Report 1: DE Office Visit

Please answer the following questions and save the document as Report 3 _ Your Name for submission.

· What have you learned from the guest speaker?

The team presented their professional manifesto and standard procedures; they conduct distance learning courses as well as face to face classes. Moreover they offer consultation at course level. So in case any institute needs to discuss their courses and course methodology, they can be called.

As the emphasis is on distance learning, most of the work comes through emails, phone calls and through word of mouth. Why is the team important? Instructors, deans or chairs go to them to request help regarding their courses.

To help them, besides conventional consultation tools, they have a modified version of ADDY. What they do is they start taking input for the course and start evaluating the content. Plus as the course progresses, they evaluate it along the way.

The team also makes use of both learner analysis and content analysis. More emphasis is put on online learning and giving students some grids to work with, that way they don’t have to run to places to take notes in a lecture.

They would help promote websites for an instructor and the interface where they encourage a button of ‘contact instructor’.

The interface and rubric is not designed based solely on innovation, it is based on instruction design, best practices and research findings. The input they need to evaluate the course include (but are not limited to) atomization of the course and navigation of the course.

Sometime ago, with the approval of The U.S. Dept. of Education, state authorization was not given to distance learning programs, the idea was to uphold integrity regulation, and not to promote diploma mills.

But distance learning programs were suffering; online education had no authority to issue diploma, but things are getting better now as distance learning is no more a walk in the park, it requires hard work.

The team works with the administration; they give them goals regarding distance learning. For instance here at the school, President Bradley and the Dean of Extended Learning work in coordination to setup goals for this program.

The team needs to be on their toes, they have to know what’s going on in technology. For instance the polygraphic teacher will probably be available to distance learners very soon, plus they need to know about the evolution of distance education – so a lot of research goes into their procedures. The team also offers faculty development and offers sessions of quality matters.

· Which part of this activity benefited you most? Why?

Actually, I benefited from the whole activity, especially that the speakers focused on the important points and they present their ideas in a good style that does not inspire boredom. Also the time was very appropriate, the time of the presentation was not long, and we have learned a lot of information about distance education system in a short time. The most part I liked in the activity is when we were in a classroom which is equipped with technological equipment; it is an integrated classroom has good media equipment that supports sound and image. When we were in this classroom, I was thinking about how advanced educational technology that the world has reached and this is something promising.

· What did the activity benefit you regarding toward becoming a professional in the field of instructional design and technology?

As a graduate student in educational technology program and looking forward to working in this area, it's important for me to listen to the experiences of its employees. Also visiting classrooms that equipped with technological tools is important for me to know what the educational technology has reached. Distance education still does not have a great interest in my country, although it has the advanced tools that can give the learner a great benefit. During the presentation I was eager to identify the most important points that the instructional designers and the employees do for distance education field and students. Interest in learning courses, consultation at the level of the session, communicate with students, the tools that works through distance education, learner analysis and content analysis are of the most prominent things that I took it into account and that can help me to become a professional in the field of instructional design and technology.