Session 2: Reflection of DimDim discussion

From the discussion on distance education and e-learning yesterday, I like how Dr. Baek described distance education as being the umbrella, and falling under that umbrella would be e-learning. Distance education (DE) refers to "a tremendous variety of programs serving numerous audiences via a wide variety of media" (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, Zvacek, 2009, p. 9). E-learning happens to be one means of DE, anything that would be electronic. That doesn't mean DE can only occur with the use of electronics, but that does seem to be the popular demand for DE these days. As electronics and technology rapidly progress, the definition of DE is changing.

I think there are different definitions of DE because it is being used for different purposes. Whether it be used in an educational, business, or government setting, each have its individual objectives and therefore learning might take place differently within that setting. For example, Moore's transactional distance theory looked at DE as either student-content, student-student, and/or student-instructor. Depending upon the learning situation, one might be heavier weighed than the others. In our course, I think the combination of each are needed for effective DE to occur. In a business setting, student-student might not be as effective as maybe student-content. DE can be emphasized as autonomous or interactive. I like the flexibility of DE happening at either the same-time, different-place (synchronous DE which might be more interactive) or different-time, different-place concept (asynchronous DE, which is more autonomous). The rise of technology has brought upon new ideas to DE, and depending upon the setting and learner objectives, theories of DE will continue to differ.

As for trends in e-learning/distance education in my work place, there isn't too much of it going on at the elementary level. There is a lack of technology use in our school community. Students or parents don't have the resources to learn at a distance. For my thesis project, I originally wanted to create an online source for the parents to refer to about my classroom and the school. But because of this lack, I had decided to create a DVD instead. I think there is a need for DE, but there is a greater need for certain hardware and software for DE to occur.

Comparing the use of DimDim to Skype, DimDim definitely had some key features. I especially liked the center that shared material such as PowerPoints and a screen shot of the host's desktop. That was very powerful in showing step-by-step instructions. I also thought the tools to collaborate in the center was interesting and could be used in a variety of ways (you would really have to monitor the group and how to use the tools). The mood features allowed the others to quickly send the host thoughts about the discussion. I'm not too sure I liked how only 3 people could speak at a time. There were times when I wanted to say something, but it would be too long to type out on the chat section. When I did respond through typing, I would miss out on what was being discussed. If I was the host, I think it would be difficult to keep up with discussion and reading all the messages, especially if many people were responding. At least with Skype, you can say what you want to say when you want to say it, and everyone would be listening so you wouldn't miss out on anything. I really like DimDim for presentation purposes but I think I like Skype better for informal discussions.