Online Articles

 

Excellent articles around a variey of distributed learning issues abound in books, journals, and white papers throughout the field. Below is an annotated bibliography of online articles that may assist teachers in their preparation of materials and activities for teaching with technology. Currently the list is divided into ?? categories. Select the button to go directly to the category that fits your needs. In the future we will provide some keyword search capability for these articles.

Category: Why Choose Online Learning?

Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever (Please note that if you would like to pursue the link in the above article that refers to the Flashlight Project, you must use this link, as the one given in the article is outdated. This link is optional reading.)

Learning in Cyberspace - This is an online chapter from a series of chapters offered through Teleducation in New Brunswick.  The presentation is interesting, animated, and provides a number of examples and resources.

E-stablishing a Learning Society: the Use of the Internet to Attract Adults to Lifelong Learning in Wales by Neil Selwyn, Sara Williams and Stephen Gorard. This paper concentrates on the efforts being made in Wales to use the Internet as a gateway for learning opportunities for adult learners. It focuses on access procedures to adult learning, who is attracted to thsi type of learning, and for what types of activities learners use the Internet. Finally, it reflects on the wider goals of extending participation beyond those social groups already engaged in learning.

E-Learning for America's Workforce. From the Commissionon Technology and Adult Learning, this executive summary lays out a vision of America's e-learning future in the workforce and makes specific recommendations for action

Category: Strategies for Incorporating Web-based Technology into Teaching

New lamps for old?: Developing a strategy for accommodating new technology within an established DL MBA programme  by Chris Pegler & Sally Rushworth, Warwick Business School - Warwick looked at an electronic MBA program and discussed: How can these programs adapt to the opportunities on offer? What degree of caution need they show in trading in their old lamps for new? How can colleagues be convinced of the need to change or adapt a winning formula? The article examines the desirability and direction of changes in distance learning delivery within established programs. It identifies barries to the adoption of instructional technology.

Involving Teachers in Web-Based Professoinal Development by Paul Rodes, Dennis Knapczyk, Carrie Chapman and Haejin Chung. This feature article delves into the promise of online learnings ability to reach non-traditional learners in the K-12 teaching environment -- particularly continuing education students, teachers in rural areas, and inservice personnel in need of professional development. It looks at a collaborative teacher education program and discusses a number of techniques for involving these teachers via distance technologies.

Integration of Educational Media in Higher Education Large Classes

Walking the Talk is Tough: From a Single Technology Course to Infusion

Bringing Affective Behavior to WebCT

Category: Preparing for the Future of Teaching and Learning

Matching the Infoverse: About Knowledge Networks, Knowledge Workers, and Knowledge Robots by Joachim Hasebrook - A holistic architecture of knowledge robots (knowbots) is described based on multi-agent platforms and distributed computational intelligence. Knowbots consist of a self-learning artificial brain, speech recognition and syntheis, direct access to other software agents and computer programs, and direct connections to networks of human users. The article focuses on the human inability to cope with information growth and speed and suggests that these knowbots will help us manage this exploding "infoverse."

Inventing the Future by Lee Shulman. From the Carnegie foundation for teaching and learning, Shulman discusses the scholarship of teaching and learning and higher education's need to commit to integrity of the discipline, the learning of students, communitiy and institutional fidelity, and to ones own identity and sense of self. He exhorts us to invent the future we might envision by concentrating on serious investigation into teaching and learning and infusing it throughout the institution.

Surviving the Digital Revolution by Philip Turner - What will be the actual impact of the digital revolution on higher education? Are predictions of 50 percent or even 25 percent of institutions closing in the next decade reasonable?. How does one assess the risk to one's own institution? What role does technology play in this scenario?

Category: Online

Andragogy: The teaching and learning of adults

Guidelines for Working with Adult Learners

Leaders in the Field of Adult Education, Eduard C. Lindeman
 
 If I Teach This Way Am I Doing My Job?

Category: Instructional Design

Constructivism

Constructivism in Instructional Design for Distance Education

Instructivism - An essay supporting the instructivist approach "The Tyranny of Dogma"

Explorations in Learning & Instruction: The Theory Into Practice Database

Design Principles for Online Instruction

Creating Online Courses

Understanding Objectives by Lisa Schuman

Category: Learning Communities

Creating Technology-Supported Learning Communities

Collaborative Learning in an Online Environment by Elizabeth Stacey. This article relates a research study regarding student collaborative learning in an MBA program. The primary objective of the research was to observe and document the use of computer-mediated group conferences (CMC) on the group interaction of the students and to record their use and perceptions of the effects of CMC in their learning process.

Baring Professional Souls: Reflections on Web Life by Elizabeth Burge, Daniel Laroque and Cathy Boak. This article provides a reflective analysis of an online professional development event by asking practitioners to discuss how they negotiated the conceptual framework, the tactivity design, and the roles nad presence of the two facilitators. It is an interesting study in that it is rare that anyone publishes discussions of faculty difficulties and expectations in their practice.

