Chapter 17 Supporting Distance Learners

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Chapter 17: Supporting Distance Learners . Best Practice: Successful distance education programs provide ongoing support for learners

Transcript of Chapter 17 Supporting Distance Learners

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Chapter 17: Supporting Distance

Learners .

Best Practice: Successful distance education programs provide ongoing support for learners

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ineffective

Lack ofsupport

Lack of contact

High rates of attrition

Anonymity “feeling of desolation”

Dissatisfaction

Difficulties understandin

g content

Computer problems

Uncertainty of

strategy

disappointment

Distance Learning can be very lonely if you have no support.

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high rates of completionEx. Britain’s Open University completion rates generally reach 70 percent

American online teacher-upgrading program, eMINTS, enjoys a 95 percent

In Pakistan’s Allama Iqbal Open University’s radio-based teacher training experienced a passing rate of 57%. Robinsons, 1997

Online learning reveals that when a facilitator lacks support they leave the program at very high rate. Sulistyo-Basuki 2007.

LACK OF SUPPORT WITH SUPPORT

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Why Do Teachers Need Support? Understanding ChangeIt may ask them to use new technologies to support new modes of instruction, assessment, and classroom organization.

It often asks them to teach with a new curriculum, to learn new content, and to do it via an unfamiliar tool (computers) or via a mode of learning—the Web, radio, television, or print—in which they are separated from their instructor and perhaps their colleagues

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Research on change (Rogers, 1995)

innovators

Risk taker

inquisitive

Who always tries something new

Small percentage of any group—about 2.5%.

people who by nature always want to try new things

They like to be at the front of the process.

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Research on change (Rogers, 1995)

Early Adopters

typically opinion leaders

They have the respect of their colleagues and other teachers.

Quick to try new things

Prefer well-known and reputable

brands

Interested in innovation, technology,

convenience, lifestyle and design

influential people are not as adventurous as innovators, but will typically keep track of new things to see what might be worthwhile trying

If they decide to try an innovation or new approach, their opinions and actions will influence others around them.

S U C C E S S ! !

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Research on change (Rogers, 1995)

Early majority and late majority were most of the people fall

early majority

late majority

• bit more conservative than the early adopters • adopt new ideas just before the average member of any group does

• These people go along with a change, not out of belief, but out of necessity

• Concerned about doing a good job according to existing standards and methods, • don’t tend to keep track of

things that might be new and exciting • slow to take the risk of a new

approach

Exhibit more pronounced degrees of resistance toward change or reluctance in adopting or implementing new ideas

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Research on change (Rogers, 1995)

THEY simply refuse to embrace whatever change is being promoted.

resistors

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Defining Support “Support” is one of the more common, yet poorly

defined, terms in teacher professional development. The notion of support has multiple meanings for teachers and encompasses numerous dimensions.

“Support” is not simply one type of assistance, but rather a multilayered array of different types of “infrastructure” that help teachers successfully carry out their professional responsibilities

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Administrative

Instructional

School-Based

Community

TechnicalCommunity/ Family

Teaching and

Learning Materials

Time

Types of Supports Needed by Teachers

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Strategies for Support

first level relates to support within the distance learning program itself—supports allowing teacher-learners to complete their distance learning course successfully.

second level concerns support in schools, enabling teachers to implement successfully what they have learned in distance-based courses.

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Programmatic SupportsTypes of support are determined by a number of factors:

• the level of self-efficacy and self-directedness of learners;

• the degree and skill of the facilitator (particularly in the case of online courses);

• the complexity of learning material, design, and technology;

• the particular learning goals for teacher-learners; • and the degree of structure offered by the

distance-based course

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Programmatic Supports

1. Ensure that the distance-based course is integrated into the overall teacher training program.

2. Develop blended distance courses.

3. If offering hybrid courses is not an option, partner with existing local agencies to provide face-to-face support and interaction with teachers.

Strategies for Programmatic Support

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Programmatic Supports4. If support is going to be an issue, select distance education interventions that are highly structured and by their very nature offer-in class supports.

5. Provide mentors and partners to first-time or incoming learners.

6. Offer more, and varied types of teacher professional development as part of the distance learning program or as a supplement to the distance learning program.

7. Strengthen the role and responsibilities of the instructor to include more ongoing support.

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8. Use digital supports.

9. Capitalize on social media to simulate face-to-face interaction and build personal learning networks.

10. Build in opportunities for face-to-face interactions among participants.

Programmatic Supports

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School-based Supports1. Secure principal involvement. principals must shift from administrators to instructional leaders, a role for which most principals are ill prepared and ill equipped

2. Involve a critical mass of teachers in the professional development. building strong support networks and communities of practice at the school level

3. Offer school-based coaching as part of the distance learning program. new teachers, who receive coaching and mentoring are less likely to leave teaching (OECD, 2008; Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005).

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Supporting New TeachersForms of Attrition teachers simply fail to

show up for work or do so irregularly

leave government schools for the improved pay

five times more likely to quit teaching

Teacher attrition is a serious global problem, especially among new teachers

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Teacher Induction Teacher induction is a comprehensive program that acculturates or “inducts” new teachers into the teaching profession. (Breaux & Wong, 2003).

orientation

mentoring

Planning time

Collaboration

On going professional developmen

t

Reduced teaching

loads

Participation of external networks of

teachers

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to aid in teacher retention and improve the professional skills of mentor-teachers (Ingersoll & Strong, 2011) especially mid-career teachers, who have been shown to gain a number of new skills and reinforce certain competencies as a result of the mentoring process.

one-on-one assistance and support from an experienced professional to a novice

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Building the Capacity of Support Providers

instructors need additional professional development and instruction when attempting to provide either instruction or support through asynchronous tools (Abrioux, 2006; Brennan, & Shah, 2000).

Coaching, mentoring and face-to-face and online support may not come easily to a distance-based instructor.

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Conclusion

People and organizations tend to resist change or embrace it slowly.

But change is necessary for growth and for improvement.

It can be highly beneficial if teachers are provided with an array of ongoing supports, but it can be counterproductive and futile if they are not