short paper 1
Online Learning in Distance
Education:
A Short Paper
Kathleen M. Stemmler
Northern
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Abstract
This paper reviews several authors'
perspectives on distance education as they relate to pertinent pedagogical,
technological and social issues involved in delivering online courses and
programs to an increasingly varied student population. The author examines
these issues in relation to their perceived effects on administrators, faculty
and technological support staff at Northern Arizona University (NAU) in
Short Paper 3
Online Learning in Distance
Education: A Short Paper Introduction
Higher
educational institutions are clearing paths through the dense forest of an
evolving technology, to design and produce courses and degree programs for an increasingly diverse
student population. These diversities include culture, age, and learning styles. It is certainly a time for
experimenting with curriculum delivery, rethinking learning models and designing learning environments that will answer the
needs of these students.
NAU
for example, has been designated by the Arizona State Board of Regents to be the state's "distance
learning university". It has as its mission the responsibility of
providing courses,
certifications and degree programs to students living in rural and urban areas
who would otherwise be unable to earn a college degree.
As a result
of this designation, NAU administrators, faculty and support personnel are
exploring ways to deliver courses and degree programs that are accessible to these students
and others living around
the world. Distance Delivery Systems
NAU, in addition
to other universities and colleges involved in distance learning, has in
the past two decades used planes to send instructors as far away as Yuma and
then phone lines to carry visual and audio signals to both urban and remote rural sites
around the state. Currently, NAU has 20 interactive
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paper 4
Budget Considerations
Increasingly,
educational administrators, faculty and students are asked to do more with less. The certain
threat of additional
cutbacks, healthy tuition increases and the appearance of numerous universities offering
online degrees from around the world, is forcing a number of higher educational
institutions, including NAU, to shift directions in their thinking about
distance education
and its delivery. Online courses and degree programs are here and they are considered to be
cost effective. For many educational institutions, particularly those providing
distance learning programs, this mode of course
delivery is supposed to reduce some
part time faculty and staff positions by having to rely course, and lack of a certain level of
self-motivation. Students also express discouragement with course
content. Duncan & Wallace (2002) and
Norton (1992) agree that the
solution to some of these problems lies with allowing teachers the time and support to drive the technology and
the course in television
sites (iitv) located in and around the state of
Globalization
In addition to the
above issues related to online courses, educators, anthropologists and
traditional leaders are concerned that online courses through their very inception
and design, encode the Western ideal
of individualism (Bowers, Vasquez, & Roaf , 2000, p.182). The question arises, "How can educators mitigate the effect of the computer as a tool or weapon
that is being used indirectly to threaten cultural diversity and spread globalization?" While Norton in her article (2003, p.38) lauds the advent of print as allowing information to be dispersed to the masses, Bowers et. al. (2002, p.186) see both print and materials available online as a "source of Euro American oppression of Native people". The reasoning behind this sense of oppression appears to be that online courses and information are contributing to the denigration and devaluation of the need
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to preserve and keep the oral tradition of education
in a community alive. As one D'ine elder put it when being interviewed about the loss
of land, cultural knowledge and traditional education, "There are many
teachers, usually one's closest relatives-parents, grandparents, uncles, and aunts. Learning about the land is
learning how to live... Now children and grandchildren are at school, usually far away from
home" (Wood
& Stemmler, 1981, p 9-10). The traditional
learning patterns of
many indigenous peoples have changed dramatically over the past century. There
is a fear among indigenous cultures, and those fighting to preserve them, that online
education will add to
this ongoing destruction.
For example, Hopi
traditional leaders and educators are still debating whether or not the publication
of Hopi dictionaries and books is sacrilegious and affecting not only the
well-being of the Hopi,
but contributing negative affects to the well-being of the entire world. Entire religious societies have
died out in the Hopi culture because
there was no one knowledgeable left to pass down the oral cultural information. Many Native American cultures conceive of certain kinds of knowledge as sacred
and prohibit its divulgence to
others. For many traditional peoples in general, it is better that knowledge dies rather then have it fall into the wrong hands and minds.
Educational technology may not be appropriate in
these cases without consultation with traditional peoples.
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Minority Adult Education
Other social and pedagogical concerns
associated with online learning
focus on the need to educate the adult `minority" population. According to Wang,
Lee, Chen, (1998, p.3), designing
distance learning programs that educate the growing adult minority population will directly and positively impact the
well-being of the entire "minority" population in the U.S. The
authors present compelling data that
demonstrate that this particular student population is highly motivated and eager to complete degree programs
offered through distance learning.
There are of course, existing barriers
to successful degree completion. These are multifaceted and include not
only technology access, and cost but also
relevant curriculum and teaching
methods appropriate to engage adult minority students (Wang, Lee, Chen, 1998, p.4).
Conclusion
Can educational technology fulfill all of the
above concerns, requirements,
obligations and promises and still evolve into a hassle-free technology? Priscilla Norton in her first of three articles entitled: "When Technology Meets
the Subject-Matter Disciplines in
Education" (Norton, 1992), excites the reader when she heralds the use of the computer as a mighty
metaphor that has the ability to engage the teacher and student in authentic, problemcentered learning. The author is referring to K-12 use of
educational
technology in a classroom setting but teachers in higher education are applying
the same concepts to their online courses. The possibilities together with the
youth of educational technology require that educators continue the debate on pedagogical,
social and technological issues in order to successfully reach out and assist a
diverse student population to reach their educational goals.
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References
Bohley, K. Kiggins, E. &
Weimer, G. (2001). What Do the Students
Think of On-Line Learners? Women in Higher Education, 10 (11), 2p.
Bowers,
Norton, Priscilla (1992). When Technology Meets the Subject-Matter: Disciplines in Education: Part One:
Exploring the Computer as Metaphor. Educational Technology 32(6) 38-46.
Wang,
D., Lee, R. & Chen, C. (1998). The
Role of Distance Education and Major Factors That Influence Minority
Adults' Participation in Educational
Programs. (
Wood, J. & Stemmler,
K. (1981). Land and Religion at Big Mountain: The Effects of the