Distance Education (blog 9)

A fairly recent development in education has been the growing popularity and accessibility of distance education. The idea of learning through correspondence rather than attending classes on site is not a new one, but technological advances have made it far more convenient. Many high schools now have classes, such as health and life schools, that may be taken online. And this trend has extended to universities as well. But rather just being limited to individual classes, entire programs are now offered at a distance, with lectures, assignments, and student-teacher interaction all taking place on the internet.

As an aspiring educator, the increase in distance education programs will greatly affect me. One of the advantages of distance education classes is that they are flexible in terms of schedule, and therefore perfect for working professionals who cannot put a career on hold to return to school for a higher level degree. The field of education is sure to change and further develop during my teaching career, and it will be very important for me to continue to take classes to improve my skills. Distance Education will provide this opportunity while allowing me to keep my position in the classroom. It is also possible that in my time as a teacher I will need to conduct a class online and correspond with students who are not present in my classroom. This could especially benefit students with special needs that make it difficult for them to physically attend school five days a week. Having a way for assignments to be done and turned in from home could be the key to success for some students with disabilities. As a teacher, it will be my responsibility to do all that I can to ensure my students' success, and that means being open to possibly learning through distance education and assisting students through it as well.

This article by the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ascilite) explores some new opportunities available to students with special needs through distance education.

(http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/wollongong98/asc98-pdf/parfittjonguyen.pdf)

Educational Technology (blog 1)

In class we watched a video from 2007 that addresses how quickly our world is changing. It gave statistics that I never would have guessed, for example, it’s predicted by the year 2017 China will be the number one English speaking country, and the average person will have 10 to 14 jobs by the time they are thirty-eight. It also addresses the crucial role technology plays in our lives, and the fact that children need be gaining technological skills now if they want to be literate in this era. Following the first video we watched another video, very similar to the first but created one year later. This video also contains some striking facts, such as the “top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004. It also addressed the jump from 2.7 billion searches a month on google in 2006 to 3.1 billion searches in 2008, and discussed the popularity of facebook, a topic not even mentioned in the original video. The differences between these two videos themselves reveal how quickly our world is changing.

This concept of change and advancement, especially in technology, is an important one for teachers to consider. Students today must be equipped for tools and jobs that currently are nonexistent. That’s a lot of responsibility for the school system to carry. I’m interested in special education, and it’s exciting to think of the resources that are currently undeveloped, but will be available during my teaching career; tools that will greatly enhance the quality of life for children with special needs and aid in their instruction.

This video shows the impact technological advances are having on education, and introduces the idea of a virtual classroom: