After reading the paper written by Davis et al., I am amazed that how fast distance education has progressed in just a decade. Lots of contents, which are about the efforts to overcome the deficiency of the program at that time, have been improved nowadays. Those barriers included that students had limited access to the learning package since it was only available to those on the UMR computer network or on CD sets and the recorded videos, which meant that the school had to mail those materials to off-campus students. That was definitely not an efficient way for both schools and students. Moreover, another deficiency was that those packages and videos were lack of instant interaction with colleagues and professors. After solving these problems, teachers and students alike can arrange their own schedule in a semester. Students will never have to worry about their different learning paces (no matter too slow or too fast) from others because the web-deployed course is completely self-paced.
Though the BEST TQM is not an efficient tool for off-campus students because of its availability, I like the ideas that it was used as a source of supplemental materials for the course. Especially, its CD format reminds me about interactive discs that broadly used for language learning recently. I think it would be great if I can design the content of interactive discs for my Mandarin students. That way, they cannot only practice the language at home whenever they want, but also learn in a fun way! Furthermore, for the younger kids who are not allowed to use Internet or students who has no Internet access at home, the interactive discs are more appropriate to them. In addition, Mandarin learning is getting more and more attention in the international society. If I could properly use the Internet-based instruction well, I can teach students all over the world in my office or even my home, and students can learn whenever and wherever they would like. How fantastic!
I think that lots of web-based course management system such as Moodle and Blackboard can solve the problems that the authors had faced at the beginning of the 21st century. I believe that Internet-based instruction provides the best environment for PSI.
Great thinking about students without the internet. If I had to estimate, only 5% of our students have a computer and not even all of those have internet access. Students in low income areas really struggle to get the same education as others can. If you were to create audio CDs or even DVDs it would be very beneficial to those who cannot afford computers or internet access.
ReplyDeleteI think about the students in public school who want to learn a language that the school doesn't offer. The school can only afford to teach french and spanish. It does have a computer lab though that is hardly used. Students could sit in the computer lab and take your course online. The courses that students can take today are endless as long as they have access, good point.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great point that schools that have no language courses other than French and Spanish can just use their lab to attend my online course. That way, school can easily meet some students' needs with the lowest cost! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteOver last decades the distant education has changed a lot. But the access of an internet, or the speed of the internet connection is still a problem in rural areas, which limit the availability of online education. Distribution of CDs will help students learn the courses they are intersted in.
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