Moore's Theory of Transactional Distance

While reading several of Moore's descriptions of his own Transactional Distance Theory (hereafter TDT), I found myself saying unusually large numbers of "yeps" and "uh-huhs". This is troubling to me, only because I tend to think that sometimes I do not read academic literature with a sufficiently critical eye. However, based on my observations of those students in my graduate program that are senior to me, I believe that developing a healthy sense of skepticism is inevitable (although to what extremes it can still be considered "healthy" is debatable). But, I digress.

Still, I think he's got a good theory here! In any case, I felt like I could understand and relate to a lot of Moore's ideas. Of course, I haven't done any empirical research myself on this theory, but everything he stated seems congruent with my recollection of my own experiences. And where my experiences are different from others' experiences, I don't have to work too hard to imagine how it might still apply to them as well.

I won't attempt to cover everything about the theory here (no sense in rewriting Moore's work), but I think it will be helpful to clarify what the major points of his theory are, and I may write a few thoughts on them as I go along.

(DistanceEd) Report for Week 4 - METHODS

Synthesis

Data Collection
7 Studies, 3 Theory
4 out of 7 studies used surveys / questionnaires
3 out of 7 studies used online postings and transcriptions
2 out of 7 studies used test / assessment data

Data Analysis

• Quantitative
  
  
  
  • Descriptive
  
  
  • Inferential
  
  
  
  


• Qualitative
  
  
  
  • Discourse analysis
  
  
  • Thematic analysis
  
  
  • Triangulation
  
  
  
  


• Mixed Methods

Quest 0.5 - Sustainability in Open Education

"Carefully review at least 50 pages of information on issues relating to the sustainability of the open education movement. Write a post describing the nature and level of success of sustainability work in the field."

Success is doing what you set out to do or, in other words, achieving your goals. And this really is what sustainability is all about. This is why Wiley (2007, p.5) defines sustainability as "an open educational resource project's ongoing ability to meet its goals."

So, to discuss the "nature and level of success of sustainability work in the field," we really need first to talk about what our goals actually are. Stated more generally, to talk about sustainability in the context of one's own OER project, one must first understand what the project's goal's are (Wiley, 2007, p. 19). For right now, let's talk about overall goals for the field of open educational resources in general, leaving aside for the moment any discussion about institutional OER projects.

Quest 0.4 - Creative Commons (CC) Licenses

"Carefully review the Creative Commons licenses (http://creativecommons.org/). Write a post describing the different licenses."

The Creative Commons website identifies six main license types. For each license listed is provided a brief summary, a link to a "human-readable" description of the specific conditions of the license, and a link to the full-blown license text, which one might suppose could be described as "lawyer-readable".

After reading the full text of a couple of the licenses, I began to lose my will to live. I guess there's a reason I'm looking to become an instructional technologist instead of a doctor of jurisprudence. However, here is my best attempt to summarize the things I learned.

