Effective Approaches to Distance Education

The internet has been called by many names, one of which is most commonly used and known as the World Wide Web. Access and use of the Web requires knowledge of certain components such as URLs and software applications. For educational purposes the World Wide Web can now be merged with multimedia technology to make teaching and learning possible and effective.

Picciano (2011) has outlined five levels of digital media that are essential to the use of multimedia for instructional purposes: text, still images, animations, digital audio and sound files without images, and full-motion video. In my experience as a homeschooler I have been privileged to use or to handle most of these digital elements to educate my children. They really do make a tremendous contribution toward the enhancement of instruction. We have had distance instructions via satellite, DVD, and online, with text included. The satellite and DVD approach usually include lots of animation and full-motion instruction, with role-playing and experiments to demonstrate various concepts and factual information.

In Chapter five of the technology director’s guide, Hall (2008) discusses in detail the steps to building a great team. His guidelines include four stages: forming, storming, norming, and performing. Teamwork is a valuable approach to instruction, whether online or on site. It helps to establish a sense of community among students and between students and instructor. In our current class of online instruction, although we have not met face to face, our live meet and collaborative group approaches help to establish that sense of community as groups get together to discuss rules and roles, in an effort to present successful team assignments. Success is the result of good leadership and group cooperation, both of which have been evident within our group presentations. Unity is the key to building a great team (Psalm 133:1)

References

Hall, D. (2008). The technology director's guide to leadership: The power of great questions.Washington,    

      DC: International Society of Technology in Education.

Picciano, A. G. (2011). Educational leadership and planning for technology. New York: Pearson.