Burrowing through the Network Wires: Does Distance Detract from Collaborative Authentic Learning? by Alison Carr-Chellman, Dean Dyer, and Jeroen Breman. Many students and faculty would automatically answer "yes" to this question. This study compares a traditional residential instructional design course with another that was offered as a modified distance education course using the same faculty member.

Promoting Student Interaction in the Virtual College Classroom by Jack Cummings. Icebreaker's and other interactive assignments are illustrated in this paper on building community in an online course via four specific assignments. The goal of the first assignment was to establish an environment wherein students felt comfortable presenting their perspectives and communicating with each other. Three additional assignments were recursive by design, requiring students to submit pieces that are subsequently processed by others.

What Makes A Successful Online Facilitator? - Faculty delivering courses online must be more than transmitters of knowledge; they must become facilitators of learning. The University of Illinois present the basic criteria necessary for an instructor to be successful as an online facilitator.

The Art of Hosting Good Conversations Online - Tips from a master list-serve host.

Strategies for Using Chat as a Communication Tool - Well-managed and focused chats can be useful online learning experiences, and add a dynamic dimension to an online course. This paper describes pedagogical uses of chat, chat room management techniques, and coping strategies for instructors and their students.

Pedagogical Roles and Implementation Guidelines for Online Communication Tools - It is not so much the tool that improves teaching and learning but how the instructor integrates the tool into the curriculum and into the educational setting. This paper presents the different pedagogical roles for using forums and a set of guidelines to help increase the possibility of achieving those pedagogical results using the tool.

Playing Croquet with Flamingos - A guide for moderators of web-based, synchronous or asynchronous, non-pedagogical conferences. The guide was prepared for the Office of Learning Technologies, Human Resources Department, Canada
and is archived here with permission.

Designing Questions for Online Learning - This article, published by eModerators.com, provides a variety of ideas for online questions and discussions.

Perceptions of E-moderators - A study of electronic mailing list moderators, or emoderators, and their perceptions about their roles, tasks, and responsibilities as list moderators. The issues explored revolve around mailing list moderators' conceptions of their roles, their rationale for moderating or not moderating their mailing lists, where they learned their craft, and where moderating lists fits into the context of their lives.

Category: Comparing Tools for Distributed Learning

Web-based Tools such as chat, threaded discussions, authoring systems, and course management systems

LCMS Roundup

Online Learning Environments Compared

Authoring Tool Roundup

Comparison of Online Course Delivery Software

Tools for Developing Interactive Academic Web Courses

Conferencing Software on the Web

Category: Evaluation

W3LS: Evaluation framework for World Wide Web learning by Jan van der Veen, Wim de Boer, and Maarten van de Ven. This is an excellent overvieew of a framework for setting up a variety of evaluation tools. It indicates how the evaluation can be set up using questionnaires and interviews among other methods.

SELECT A MINIMUM OF TWO OF THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES ON ASSESSMENT:

Classroom Assessment Techniques in Asynchronous Learning Networks - An article from The Technology Source by Tom Henderson. This case study provides an account of using a classroom assessment technique (CAT) for a distance learning course, as well as a helpful outline of CATs for online instructors. While Henderson notes some crucial differences between classroom assessment in traditional and distance learning environments, he also notes that they share common criteria for success: careful planning, targeted questions, and a timely response by the instructor.

A Framework for Pedagogical Evaluation of Virtual Learning Environments - by Sandy Britain and Oleg Liber. This is an extensive paper (46 pages) that looks at virtual learning environments (VLEs) and evaluation. It steps you through qualitative evalaution, developing a framework, criteria selection, and model use.

Evaluating Online Courses: Unique Opportunities and Valuable Lessons Learned - Read this paper presented at 15th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and
Learning at the University of Wisconsin, Madison from Aug 4-6, 1999 to learn how the on-line nature of NTEN classes has affected the way independent
evaluators at Horizon Research, Inc. analyze course effectiveness. Also, discover what NTEN directors do with the data from Horizon Research.

An introduction to the Evaluation of Learning Technology - by Martin Oliver. This article provides a context for analyzing the complexities of learning technology evaluation by framing the context of the complex evaluatuion debates in learning technology, resulting in the identification of a range of specific issues. These include the
paradigm debate, the move from expert-based to practitioner-based evaluation, attempts to provide tools to support practitioner-led evaluation, authenticity, the problem of defining and measuring costs, the role of checklists, the influence of the quality agenda on evaluation and the way in which the process of evaluation is itself affected by the use of learning technology.

Access and/or Quality? Redefining Choices in the Third Revolution - By Stephen C. Ehrmann, who directs the Flashlight Program at the nonprofit TLT Group. This article appears in the September/October issue of Educom Review. A different version, "Technology in Higher Learning: A Third Revolution" can be found at the TLT Group web site.

AHDS Guides to Good Practice - Performing Arts Data Service Guide to Good Practice Creating Digital Performance Resources.