(Distance Ed) Report for Week 3 - CONTEXT

Article	Context and Unit of Analysis
Dalsgaard, C., & Mathiasen, H. (2008). Self-organized learning environments and university students' use of social software: A systems theoretical perspective. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 5(2). Retrieved January 12, 2009, from http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Feb_08/article01.htm.	Context: Information and Media Studies, University of Aarhus, Denmark, in 2005 2 project groups, two students each 1 group geographically separated 1 group close proximity 4 month project work Unit of Analysis Effect of social media (Web 2.0) software on students' development of self-organized learning environments
Ganjooei, B. A., & Rahimi, A. (2008). Language learning strategy use for EFL E-learners and traditional learners: A comparative study. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 5(12). Retrieved January 12, 2009, from http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Dec_08/article01.htm.	Context 200 Iranian undergraduate EFL learners arranged in two groups 100 learners selected from Shiraz Virtual University, exposed to an e-learning program 100 learners going through a traditional course studying at Shiraz University Unit of Analysis Relationship between E/T learning and types of learning strategies preferred by those groups
Gouge, C. (2008). Redesigning online instruction: theory and application. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 5(2). Retrieved January 12, 2009, from http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Feb_08/article04.htm.	NA (Theory)
Holbein, M. F. (2008). From traditional delivery to distance learning: Developing the model. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 5(8). Retrieved January 12, 2009, from http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Aug_08/article05.htm.	NA (Theory)
Kiriakidis, P., & Parker, A. (2008). Faculty and learner interaction in online courses. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 5(11). Retrieved January 12, 2009, from http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Nov_08/article03.htm.	Context Online institution of higher education offering graduate level education degree programs entirely online regionally accredited there are no residency requirements all communications and interactions between learners and instructors take place online using email and forums using the institution's computer server faculty are not required to participate in asynchronous discussion forums learners are required to participate in asynchronous discussion forums in order to receive a grade for each forums Asynchronous discussions are text-based, mandatory, and contribute between 5% and 25% of each learner's final grade A learner meets the course requirements on postings even with one complete posting to each question posted by the instructor in each lesson or module of online courses Only interactions of five words or more, posted by either faculty or student, were considered in this research. Unit of Analysis Relationship between the quantity of instructor responses in an online forum and subsequent student responses
Kok, A. (2007). Metamorphosis of the mind of online communities via E-Learning. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 5(10). Retrieved January 12, 2009, from http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Oct_08/article03.htm.	NA (Theory)
Kupczynski, L., Davis, R., Ice, P., & Callejo, D. (2008). Assessing the impact of instructional design and organization on student achievement in online courses. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 5(1). Retrieved January 12, 2009, from http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Jan_08/article01.htm.	Content Students in Rio Grande Valley of south Texas and attending class at South Texas College Students have the opportunity to complete certificate programs through the Bachelor of Applied Technology degree Participants were enrolled in online courses in a variety of subjects, ranging from developmental education through senior level class work in all areas of instruction Course design utilizes WebCT for synchronous or asynchronous instruction determined by the instructor's preference During the Fall 2005 semester, one or more sections of 75 different courses were offered. The survey instrument was administered to 2,157 students enrolled in one or more online courses with no incentive for participation offered. A total of 362 participants (response rate = 16.8%) chose to complete the survey. Unit of Analysis Relationship between instructional design and organization and student performance
Royal, P., & Bell, P. (2008). The relationship between performance levels and test delivery methods. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 5(7). Retrieved January 12, 2009, from http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Jul_08/article05.htm.	Context A cohort of undergraduate students enrolled in two on-campus sections and one distance learning session of an undergraduate applied medical sciences course All three sections had the same instructor, read the same textbook, had access to the same course content via the same web-based learning platform and had access to video recordings of weekly on campus learning sessions Students from all three course sessions were randomly divided into two groups. One group completed their exams via web-based delivery with supervision, while the other half completed exams via web-based delivery without supervision. Unit of Analysis Relationship between test performance and test delivery methods, particularly for those taking proctored versus un-proctored online exams.
Shi, S., Bonk, C., Tan, S., & Mishra, P. (2008). Getting in sync with synchronous: The dynamics of synchronous facilitation in online discussions. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 5(5). Retrieved January 12, 2009, from http://www.itdl.org/Journal/May_08/article01.htm.
Young, B., Hausler, J., & Sanders, J. W. (2008). Do online students exhibit different learning styles than onsite students? International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 5(4). Retrieved January 12, 2009, from http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Apr_08/article02.htm.

Quest 0.2 - Motivating Factors for the Establishment of Open Education

"Carefully review at least 20 pages describing motivations for the open education movement. Write a substantive post with references on the motivations of the movement."

Carmack, J. K. (2004). The Perpetual Education Fund: A Bright Ray of Hope. Ensign, (January), 37-43.
Hinckley, G. B. (2002). Reaching Down to Lift Another. Liahona, (January), 60-62, 67.
Wiley, D. A. (2006). Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education: Panel on Innovative Teaching and Learning Strategies.

I had wanted to start out this post with some explicit definitions of my terminology (thanks, Jeremy =D). While looking for a definition of the word education, I decided that this is actually a difficult concept to define precisely, given its broad scope and its relevance to almost everything that happens in our everyday lives. So for the sake of this discussion, when I say "education" just assume that I am referring primarily to institutions of higher learning.

I'm also going to commit another oversimplification and define the open education movement as making "education" available to everyone.

You don't need to be current on the considerable amount of debate that has taken place with respect to the open education movement to realize that providing "education" to "everyone" is an extremely ambitious goal facing some formidable obstacles. But instead of focusing on these obstacles and asking questions such as who will be handing over the cash to make this kind of thing happen, I would like to ask a more fundamental question -- Why is open education something that we should be desperately trying to achieve?

It turns out that open education has something sweet for everybody.

Quest 0.3 - A Comparison of MIT OCW and CMU OLI

"Carefully review five (5) random courses from MIT OCW (http://ocw.mit.edu/) and five (5) random courses from CMU OLI (http://www.cmu.edu/oli/). Write a post on the different ideals of quality expressed in the differing course designs; describe how you feel the different designs reflect on the different universities."

Click here to see a list of the courses I reviewed and a comparison of some of their respective features.

First, let's start with MIT OCW. Specifically, let's start with their website. I came to the website, and, looking around for a second, quickly found where the free stuff was. I clicked on the "Courses" tab and was presented with a daunting list of Department links. Let's see ... "Electrical Engineering and Computer Science." Click. Then, an even more daunting list of the courses themselves. With over 1800 courses on one page it seemed a bit cumbersome. OK, I'm just complaining. But there really is something psychologically intimidating about being confronted by 1800 hypertext links all at once.

(DistanceEd) Report for Week 2 - QUESTIONS

The following represents the questions posed in the 10 journal articles I have chosen:

Quest 0.1 - A (Very) Brief History of Open Education

"Carefully review at least 50 pages of historical information on the open education movement. Write a brief summary post on the history of the movement."

The modern history of the Open Education movement essentially began in 1992 with the development of the internet.  While some may argue this point, I believe it is true to say that, despite the existence of all the prerequisite conditions for the formation of the OE movement, the absence of the internet (or some other medium serving the purpose currently served by the internet) would make the very idea of an open education movement an impossibility.