Definitions Evaluating Teaching and Learning at a Distance

Definitions Evaluating Teaching and Learning at a Distance

1.     Evaluation, as contrasted to research, is the systematic investigation of the worth or merit of an object. Program evaluation is the systematic investigation of the worth of an ongoing or continuing distance education activity.

2.    Measures of activity. These measures are counts of the numbers of events, people, and objects. Administrative records often provide data for activity questions.

3.    Measures of efficiency. Measures of efficiency are closely related to measures of activity, and often administrative records can be the source of efficiency information.

4.    Measures of outcomes. Measures of adequate learning are usually considered the most important measures of outcomes of distance education activities. Often, interviews with learners are used to supplement course grades in order to find students’ perceptions about a distance education activity.

5.    Measures of program aims. Some distance teaching programs specify their aims in terms of what and whom they intend to teach, and evaluation information is collected to establish the extent to which these aims were met.

6.    Measures of organizations. Sometimes it is important to evaluate a distance education institution in terms of its internal organization and procedures. Evaluators sometimes are asked to monitor the process of course development or program delivery to help an organization be more efficient.

7.    Accountability. Evaluators checked records, interviewed staff, and visited classrooms to determine the status of the development of the ICN, both as a physical system and as a tool used by teachers to deliver courses to distant learners. The accountability focus shifted during the project as its activities shifted from construction to implementation and finally to maintenance.

8.    Effectiveness. Evaluators conducted interviews and focus groups to determine what impact the availability of the ICN had on classroom education. Surveys were sent and reports were generated that helped education leaders to better understand what role distance education was playing.

9.    Impact. As the network became widely available and the number of courses and activities increased, it became possible to determine the impact of the ICN and distance education events on education in the state. Students were tested and grades reported.

10.                       The AEIOU approach is similar to Woodley and Kirkwood’s in that is an electric one that uses quantitative and qualitative methodologies, and it has two primary purposes as an evaluation strategy.

 

 

Prezi Managing and Leading a Distance Education Organization

URLs Managing and Leading at a Distance

http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/html/cem/cem97/cem9734. Html

http://wiche.edu/telecom/Accrediting%20-%20Commitment.pdf

http://search.ntia.doc.gov/pdf/fttn00.pdf

Objectives Managing and Leading at a Distance

4.1 Describe the functions of a distance education administrator in each of the four subsystems of a distance education system.

The administrative functions are to provide strategic leadership and direction, conduct program analysis, maintains the organizational website ensures availability and responsiveness for all student support requirements and ensures fiscal responsibility for online courses and programs.

4.2 Describe the major national, regional, and local issues that affect distance education programs.

The things that affect the different levels are financial aid, how distance education is being taught and telecommunications.

4.3 List and explain the significant areas of cost in the development, delivery, and evaluation of distance education programs.

Distance education is expensive. Personnel costs typically are the majority of the total budgets for distance education programs. Even if these costs are prorated portions of the organizational budget, they can be extraordinary, depending on the size of the program. When budgets get cut development and delivery was cut first.

4.4 Describe a successful program for training faculty to teach effectively in a distance education environment.

A successful and effective curriculum should include the unique attributes and needs of distance learners, assessments of students at a distance, course evaluation, course management factors such as office hours, course instructional design for distance delivery and effective use of embedded technologies.

4.5 Explain how the federal and state governments and accreditation agencies evaluate distance education programs.

Their primary emphasis is on program quality, to protect the public from diploma mills. The federal government evaluates it by student financial aid, copyright, school and public access, and data gathering. The state governments evaluate it having students participate in lab or clinical at an in state site and the instruction participates in in-state college affairs. The regional accreditation agencies in particular are rapidly becoming distance education administrations best friends in promoting distance education and upholding quality standards.

4.6 Explain how access and accessibility issues should influence distance education programs.

The web can be an important tool for disabled students. Students at a distance, however, can be a greater disadvantage if they are without easy access to campus based disability resources and advocacy for accessible web resources.

4.7 Explain how intellectual property issues should be addressed at the local level.

In the absence the ownership of online courses or course materials developed by a teacher should be specified in the employment contract or collective bargaining agreement. The best thing to do before questions become issues is to develop an organizational intellectual policy to which all parties agree.

