Enhancing the Potential of Distance Education: A Case Study Involving Groupware

Abstract

Distance education can be used to address the dilemmas of teacher shortages and attrition rates that plague tbe field of special education by supporting preservice and inservice training of individuals who, because of geography or circumstance, cannot access higher education. This paper examines three problems inherent in the delivery of distance education and uses the teacher effectiveness literature as a context for exploring potential enhancements. An inservice workshop is described in which distance education was supplemented with a groupware technology that facilitated principles of effective instruction. Outcomes of the workshop, benefits and practical considerations related to groupware use, and areas of future research are outlined.

A Toolkit for Web-Based Course Creation and Conversion

“…These efforts included having students take computer skills tests and bring their computers to a meeting point to make sure that they had the necessary components to allow web-based instruction. Since the advent of this and other outreach model programs (Ho & Burniske, 2005), web-based instruction has become commonplace and sought-after by busy students and career switchers who desire its convenience and availability (Foegen, Howe, Deno, & Robinson, 1998). Extensive supports for students have been replaced by assumptions that students who register for web-based classes already possess the skills and technology necessary to be successful (Gonzales & Sujo de Montes, 2001).…”

Web-Based Certification Courses: The Future of Teacher Preparation in Special Education?

“…Today the technology and formats to deliver education over a long distance are so prevalent that people have more choices to get specialized courses than ever before (Bender, McLaughlin, & Ehrhart, 1993;McLaughlin, Bender, & Wood, 1997;Welch & Sheridan, 2000). Further, most higher education administrators agree that this will dramatically change course delivery within higher education, particularly for adult learners in graduate programs who often have numerous conflicting demands on their time (Foegen, Howe, Deno, & Robinson, 1998;McLaughlin, Bender, & Wood, 1997). Thus we may well expect teacher preparation in special education to undergo significant change within the next decade as a result of the implementation of these distance education technologies (Bender, 2001;Foegen, Howe, Deno, & Robinson, 1998;Schnorr, 1999).…”