Abstract
It is now well known that asynchronous learning networks (ALNs) provide effective mechanisms for facilitating interaction within learning communities in which the learners are separated by distance or time constraints. However, despite the infrastructure and tools which make ALNs so successful, questions have been raised about the time and effort required on the part of instructors to generate effective ALN course materials. In this paper we address these and otherconcerns in the use of ALN and propose the use of a “Lectures-on-Demand” methodology to allow ALN students access to the actual classroom experience. The Lectures-on-Demand method incorporates the spoken word, spontaneously written material and other facets of natural human communication into the ALN infrastructure. This approach allows students to ‘attend’ regular classes in real time via the Internet, as well as to have asynchronous access to digitally storedvideo material with hyperlinks to online training resources at any time. The paper discusses the technical requirements from the user and provider perspectives and describes ongoing efforts at the University of Florida where an online MS degree in Electrical Engineering is now being offered using the Lectures on Demand approach and online courses toward a BS in Electrical Engineering are presently being developed with the same tools.
Highlights
The traditional model of a learned instructor at the same place and at the same time with her eager students, is the model on which much of the modern educational systems are built — and it is not our intention to challenge the effectiveness of this age-old learning model
Many well-respected researchers and practitioners concur that effective learning takes place more readily in an active and collaborative environment in which the students learn by discovery and interaction with each other
Digital signal processing has produced powerful encoding and compression techniques which make it possible to process high quality audio, video and image signals in real-time. In parallel with this increase in computational power, advances in digital communications have progressed from Plain Old Telephone Services (POTS) to Peculiar and Novel Services (PANs) such as X.25, Frame Relay Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Lines (ADSL), high speed cable and wireless modems as well as a variety of other digital signaling (DS-x) systems
Summary
The traditional model of a learned instructor at the same place and at the same time with her eager students, is the model on which much of the modern educational systems are built — and it is not our intention to challenge the effectiveness of this age-old learning model. In anticipation of the material to be discussed later, namely Lectures on Demand in Asynchronous Learning Networks, we characterize this traditional instructional model as an example of a Synchronous Learning Network In this mode, the instructor is able to guide the students to learn new concepts using multi-way interactions, illustrating and connecting new ideas with examples and concepts, which are already known from common experience. Some instructors are unwilling to invest the necessary time and effort to use this approach – they claim that there is no time in the curriculum for such activities and so they continue to give bland, one-directional lectures covering prodigious amounts of information in a sub-optimal learning environment Those courses in such disciplines as engineering in which there are required laboratory components provide a good example of having the students learn by doing in collaboration with their colleagues.
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