Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning – Special Issue: Primary And Secondary Distance Education : Expanding The Knowledge Base In The Schools Sector

Just wanted to announce the publication of this special issue focused on K-12 online learning in New Zealand.  Over the course of the week, I will post an individual entry about each of these articles.

Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning

The Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning is a refereed journal published annually by the New Zealand Association for Open, Flexible and Distance Learning (DEANZ). It publishes articles from around the world relating to primary research investigations, literature reviews, the application of distance education innovations, and the experiences of teaching at a distance. Theoretical and empirically based research articles, research notes, reports and case studies of practice, and reviews by or of interest to those involved in distance education and open learning are invited for submission.

The Journal of Flexible, Open and Distance Learning is the journal of the New Zealand Association for Open, Flexible and Distance Learning (DEANZ, www.deanz.org.nz).
ISSN: Print 1179-7665; Online 1179-7673.

Vol 17, No 1 (2013): JOFDL Special Issue – Primary and Secondary Distance Education: Expanding the knowledge base in the schools sector

This issue of JOFDL seeks to advance understanding of distance education in the schools sector in New Zealand, Australia and other Pacifica countries. Contributors focus on some aspect of distance education in the schools sector.

Table of Contents

Special issue – Primary and Secondary Education

Editorial Introduction	PDF
Michael K Barbour, Keryn Pratt	i-ii

OtagoNet: One region’s model for virtual schooling	PDF
Keryn Pratt, Ken Pullar	1-11

The FarNet journey: Effective teaching strategies for engaging Māori students on the Virtual Learning Network	PDF
Michael K Barbour	12-23

A case study of blended teaching and learning in a New Zealand secondary school, using an ecological framework	PDF
Pinelopi Zaka	24-40

Book Review – eLearnings: Implementing a national strategy for ICT in education, 1998-2010	PDF
Darren Sudlow	41-43

Book Review – Making the move to K–12 online teaching: Research-based strategies and practices	PDF
David Adelstein	44-45

Interview with Eddie Reisch	PDF
Hazel Owen	46-55

[DEANZ] Annotated Bibliography‏

From the inbox late this evening…

Dear DEANZ members,

This latest annotated bibliography from the MoE might be of interest…

http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/ict/organisational-approaches-to-e-learning-in-the-tertiary-sector

Enjoy

Mark

[DEANZ] DEANZ Members Mailing List E-learning Achievement Report

An item for my Kiwi friends from yesterday’s inbox…

Hello DEANZ members

This latest e-learning report from the Ministry of Education might be of interest as it focuses on the thorny question of achievement from 2004 to 2009. See…

http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/ict/108103

It needs to be noted that the report draws on data from the “Internet Category” collected through SDR (Standard Data Return) data—that is, the old web categories of Web-Supported, Web-Enhanced and Web-Based collected from each tertiary provider.

Also of note is that for the purposes of the analysis the three categories were combined to form a single delivery mode – referred to as ‘e-learning’. In the past I know some DEANZ members have expressed unease about the trustworthiness of data collected under the SDR web categories and of course the analysis isn’t able to distinguish between different pedagogical applications of e-learning. We know that e-learning isn’t a single entity as it ranges from online multi-choice tests to collaborative projects where students produce their own rich-media artefacts.

Key messages from the report include:

• Face-to-face courses had higher completion rates than e-learning courses overall.

• But in some groups – full-time students, intramural students, university students and Asian students – there was little difference in the completion rates of e-learning and courses delivered by traditional methods.

When interpreting these messages it is important for DEANZ members to remember that the report does NOT claim these factors are causal. This is a key point! Otherwise it could be wrongly concluded from the report that face-to-face is better than online! The concept of ‘better’ in this sense is being measured by completion rates which importantly is not the only measure of student achievement. And when it comes to retention and completion rates the student motivation and demographic background are important variables along with a myriad of hard and soft factors that inter-play to influence achievement. Put another way, although face-to-face courses are reported to have higher completion rates, the goal of improved retention and completion rates will not be solved by dropping e-learning from as many courses as possible.    This is flawed logic.

In my own institution, for example, many internal face-to-face courses with low enrolment numbers would have been categorised as ‘no Internet’ as there was little need to provide an online learning environment for such a handful of students. The point is that high completion rates in these courses may be influenced by class size, level of study, and so on, rather than any lack of e-learning component. The other point to consider when interpreting the results is to what extent has the e-learning environment changed since the period (2004–2009) of data collection. Also to what extent can we generalise some of the conclusions to a wider sample of tertiary learners in 2013 based on these findings.

