Module 1 - Distance Education & the Economic of Education
During this module we discussed whether or not "Education can really promote growth." Wolfe (2002) stated that there is a link between national wealth and education spending. Is education an elixir or snake oil? I think it's a little of both.
Seems to me that there is a correlation between education delivering growth graduates that are highly skilled in a particular field. Since job growth is ever changing, the demand for educational growth changes due to the economic climate, workplace training and demographic and population expansions in our global economy.
Globalization is a force for technological expansion and advancements. When the workplace changes education must change with it. Unskilled workers need to gain skills without them they most likely will have a hard time finding a good job and their quality of life will not be what they may think it might have been without a high paying salary. I see my education as an investment in myself. We also introduced ourselves to each other; and of course I knew at least 75% of the students in this class. I already knew that this would be a challenging class. And it IS! This was my favorite module!
Reading for this Module:
Wolf, A. (2002). Elixir or snake oil? Can education really deliver growth? In A. Wolf (Ed.), Does education matter? Myths about education and economic growth (pp. 13-55), London: Penguin books. I think that education is a lot of elixir and little bit of snake oil as well. Education does matter is it opens up opportunities for change in an individual. What you do with an education is the question? I see some who are highly educated and working blue collar jobs. Some take education as not being a serious endeavor. But in this new digital world education is just only part of the beginnings of life. There are so many factors that have to be put together just like a puzzle, and education being one of the pieces must fit along with the other pieces of our lives. Elixir yes because it gives us hope for the future to advance and have a great quality of life. Snake oil yes because education is only what you put into it and there is no guarantee that if you get an education you will get a good job or that you will live an abundant life. There are no guarantees in life but death itself and don't let me forget taxes.
Module 2 - The techniques of Cost Analysis
The objectives in this module focused on costing exercises which were difficult for me because I had never had to work with these objectives from an DE economic standpoint. Usually when I see numbers that involve using excel and graphs I want to run and hide. As long as it was a discussion that involved answering a part of scholarly text I was OK, but when it involved answering formula type questions with graphs it took me a little while to take the information and apply it to the discussion section. Since i have had to experience some of the mock assignments it seems as if I might be comprehending what is required. I only wish at this point that I had a study group to work with early on in the semester and not at the end of the semester. Analyzing the systems and subsystems of DE was fascinating, breaking down the resources was a challenge but well worth knowing for the future. I did have some problems with applying the excel techniques to the costing activities. I tell you I do know more now than I did before I started the class. I now understand what the different options represent for the DE industry. I am still a little shaky on variable and semivariable costing. I think it is good to understand why you do what you do before you actually do it. This was a good lesson/activity. I don't plan to do any costing for a course; but it is nice to know what is required for costing and implementing a course.
Module 3 - The Cost-effectiveness of Distance Education Institutions
In this module we discussed how costs affected DE institutions. Using cost per student and cost per graduate as an indicator for cost effectiveness.
We examined case studies for further evidence for DE. In Rumble (1997) we take a look at chapters 13-14 regarding cost-efficiency and the "Open University: A case study in methodology. Inputs and outputs are cost drivers in DE where online courses and students are enrolled. I think that distance education is a cost-effective means of an educational provision for learners. Why? The DE system is cost-efficient in that its outputs cost less per unit of its inputs. Sure the technological resources of maintaining a online course delivery system may be costly as far as set up costs but compared to face-to-face learning there is no costs for traditional labor, most traditional formats are driven by labor costs for classroom teachers, so then those costs are direct costs which rise according to the increase in students. DE affords a way for educators to reach a larger mass of the population without higher labor costs. DE is flexible for me because It saves on time that I would spend on the road driving back and forth to a traditional classroom, purchasing fuel for my car, which are all opportunity costs for getting an education. My thoughts on cost-effectiveness is when a measure of quality is seen as effective with a lower cost. Cost effective services can be seen as cheap if the prices for that service is low. The problem with low prices may result in low quality of service. We must always examine a product or service to make sure the quality of that product/service still maintains the highest level of service or taste. Some see DE as low quality even though it is cost-effective to learners. In measuring the effectiveness in DE one would have to take an online course to see if its effective for them in a personal sense. It is hard to believe that something is effective without trying it for yourself. What may be cost effective for one individual may not be considered cost effective for another individual. Course completion and reaching targeted goals and objectives that prepare a learner for the workplace may be seen as a way to measure the success of on online course being cost-effective.