 

Definitions Managing and Leading at a Distance

1. Distance Learning Leader is a visionary capable of action who guides an organization’s future, its vision, mission, goals, and objectives. The leader guides the organization and its people who have faith in the leader, and have a clear understanding and acceptance of the organization’s worthwhile and shared vision and goals. A distance learning leader has competence in knowing, designing, managing, leading, and visioning distance education.
2. Course Subsystem covers a much broader range of responsibility than the design and development of courses, although these are the primary functions.
3. Student Subsystem is the processes of admitting students and managing and controlling their progress. These are broad generalizations; the issues are much more complicated. In practice, the quality of student support services available and easily accessible to a distant learner will play a major role in determining whether that student learns about the program, enrolls, and remains through to completion.
4. Two Primary Functions for the logistical subsystem: purchasing and maintaining equipment, and employment and training of personnel.
5. Distance Education Policy is policy development and implementation, as well as revision of existing institutional policies when appropriate, is an important topic to be addressed when an organization considers offering distance courses and programs.
6. Intellectual Property Rights related to online courses and the media embedded within are a significant issue in distance education. The essential concerns are ownership of components of online courses and rights pertaining thereto. In other words, who actually owns an online course, or who owns the individual parts of an online course, and who has what rights to use what under what conditions?
7. Work for Hire is at the heart of the intellectual property rights debate. Under work for hire, if an employee creates a work during the course of her or his employment, the copyright of the work normally belongs to the employer. The test of what constitutes a work for hire utilizes the principles of what is termed agency law.
8. The Costs of Distance Education Distance education is expensive. The costs range from basic operation of the administrative office for distance education to faculty salaries to instructional design and technical support personnel to student support personnel to the delivery technology infrastructure. Personnel costs typically are the vast majority of the total budgets for distance education programs. The costs of delivering distance education and ensuring return of investment are foremost concerns of many distance education administrators.
9. Data-gathering. The federal government tracks Internet access among the general population through studies reported in the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Falling Through the Net reports. The National Center for Educational Statistics (2003) tracks trends in distance education in postsecondary institutions. The Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General also compiles information on state and accreditation agency controls over distance education programs.
10. Digital Divide was defined by the Digital Divide Network (2004) as the gap between those who can effectively use new information and communication tools, such as the Internet, and those who cannot. The Digital Divide thus is a much broader concept than the relatively simple matter of access.

 

URLs Copyright and Distance Education

http://creativecommons.org/

http://www.electronic-school.com/2001/06/0601ip.html

http://www.library.yale.edu/~okerson/copyproj.html

Objectives Copyright and Distance Education

4.1 Differentiate between myth and fact related to copyright applications in distance education.

A work has to be published and registered with the United States Copyright Office to receive copyright protection, if it doesn’t have a copyright notice it is a public domain, anything on the internet is public domain, a work copyrighted in another country is public domain in the United States, the doctrine of “fair use” means that copyrighted materials can be used in an educational setting without permission and lastly any copyrighted materials can be digitized and placed on a course website without permission, as long as the site is password protected. 

4.2 Recognize the exclusive rights granted to copyright holders by U.S. copyright law.

The exclusive rights are to reproduce the copyrighted work, prepare derivative works based on the copyrighted original, distribute copies of the copyrighted work, perform the copyrighted work, and display the copyrighted work publicly.

4.3 Determine when copyrighted material enters the public domain.

It can enter the public domain most often simply through expiration of copyright protection and when owners abandon their copyrights.

4.4 Apply the four essential fair use criteria and published guidelines to determine whether use of copyrighted materials requires permission from rights holders.

The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole, and the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

4.5 Identify and track the status of current copyright legislation in Congress, and be aware of the implications of new legislation.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) 1998, and the Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act 2002

4.6 Determine whether learning materials may be used in a video-based distance education course without permission or require authorization from the rights holder.

According to the Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act (TEACH)   digital materials must only be available to the students during approximately the same time period in which they would be available to an face to face class, unless unusual circumstances exist, your institution holds the copyright to these videos, and you should be able to use them  anytime without restrictions.

4.7 Recognize what materials may be placed on the Internet without permission.

Materials that may be placed without permission are name, position, institution, mailing address and phone and fax number. Identification of the item to be used, complete description of the intended use and date by which permission is requested.

4.8 Recognize the circumstances under which Internet materials copyrighted by others may be forwarded, downloaded, and printed.

Under the circumstances and broadly speaking, one can copyright any original work of authorship that can be "fixed in any tangible medium. of expression," such as written on paper, or encoded on disk or tape, or recorded on film

4.9 Follow appropriate procedures for obtaining permission from rights holders to use copyrighted materials in a distance education course.

Distance educators must obtain permission from rights holders before using copyrighted materials in their courses, they should begin by contacting the publisher or distributor, if no address or phone is provided one must check catalogues or refer to the librarian and the last resort is a plea for help sent to the appropriate Internet mailing list. 

4.10 Facilitate the development of an effective intellectual property rights policy.

The development is who owns an online course the school/university, the faculty member providing the content, should the ownership be shared between the two , and if so under what conditions or is it even possible to “own” an entire online course.

4.11 Recognize the potential consequences of copyright infringement

If a copyright infringement is found on a website maintained by a service provider, the rights holder may request that the service provider “take down” or block access to the infringing material and escape organizational liability for the infringement.