Other key findings (claimed) include:

* In polytechnics, face-to-face courses had higher completion rates than e-learning courses.  In universities the rates were comparable.

* For intramural students the rates were comparable. But traditional paper-based distance delivery has slightly higher completion rates than e-learning for extramural students.

* If we look just at part-time students face-to-face courses had higher completion rates than e-learning.  But for full-time students the rates were comparable.

* Maori and Pasifika performance was better in face-to-face courses than in e-learning courses while for Asians and Europeans the rates were comparable.

* This finding challenges much of the evidence from the wider research literature which finds that Asians do badly in e-learning because they are thought to favour more directive teaching styles.

* Older students did better in face-to-face courses while among younger students the rates were comparable.

* Much of the research literature indicates that women do better than men in e-learning because e-learning requires greater self-management. But we find evidence for women doing better in face to face courses.

Do read glance through the report as it provides useful data for further discussion about what we should be measuring in the context of performance indicators for effective of open, flexible and distance learning.

Enjoy!

Mark

DEADLINE EXTENDED – Call for Submissions: Themed Issue of the Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO 21 DECEMBER 2012.

The Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning is a refereed journal published at least twice annually by the Distance Education Association of New Zealand (www.deanz.org.nz). It publishes articles relating to primary research investigations, literature reviews, the application of distance education innovations, and the experiences of teaching at a distance.

This is a call for submissions for the themed issue to be published in April 2013 on the theme:

Primary and Secondary Distance Education: Expanding the knowledge base in the schools sector.

Focus of the themed issue:

Despite a history of over 90 years, to date there has been little published research on the use of distance education in the primary and secondary environment in New Zealand or other countries in Australasia. Barbour (2011a) examined 262 articles from the main distance education journals for Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States (including the Journal of Flexible, Open, and Distance Learning) from 2006 to 2010 and found only 1 of the 262 articles related to distance education in the schools sector in New Zealand. Further, during this five-year period only three of the 21 articles published by the Journal of Flexible, Open, and Distance Learning related to primary and secondary distance education in any country.

Unfortunately, this lack of coverage in the academic literature is not consistent with the level of activity that is occurring. For example, at present:

• The Correspondence School/Te Kura is making the transition from a primarily correspondence model to incorporating more and more online delivery of their curriculum.
• The e-learning clusters of the Virtual Learning Network are maturing, becoming sustainable, and expanding in their traditional rural areas, while the development of urban clusters or loops are starting to occur.
• Over the past two years a cluster focused specifically on providing distance education to primary students have been established.
• The number of tertiary institutions providing distance education opportunities for secondary students is increasing.

There are many different and diverse models of distance education delivery happening in the schools sector, much of which is going unnoticed by the larger distance education community.

This situation is not specific to New Zealand. With the exception of the published material focused on primary and secondary distance education in the United States and Canada, the same could be said of most countries in Australasia. However systematic research into distance education in the schools sector is needed now. In the last two years, various publications have highlighted the discussion related to the future of the New Zealand schools sector (Barbour, 2011b; Wenmoth, 2011; Davis 2010, 2011; Parkes Zaka and Davis, 2011). It is timely to highlight empirical work into distance education in the primary and secondary settings.

References:

Barbour, M. K. (2011a). The promise and the reality: Exploring virtual schooling in rural jurisdictions. Education in Rural Australia, 21(1), 1-20.

Barbour, M. K. (2011b). Primary and secondary e-learning: Examining the process of achieving maturity. Christchurch, New Zealand: Distance Education Association of New Zealand. Retrieved from http://www.vln.school.nz/mod/file/download.php?file_guid=114023

Davis, N. E. (2010) Canterbury ’quakes and virtual schooling grows to cover the fault. Computers in New Zealand Schools, 22(3). Retrieved from http://education2x.otago.ac.nz/cinzs/mod/resource/view.php?id=124

Davis, N. E. (2011) Online and blended learning rolling into New Zealand schools. Computers in New Zealand Schools: Learning, Teaching, Technology, 23(1). Retrieved from http://education2x.otago.ac.nz/cinzs/mod/resource/view.php?id=139

Parkes, S., Zaka, P., & Davis, N. (2011). The first blended or hybrid online course in a New Zealand secondary school: A case study. Computers in New Zealand Schools: Learning, Teaching, Technology, 23(1). Retrieved from http://education2x.otago.ac.nz/cinzs/mod/resource/view.php?id=149

Wenmoth, D. (2011). Business case: Virtual Learning Network Community (VLN-C). Christchurch, New Zealand: CORE Education Ltd.

