• Students need to maintain motivation without peer encouragement or teacher input
• Students need to be more self disciplined in their approach to their studies
Advantages of Distance Education are both obvious and not so obvious.
Obvious advantages include:
• The student has greater flexibility in terms of when and where and how often they study
• The tutor has more flexibility regarding when and where to assess or to respond to students.
Not so obvious advantages are:
• The student does not get bored with the teacher.
• The student cannot lose attention in the midst of study through others in the class
• The teacher cannot be so easily upset, disturbed or stressed by particular students
• There is a reduced likelihood of teachers/trainers becoming overly stressed and letting that stress impact on the quality of training.
• The student is more likely to have the undivided attention of their tutor whenever they interact (eg. Through written communications, phone calls, or meetings).
• There may be greater equity. The course may be better documented than a lecture; hence, if developed properly, there is less chance of a lesson not succeeding. For example, in a classroom, everything depends on the lecturer. If they have a bad day, are sick or over stressed, this can reflect in the way they deliver the lesson. However once written, a distance education lesson will be delivered with the same consistency to all students who attempt it.
• Students can feel that they have a closer relationship with their tutor/teacher as there is no classroom competition for attention.
COURSE AIMS
- Identify differences between various modes of distance education and other forms of education.
- Determine appropriate methods for communicating with, and motivating action from, new distance education students.
- Provide effective support services to students undertaking distance education studies.
- Explain the ways that teachers and students can work together by using effective listening skills, problem solving techniques, empathy and other interactive strategies to maintain effective and meaningful relationships in the learning process.
- Manage physical and human resources within a distance education program to achieve appropriate benefit for cost expended.
- Conduct effective assessment of distance education students.
- Conduct effective administration of distance education students.
- Improve students’ and teachers’ ability to communicate effectively in a distance education environment.
- Provide support for graduates upon or following completion of a distance education course.
COURSE STRUCTURE
There are nine lessons in this module as follows:
1. Scope and Nature of Distance Education –how it is different
2. Getting the student started
3. Supporting Students
4. Real Time Support
5. Managing Resources
6. Assessment
7. Student Administration
8. Communication Skills
9. Supporting Graduates
EXAMPLES OF WHAT YOU WILL DO IN THIS COURSE
- Investigate the scope and nature of distance education being used in your country, both by: a/ Government Education Services and b/ Private enterprise
- Describe which method of distance education you think is most appropriate for specified skills
- Interview students from the same course or a course in the same field to find what motivates them to complete the course.
- Give an example of a positive and a negative incentive in an educational setting.
- Give an example of where a negative incentive may be appropriate and explain why.
- List three (3) practical ways a teacher might develop inquisitiveness or curiosity amongst students
- Explain how your approach might be different when trying to motivate a perfectionist or high achiever compared to motivating a person with low self esteem or lack of enthusiasm
- Investigate 2 other distance educations schools and compare support services in each.
- Explain how you could increase the capacity of the learning experience to cater to varied individual needs amongst D.E. students studying on line courses
- Observe and record listening behaviour
- Describe what applications you think chat has for distance education
- Outline training needed before using a new tutor (with only classroom teaching experience) as a distance education tutor, who needs to communicate with D.E. students using a variety of different communication methods
Learn to deliver education through distance education modes, including paper based correspondence courses, on line training, video courses, telephone conferencing and e-learning.
With the growing demand for distance education, and with more universities and colleges turning to distance education to keep abreast of the global need for more flexible education, SCILI is often asked how it manages delivery of distance courses. We put decades of experience and expertise in distance education into this course.