During this module we discussed in unit 3 the British Open University (OUUK) ......
The Chinese Open University (COU) ...... The Indira Gandhi Open University (IGNOU) ...... and the University of South Africa (UNISA).......
Professor Greville Rumble - Visiting Professor for the week (3/14/16 - 3/20/16)
Exploring topics: Questions on efficiency and cost effectiveness - the vulnerability debate and dependency on cost-efficiency and scales of economies regarding the impact of ICT - ethical dimensions of the economy of DE.
The required reading for this week is: Rumble, G. (2007). Social Justice, economics and distance education. Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 22 (2), 167-176.
Module 4 - The cost structure of mass media
Required reading for the Module topic this week is - Bates, A. W. (2005). Technology. e-learning and distance education. London New York: Routledge. Chapters 1-6.
I have seen how some organizations and schools try to bypass paying the cost of a quality technological and media program due to lack of sufficient funding and end up with a wasted product that can only be used for a limited time. In Bates, (2005) he suggests using a framework of action steps in ordering media and technologies, since the decisions can be complex for the distance learning environment.
A student's response to the material is very important in the success of an online interactive course. Students must be able to process the text and the structure should be user friendly for the learner. Some LMS programs can be expensive but are well worth it in retaining and keeping the attention of the learner.
Module 5 - Costing e-learning
It's Bates again for this module - Bates, A. W. (2005). Chapters 7-10.
In this module the discussion leans toward costing of e-learning. Bates (2005) states that radio is an accessible technology for teaching, but I don't see anybody using it for teaching online courses. Maybe radio can be re-invented to include certain broadcast telecast for online learning. But of course time would be a factor. For live broadcasts the learner would need to be accessible to hearing it and time would factor in according to where an individual learner lived, or the geographic region. I think the cost would be less expensive if radio was implemented into courses for access. I also don't see audio cassettes as being that popular I remember using them a long time ago when I took a correspondence course, but now you can hear over the computer and Youtube. I do think that a lot of radio learning programs are still being used in developing countries. I remember when I was attempting to learn beginning Spanish and in class we used cassettes and the good thing was that we could replay and forward the recording if we wanted to hear the lesson over again. Audio cassettes is a very low cost to e-learning. Also, audio cassettes can be integrated into other learning material.
Group 2 Assignment - Group dynamics when working in groups especially in an online class can be tedious at best. When working in a group it is best that all cards are placed on the table in order for the group to have cohesion. If someone shows you who they are believe them. Working in a group can bring the best out of individuals and can bring the worst out as well. Our group seemed to weather the storm despite the rippling waves. This week our assignment was to develop a proposal for a course or program to be offered to online students or learners, with a costing template, spreadsheet and power point presentation with voice recording along the line of text.
Our group used the online chat feature of LEO in our classroom which was very helpful and is a good way to communicate with a group if you don't want to Skype. This was a comprehensive project to say the least. I do think it was good that we were able to divide our group activities in a way that all were able to participate relying on skills from each of us and each presenting the skills that we thought was best suited in handling the project. It is helpful in a group situation to rely on each other if one or more are more profound in another area than the other.
I can truly say this was a real experience trying to put together a project of this nature. In most other group projects I have participated with in the past there of course was always one individual that was very anxious and nervous about everything being perfect or there would be an individual that was very lax and would show up in the project and take over as if they had been there from day 1. But working on large projects online is very different than working on projects in an office setting. I guess in distance education that is the way projects are done and schools and communities better get used to online projects where you Skype, do conference calling or online chats.
And when under a time line pressure a group project can become tense between group members, especially if a member is not forthcoming about the reasons for taking on certain portions of an assignment or being self-serving to present their work for personal reasons to benefit from that work without disclosing it to all the members. Group dynamics is an education within itself and a good teaching and learning tool for anyone that participates. Team spirit happens when all members are on the same page. That is what makes for a good group dynamics, in our case the project went well. It was well worth it and this time I did get into a well-balanced group.
