Distance Education by Distance Education: Putting Theory to Practice in a Graduate Educational Telecommunications Course.

Overview & Synopsis

Graduate students in a telecommunications in education class participated in a collaborative project in which they implemented and practiced the curricular models that they studied during the course. The students used distance education to support learning about the field of distance education. They used the World Wide Web and other media for background information and visited distance education centers. To provide in-depth insights on the topic, they participated in e-mail exchanges with online experts, each representing a different model of distance education. The students created a unique Web site containing information gathered from the experts and links to Web pages that are good general resources on distance education. This experience allowed participants to become immersed in a study as a group and to develop their own models of telecommunications-supported collaborative learning. It attained the baseline goals of differentiation of distance education and telecommunications, practical application of K-12 curricular models, practical experience with collaborative and group processes, examination of a variety of resources and media, and application of online strategies to authentic tasks. Through expert mentors and online resources, students were able to explore their research topic in ways not possible if limited to traditional methods using materials at hand on campus. (Contains 24 references.) (AEF)