Submissions:

The proposed issue of JOFDL seeks to advance understanding of distance education in the schools sector in New Zealand, Australia and other Pacifica countries. Contributors will focus on some aspect of distance education in the schools sector.

As a guide, submissions that address the following areas will be considered for publication in this special issue:

a) the challenges of providing distance education to primary and secondary schools in rural and remote areas;

b) the transition from more traditional methods of distance delivery to methods that take advantage of Internet-based tools in the schools sector;

c) the use of Web 2.0 tools, as opposed to more traditional learning management systems, to deliver distance education in the primary and secondary environment;

d) the actual implementation – including the design, delivery, and support – of primary and secondary distance education;

e) the unique challenges for implementing primary and secondary online learning in urban environments; and

f) the movement of tertiary organisations into distance education for the schools sector.

This list is not exhaustive, and all submissions related to distance education in the schools sector in New Zealand, Australia and other Pacifica countries will be considered.

Ideally, submissions will include a carefully developed argument in response to a single issue. Such responses may include empirical work; critical literature reviews which form scholarly responses to relevant questions related to distance education in the schools sector; or contextualised accounts from the schools sectors that are linked to established theory in distance education. Engagement with recent scholarly publications is expected. All submissions will receive a minimum of two reviewers undertaken following a ‘double blind’ peer review process.

Prospective authors will need to register with JOFDL and make all submissions online:

http://journals.akoaotearoa.ac.nz/index.php/JOFDL/

Articles should be submitted by December 21, 2012 for consideration and review. Please select the “Special issue – Primary and Secondary Education” section during the submission process.

Questions and/or one-page article abstracts for preliminary feedback can be directed to the issue editors Michael Barbour (mkbarbour@-at-gmail.com) and Keryn Pratt (keryn.pratt-at-otago.ac.nz).

[DEANZ] Two DEANZ webinars in November 2012 – Laxman from Singapore to Auckland on 9/11/12 + Bartolomé viiting from the University of Barcelona on 20/11/12

An item for my Kiwi colleagues (or at least the DEANZ members).  Note that I have removed the URLs, as I think those were for members only.

Members of the Distance Learning Association of New Zealand and their associates are cordially invited to two DEANZ webinars this month, see below.

Thanks to the University of Canterbury and its e-Learning Lab, these will be recorded and added to the DEANZ web site.

1.      Friday 9^th November, 2012, 3-4 pm (online only):

DEANZ webinar hosted by University of Canterbury e-Learning Lab on

Dr Kumar Laxman in conversation with Professor Niki Davis on his research in open flexible learning and his transition from Singapore to New Zealand.

Kumar recently joined the University of Auckland Faculty of Education from Singapore. His request to visit the University of Canterbury e-Learning Lab to assist his orientation to New Zealand resulted in this invited webinar and DEANZ has gained a member. He will talk about his research and projects in which assisted a number of education organizations to enable them to leverage upon technologies in enhancing mobile learning, collaborative online learning and e-learning instructional design.

To join the meeting (online only):

2.      Tuesday 20^th November, 2012, 4-5 pm

University of Canterbury e-Learning Lab meeting and DEANZ webinar

University of Canterbury College of Education in Otakaro 205 and Online in Adobe Connect

Learning environments at Higher Education – Or – How long does the virtual campus survive?

·      Where do you see the web?
·      Where do you see the ‘stuff’?
·      Where do you see the university?

A time to imagine, reflect, discuss and decide with Antonio R. Bartolomé Ph.D., University of Barcelona, chaired by Professor Niki Davis, University of Canterbury e-Learning Lab and President of DEANZ

To join the meeting:

—————-
If you have never attended an Adobe Connect meeting before:

• Test your connection: http://connect.canterbury.ac.nz/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm
• Get a quick overview: http://www.adobe.com/go/connectpro_overview

Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat and Adobe Connect are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.

—

President of DEANZ
New Zealand Collaborative Action & Research Network hub member and inaugral coordinator
Directing the ULearn13 Research Stream
SITE Outstanding Global Educator

—

Niki Davis PhD
Professor of e-Learning
Director UC e-Learning Lab
College of Education
University of Canterbury
Te Whare Wananga O Waitaha
Private Bag 4800
Christchurch 8140, New Zealand
DDI: (64 3) 345 8246
Extn: 44246
208 Otakaro on Dovedale Campus
http://www.litarts.canterbury.ac.nz/people/Davis.shtml