Module 6 - Costs and economics of learner support
Simpson, O. (2008). Cost-benefit of student retention policies and practices. In W. J. Bramble, Panda, S. (Ed.), Economics of distance and online learning" Theory practice, and research (pp. 162-178). New York, London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Learner Support and the costs and economics was up for discussion in this module. A very interesting topic on retention and how it affects distance learning programs. I think learner support is very important to keeping up with students that register for a program or course. I have taken quite a few courses at UMUC online and I have had some excellent support during the ongoing activities in classes. Learner support may be tricky in that there is a job description for each assistant. Some assistants are part-time and have limited time to work with students. While in some classes the assistant may be full-time. The cost of having an assistant depends on the requirements that are given to the assistant at the time of being employed. I do see the benefit of having that support in an online class. Some students with more support may tend to not withdraw from a course . I see learner support as insurance for distance education to retain more learners over the time line of the course.
Distance education is flexible that is why more students are taking online courses. But if there is not a good learner support structure in place some students will opt for face-to-face traditional learning. When I tell people that I take online courses they sometimes want to question whether or not I am getting a benefit by doing so. Since there are a lot of learners that tend to think that in a traditional format you can look the instructor in the eye and get direct support from him or her, makes the difference in learning the subject matter. But I find I can get that same support in an online DE format with sufficient support. I can say that I have not always needed learning support in each class but it is nice to know that it is there when and if you need it. A final note that I want to emphasize is as a student you have to be very committed to taking a distance education course, especially if you are living in a home with family. Realize that your family may or may not be vested in your education.
You have to see it for what it is....respecting their space and them respecting your space and time. It is not always possible to relocate to a place where there is absolute privacy, so take that into consideration when taking any class online , on the campus in the dorm or in your own apartment. Once professor once told me that I need to be able to do my homework with some noise and interruption, because if I was working in an office there would be a lot of activity from background noise.
So you almost have to tune out others around you and some individuals feel as if your are neglecting them.
Its a sacrifice you have to make but one might consider new living conditions if possible, like I'm considering. You can not sit up under someone and work effectively, neither can they sit up under you for you to be productive. Just some things to consider! Everyone needs to stay in their own lane, and get a life! Just a little venting!!! But what I'm saying for all students to know is that what is important for you may not be important for others. I don't mean no harm but sometimes you may have to distance yourself. At the end of the day your responsible for paying for the course and passing the course.
During this module we discussed whether or not "Education can really promote growth." Wolfe (2002) stated that there is a link between national wealth and education spending. Is education an elixir or snake oil? I think it's a little of both.
Seems to me that there is a correlation between education delivering growth graduates that are highly skilled in a particular field. Since job growth is ever changing, the demand for educational growth changes due to the economic climate, workplace training and demographic and population expansions in our global economy.
Globalization is a force for technological expansion and advancements. When the workplace changes education must change with it. Unskilled workers need to gain skills without them they most likely will have a hard time finding a good job and their quality of life will not be what they may think it might have been without a high paying salary. I see my education as an investment in myself. We also introduced ourselves to each other; and of course I knew at least 75% of the students in this class. I already knew that this would be a challenging class. And it IS! This was my favorite module!
Reading for this Module:
Wolf, A. (2002). Elixir or snake oil? Can education really deliver growth? In A. Wolf (Ed.), Does education matter? Myths about education and economic growth (pp. 13-55), London: Penguin books. I think that education is a lot of elixir and little bit of snake oil as well. Education does matter is it opens up opportunities for change in an individual. What you do with an education is the question? I see some who are highly educated and working blue collar jobs. Some take education as not being a serious endeavor. But in this new digital world education is just only part of the beginnings of life. There are so many factors that have to be put together just like a puzzle, and education being one of the pieces must fit along with the other pieces of our lives. Elixir yes because it gives us hope for the future to advance and have a great quality of life. Snake oil yes because education is only what you put into it and there is no guarantee that if you get an education you will get a good job or that you will live an abundant life. There are no guarantees in life but death itself and don't let me forget taxes.
