The Impact of Open Sources.

My previous education and work experiences were not in the education sector so, this means I am completely new to the new educational tools, instructional design and new learning initiatives available online. I was unaware of the open sources courses available on the internet. It is amazing how the internet has expanded our abilities to learn from anywhere in the world. I reviewed Roman Architecture an open course from Yale University (http://oyc.yale.edu/history-of-art/roman-architecture).

This course is available on campus but was adapted in 2009 for their open courses catalogue. The lectures were all recorded from on campus lessons so all 23 lessons of audio; video and course materials are available online. This course is taught by Diana E.E. Kleiner who has included many of her own photographs to help with the learning experiences. To adapt this course to distance learning the content has been organized carefully on the Yale website. All course materials are laid out nicely and organized well. As a student it is easy to navigate the website so you can easily find your materials and understand the requirements of the course.

Instruction for a distance learning course requires a different approach and requirements from the instructor to ensure students understand the material being presented. “The instructor is viewed as the facilitator of learning by guiding, rather than directing, the students, thus modeling a student-centred approach. (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright & Zvacek, 2009). This course offered by Yale has limited instruction as the course is only online and it does not seem like the student can contact the instructor. If the student has any technical issues there is a help button they can use however, they are given no contact details for the instructor. This course really is designed for a student to learn this material independently and complete the work as required. If they have any questions they need to direct them to their study groups as nobody at Yale is available to assist.

The course designer did their best to maximize active learning for the learning. However, I am uncertain how they really planned out this course. It really was organized so that students can review material that has been put online for them. It does not really feel like a course as it is organized for a very independent learning experience for the students. The students have all the same information that an on-campus student would receive for this class however, they do not receive any feedback or assistance from their instructor. The clear difference is a distance learning student would not get the same interaction with students and the instructor as if you were in the class. The course designer did not include many ways for students to interact with each other. The distance learning student has the opportunity to join an online study group for the class using OpenStudy. This allows students to interact and ask questions about the course material however, this is not mandatory. Given the material that is being presented it would have been more favorable if there was an instructor available to answer questions as this would really help the learning experience. However, students have all the right materials and information to enjoy the information presented. If they want to have an interactive class than this definitely is not the platform or class for them.


References

Kleiner, Diana E.E. (2010). Yale University. Open Yale Courses. “Roman Architecture” Retrieved on February 6, 2011 from http://oyc.yale.edu/history-of-art/roman-architecture.

Piskurich, Dr. George. "Planning and Designing Online Courses" Laureate Online Education, 2011. Retrieved from Distance Learning module

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.