An Examination of the role of communications media in current and future educational systems. Particular attention is given to computer-mediated communications, but television, audio, facsimile and other technologies.

Telecommunications in Education will examine issues, technologies, methods and consequences related to on-line education. Specifically, it will review the origins and history of distance education, analyse the effectiveness of early technologies such as telephony and facsimile and then concentrate on current methods such as the World Wide Web (WWW) and Computer Mediated Communication (CMC). Particular consideration will be given to how on-line teaching and learning are changing the ways education and training are conducted.

The objectives of this course are:

• to better understand effective on-line instruction
• to examine the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet as a tool for education
• to encourage reflection and critical thought about the value of on-line instruction versus traditional instruction
• to consider the changes required to realize the full potential of new technologies
• to use CMC to achieve the above and
• to explore telecommunications technologies in the context of teaching and learning.

EDER 677—Telecommunications in Education

WebCT ~no access anymore (bought by Blackboard)

Login (U of C) ~no access anymore

Audio-Conference

• every week

Portfolio

Discussion Summary

Online Collaboration & Virtual Teams

Final Project

The plan for this project is to develop an Extensive Online Resource, that links online collaboration software and relative learning theories and find out in what circumstances various tools are best used.

To complement our final project, a survey has been developed to measure and compare our classmates' perceptions regarding online learning.