Module 2 - The techniques of Cost Analysis
The objectives in this module focused on costing exercises which were difficult for me because I had never had to work with these objectives from an DE economic standpoint. Usually when I see numbers that involve using excel and graphs I want to run and hide. As long as it was a discussion that involved answering a part of scholarly text I was OK, but when it involved answering formula type questions with graphs it took me a little while to take the information and apply it to the discussion section. Since i have had to experience some of the mock assignments it seems as if I might be comprehending what is required. I only wish at this point that I had a study group to work with early on in the semester and not at the end of the semester. Analyzing the systems and subsystems of DE was fascinating, breaking down the resources was a challenge but well worth knowing for the future. I did have some problems with applying the excel techniques to the costing activities. I tell you I do know more now than I did before I started the class. I now understand what the different options represent for the DE industry. I am still a little shaky on variable and semivariable costing. I think it is good to understand why you do what you do before you actually do it. This was a good lesson/activity. I don't plan to do any costing for a course; but it is nice to know what is required for costing and implementing a course.
Module 3 - The Cost-effectiveness of Distance Education Institutions
In this module we discussed how costs affected DE institutions. Using cost per student and cost per graduate as an indicator for cost effectiveness.
We examined case studies for further evidence for DE. In Rumble (1997) we take a look at chapters 13-14 regarding cost-efficiency and the "Open University: A case study in methodology. Inputs and outputs are cost drivers in DE where online courses and students are enrolled. I think that distance education is a cost-effective means of an educational provision for learners. Why? The DE system is cost-efficient in that its outputs cost less per unit of its inputs. Sure the technological resources of maintaining a online course delivery system may be costly as far as set up costs but compared to face-to-face learning there is no costs for traditional labor, most traditional formats are driven by labor costs for classroom teachers, so then those costs are direct costs which rise according to the increase in students. DE affords a way for educators to reach a larger mass of the population without higher labor costs. DE is flexible for me because It saves on time that I would spend on the road driving back and forth to a traditional classroom, purchasing fuel for my car, which are all opportunity costs for getting an education. My thoughts on cost-effectiveness is when a measure of quality is seen as effective with a lower cost. Cost effective services can be seen as cheap if the prices for that service is low. The problem with low prices may result in low quality of service. We must always examine a product or service to make sure the quality of that product/service still maintains the highest level of service or taste. Some see DE as low quality even though it is cost-effective to learners. In measuring the effectiveness in DE one would have to take an online course to see if its effective for them in a personal sense. It is hard to believe that something is effective without trying it for yourself. What may be cost effective for one individual may not be considered cost effective for another individual. Course completion and reaching targeted goals and objectives that prepare a learner for the workplace may be seen as a way to measure the success of on online course being cost-effective.
During this module we discussed in unit 3 the British Open University (OUUK) ......
The Chinese Open University (COU) ...... The Indira Gandhi Open University (IGNOU) ...... and the University of South Africa (UNISA).......
Professor Greville Rumble - Visiting Professor for the week (3/14/16 - 3/20/16)
Exploring topics: Questions on efficiency and cost effectiveness - the vulnerability debate and dependency on cost-efficiency and scales of economies regarding the impact of ICT - ethical dimensions of the economy of DE.
The required reading for this week is: Rumble, G. (2007). Social Justice, economics and distance education. Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 22 (2), 167-176.
Module 4 - The cost structure of mass media
Required reading for the Module topic this week is - Bates, A. W. (2005). Technology. e-learning and distance education. London New York: Routledge. Chapters 1-6.
I have seen how some organizations and schools try to bypass paying the cost of a quality technological and media program due to lack of sufficient funding and end up with a wasted product that can only be used for a limited time. In Bates, (2005) he suggests using a framework of action steps in ordering media and technologies, since the decisions can be complex for the distance learning environment.
A student's response to the material is very important in the success of an online interactive course. Students must be able to process the text and the structure should be user friendly for the learner. Some LMS programs can be expensive but are well worth it in retaining and keeping the attention of the learner.
Module 5 - Costing e-learning
It's Bates again for this module - Bates, A. W. (2005). Chapters 7-10.
In this module the discussion leans toward costing of e-learning. Bates (2005) states that radio is an accessible technology for teaching, but I don't see anybody using it for teaching online courses. Maybe radio can be re-invented to include certain broadcast telecast for online learning. But of course time would be a factor. For live broadcasts the learner would need to be accessible to hearing it and time would factor in according to where an individual learner lived, or the geographic region. I think the cost would be less expensive if radio was implemented into courses for access. I also don't see audio cassettes as being that popular I remember using them a long time ago when I took a correspondence course, but now you can hear over the computer and Youtube. I do think that a lot of radio learning programs are still being used in developing countries. I remember when I was attempting to learn beginning Spanish and in class we used cassettes and the good thing was that we could replay and forward the recording if we wanted to hear the lesson over again. Audio cassettes is a very low cost to e-learning. Also, audio cassettes can be integrated into other learning material.
