dc.contributor.author | Thiessen, Janice K. | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2014-01-16T18:59:06Z | |
dc.date.available | 2014-01-16T18:59:06Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2014-01-16T18:59:06Z | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/2149/3412 | |
dc.description | My session at the 29th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning was well attended (about 60 people). I presented the preliminary results of a multiple-case study of how academics and learning/teaching specialists at three universities are incorporating learner-learner interaction into self-paced undergraduate study at a distance. In the Q&A period following my presentation I responded to the following questions:
- Have my ideas about the relative importance of independence and interaction changed during the course of conducting my research study?
- How did I determine the issues for each of the three cases I investigated? What factors might account for the emergence of different issues from each case?
- How might an individual faculty member integrate a social software/networking element in their online classroom? What are the pedagogical, logistical, privacy, and other issues that need to be addressed?
Informal feedback was positive and I shared contact information with several participants who would like to know when my research results are published.
Participants at this major distance teaching and learning conference found the topic of practitioner cases of learner-learner interaction in self-paced study relevant and timely. While social software and networking offer opportunities for learner-learner interaction, practitioners in self-paced as well as imposed-pace settings are interested in learning about knowledge and practical suggestions from the field. | en |
dc.description.abstract | Enabling students to take responsibility for and make choices about aspects of their learning is an important affordance of distance education. Distance learners determine the time and place for their studies—those engaged in self-paced study may also choose the rate at which they proceed through their courses. Self-paced study at a distance provides learners with opportunities for increased independence and self-direction, while offering educators the potential to reach large audiences and reduce per student costs. However, in the absence of cohorts working through courses together, it is difficult to incorporate purposeful learner-learner interaction into self-paced study. This challenge exemplifies the tension inherent in the theoretical divide between independence and interaction. This session, of interest to distance education professionals and faculty, presented preliminary results of a multiple-case study of learner-learner interaction in three universities that offer self-paced undergraduate study at a distance. Session participants learned about case-specific issues and strategies of how and why course developers (learning/teaching specialists and faculty) deal with the challenges of incorporating such interaction into self-paced study at a distance, including the ways in which social software is providing opportunities for self-paced learners to interact. Participants also reflected on the ways their own practice acknowledges and addresses the importance of both learner interaction and independence. | en |
dc.language.iso | en | en |
dc.relation.ispartofseries | 92.926.G1442; | |
dc.subject | Self-paced | en |
dc.subject | Social Software | en |
dc.subject | Learner-Learner Interaction | en |
dc.title | Connecting Learners in Self-Paced Undergraduate Study: Practitioner Cases | en |
dc.type | Presentation | en |