Beyond "Cool" Analog Models for Reviewing Digital Resources - by James Rettig, Swem Library, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia

Beyond the Hype - A one-day colloquium organised by the Humanities Computing Unit, University of Oxford, held at the Oxford Union Debating Chamber on April 23, 1998. [RealAudio clips of the presentations]

Facilitating Knowledge Construction and Communication on the Internet.  by McVay-Lynch in the online journal Technology Source.  This article discusses the key constructs of communication and interaction on the web, provides a good matrix for translating classroom-based activities to the web, and gives pointers for enriching the web-based learning environment.

 

The Globalisation of Open and Flexible Learning: Considerations for Planners and Managers by Greville Rumble in the online journal The Online Journal of Distance Administration.  Dr. Rumble is associated with the Open University in the UK.  This article looks at some of the problems that global educational institutions have faced, and continue to face, in terms of delivery of materials, student access to technology, structures, and maintenance of consistency and quality of service. The article ends with advice to planners and managers on the issues that they need to pay particular attention. 

Guidelines for Educational Uses of Networks - Maintained on the Learning Resource Server by the College of Education at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. This is a collection of  a rich variety of guidelines and resource articles on how to use networks in powerful ways for education.

History in the Raw - A rationale for teaching with primary source documents.  Maintained by The National Archives and Records Administration as part of The Digital Classroom project.

Internet Access, Usage, and Policies in Colleges and Universities - This paper by Robert A. Fleck, Jr. and Tena McQueen analyzes the responses to a recent survey of campus computer center directors. Published in First Monday: Peer Reviewed Journal on the Internet.

Kathy Schrock's Critical Evaluation Surveys - An aid for teachers using World Wide Web sites, especially with K-12 classes, part of Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators

 

The new educational frontier: Spoken word, written word, cyberword - the newest challenge of higher education

A comparative analysis of two major information revolutions: the Gutenberg revolution and the revolution brought about by today's fundamental changes of information and communication technologies. Presented by Francis A. Waldvogel, President, Board of Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology, Zürich/Lausanne, Switzerland, as a key-note lecture at the 19th ICDE World Conference in Vienna, Austria, June 20-24, 1999. Published in Eurodl: European Journal of Open and Distance Learning.

 

Operationalizing Mental Models: Strategies for assessing mental models to support meaningful learning and design- supportive learning environments.  By David Jonassen.  A good article for understanding the design principles behind the creation of complex systems and building analogies that assist students in understanding the concepts.

Quality On the Line: Benchmarks for Success in Internet-Based Distance Education. The Institute for Higher Education Policy (2000). Available from The Institute for Higher Education.  This report commissioned by IHEP identifies first-hand, practical strategies being used by U.S. colleges considered to be leaders in online distance education.  The benchmarks in the study are divided into seven categories: instructional support, course development, teaching and learning, course structure, student support, faculty support, and evaluation and assessment.  The link here is to the PDF file of the full report. 

"The Symbiosis Between Content and Technology in the Perseus Digital Library"
An article by Gregory Crane, Brian Fuchs, Amy C. Smith, and Clifford E. Wulfman appearing in Cultivate Interactive.

 

 

 

Strengthening Graduate Training Capacity in Development Policy Analysis and Management in Sub-Saharan Africa Funded by Department of International Development and issued in May, 1999, by the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, this report addresses issues and challenges related to the use of electronic teaching technology to enhance educational opportunities in developing countries.

 

 

 

Students' Distress with a Web-based Distance Education Course.

By Hara and Kling.   This articles presents case data regarding graduate students' periodic distressing experiences (such as frustration, anxiety and confusion) due to communication breakdowns and technical difficulties in their online course. It offers recommendations for future curriculum develoment.

 

 

 

Tangled Webs in Public Administration: Organizational issues in distance learning.

By Rahm and Reed in Public Administration and Management: An Interactive Journal

 

 

 

Teaching with Electronic Technology

The author of this web site reviews the subject of teaching and technology for Knowledge Quest, the Journal of the American Association of School Librarians.

 

 

 

Technology Tools for Today's Campuses

A CD edited by James L. Morrison presents a wide variety of perspectives on using instructional technologies. Sponsored by Microsoft Corporation's Higher Education Group and Horizonat the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

 

 

 

TENET: The Texas Education Network

An exemplary resource for K-12 teachers, students, and parents, part of the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas, TENET is a state initiative begun with funding from the Texas Education Agency.

 

 

 

Using the World Wide Web to Build Learning Communities in K-12

By Douglas N. Gordin, Louis M. Gomez, Roy D. Pea, and Barry J. Fishman, School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University

 

 

 

World Wide Web Usability

A special issue of the International Journal of Human-Computer Studies.  Several articles have relevance for teachers using the World Wide Web, but especially "Experience with developing multimedia courseware for the World Wide Web: the need for better tools and clear pedagogy," by David Benyon, Debbie Stone, and Mark Woodroffe.