Group 2 Assignment - Group dynamics when working in groups especially in an online class can be tedious at best. When working in a group it is best that all cards are placed on the table in order for the group to have cohesion. If someone shows you who they are believe them. Working in a group can bring the best out of individuals and can bring the worst out as well. Our group seemed to weather the storm despite the rippling waves. This week our assignment was to develop a proposal for a course or program to be offered to online students or learners, with a costing template, spreadsheet and power point presentation with voice recording along the line of text.
Our group used the online chat feature of LEO in our classroom which was very helpful and is a good way to communicate with a group if you don't want to Skype. This was a comprehensive project to say the least. I do think it was good that we were able to divide our group activities in a way that all were able to participate relying on skills from each of us and each presenting the skills that we thought was best suited in handling the project. It is helpful in a group situation to rely on each other if one or more are more profound in another area than the other.
I can truly say this was a real experience trying to put together a project of this nature. In most other group projects I have participated with in the past there of course was always one individual that was very anxious and nervous about everything being perfect or there would be an individual that was very lax and would show up in the project and take over as if they had been there from day 1. But working on large projects online is very different than working on projects in an office setting. I guess in distance education that is the way projects are done and schools and communities better get used to online projects where you Skype, do conference calling or online chats.
And when under a time line pressure a group project can become tense between group members, especially if a member is not forthcoming about the reasons for taking on certain portions of an assignment or being self-serving to present their work for personal reasons to benefit from that work without disclosing it to all the members. Group dynamics is an education within itself and a good teaching and learning tool for anyone that participates. Team spirit happens when all members are on the same page. That is what makes for a good group dynamics, in our case the project went well. It was well worth it and this time I did get into a well-balanced group.
Module 6 - Costs and economics of learner support
Simpson, O. (2008). Cost-benefit of student retention policies and practices. In W. J. Bramble, Panda, S. (Ed.), Economics of distance and online learning" Theory practice, and research (pp. 162-178). New York, London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Learner Support and the costs and economics was up for discussion in this module. A very interesting topic on retention and how it affects distance learning programs. I think learner support is very important to keeping up with students that register for a program or course. I have taken quite a few courses at UMUC online and I have had some excellent support during the ongoing activities in classes. Learner support may be tricky in that there is a job description for each assistant. Some assistants are part-time and have limited time to work with students. While in some classes the assistant may be full-time. The cost of having an assistant depends on the requirements that are given to the assistant at the time of being employed. I do see the benefit of having that support in an online class. Some students with more support may tend to not withdraw from a course . I see learner support as insurance for distance education to retain more learners over the time line of the course.
Distance education is flexible that is why more students are taking online courses. But if there is not a good learner support structure in place some students will opt for face-to-face traditional learning. When I tell people that I take online courses they sometimes want to question whether or not I am getting a benefit by doing so. Since there are a lot of learners that tend to think that in a traditional format you can look the instructor in the eye and get direct support from him or her, makes the difference in learning the subject matter. But I find I can get that same support in an online DE format with sufficient support. I can say that I have not always needed learning support in each class but it is nice to know that it is there when and if you need it. A final note that I want to emphasize is as a student you have to be very committed to taking a distance education course, especially if you are living in a home with family. Realize that your family may or may not be vested in your education.
You have to see it for what it is....respecting their space and them respecting your space and time. It is not always possible to relocate to a place where there is absolute privacy, so take that into consideration when taking any class online , on the campus in the dorm or in your own apartment. Once professor once told me that I need to be able to do my homework with some noise and interruption, because if I was working in an office there would be a lot of activity from background noise.
So you almost have to tune out others around you and some individuals feel as if your are neglecting them.
Its a sacrifice you have to make but one might consider new living conditions if possible, like I'm considering. You can not sit up under someone and work effectively, neither can they sit up under you for you to be productive. Just some things to consider! Everyone needs to stay in their own lane, and get a life! Just a little venting!!! But what I'm saying for all students to know is that what is important for you may not be important for others. I don't mean no harm but sometimes you may have to distance yourself. At the end of the day your responsible for paying for the course and passing the course.