Distributed Course Delivery Examples

Saltzberg and Polyson (1995) define distributed course delivery as "an instructional model that allows instructor, students, and content to be located in different, non-centralized locations so that instruction and learning occur independent of time and place" (p. 10).

If that sounds a lot like distance education, they go on to say that "The distributed learning model can be used in combination with traditional classroom-based courses, with traditional distance learning courses, or it can be used to create wholly virtual classrooms" (p. 10).

Specifically, distributed course delivery offers a way of integrating new technologies such as email, the World Wide Web, ftp, gopher, newsgroups, chat rooms, and desktop video conferencing into instructional environments. Here are some examples of distributed course delivery used in traditional classrooms, distance learning, and virtual classrooms.

DCD for Traditional Classroom Instruction

These are courses in which on-site, face-to-face interaction remains at the core of instruction. They use new technologies to provide additional resources and flexibility for students.

Paul Fresina's Introduction to Ed Tech at San Francisco State University is a good example of a traditional classroom course in which students can browse the syllabus and course schedule, get "pre-counseling" on their academic program from a page with frequently-asked-questions, and inspect model assignments and examples of other students' work.

As part of a traditional physics course, students can meet the professor in a chat room, use on-line forms to turn in homework assignments, and check their grades in the instructor's gradebook. They can even rifle through the instructor's desk and file cabinets looking for pertinent resources.

Technologies for teaching is a traditional classroom course that integrates a variety of new media, including email, newsgroups, and chat rooms. While they meet weekly in a traditional computer classroom, students correspond with the superintendent of a virtual school district via email, catch up on late breaking news about the course on a newsgroup, and conduct research via the World Wide Web.

DCD for Traditional Distance Learning

Probably the best known model of traditional distance learning is the British Open University. Founded in 1969, BOU is the largest university in the United Kingdom. It serves learners throughout the world.

Much of BOU's instruction is delivered via radio and print, along with some video and telephone interaction. More recently, they have added email and the World Wide Web as tools for providing resources and communication with instructors and tutors.

DCD for Virtual Classrooms

BOU has recently begun designing Internet-based courses using distributed course delivery. They've even designed a virtual student workplace with a bookcase containing shelves of videotapes, books, notes and other resources, a notebook and a laptop computer, along with a drawing board, a pinboard with photographs on it, and a window.

Students click on pictures of individuals or groups on their pinboard, initiating a point-to-point or group videoconference. "Isolation is one of the most debilitating aspects of distance learning. The pinboard is our way of combating it, of using technology to provide some of the social interaction and comradeship that students at 'real' universities enjoy" (British Open University, 1996).

BOU has sketched a "week-in-the-life" of a student participating in such a virtual, Internet-based course. They've also experimented with writing textbooks for use in such courses:

Preece, J. J., Rogers, Y., Sharp, H., Benyon, D. R., Holland, S. and Carey, T. (1994). Human-Computer Interaction. Addison-Wesley.

Examples of all three applications of distributed course delivery continue to proliferate. A good place to start looking for models that might apply to your own course is the World Lecture Hall, which contains links to pages created by faculty worldwide who are using the Web to deliver class materials. For example, you will find course syllabi, assignments, lecture notes, exams, class calendars, multimedia textbooks, etc. (University of Texas, 1996).

References

Saltzberg & Polyson (1995). Distributed learning on the World Wide Web. Syllabus, 9(1) 10.

British Open University (1996). Virtual Study. In British Open University [On-line]. Available: http://www-tec.open.ac.uk /systems/st.html.

University of Texas (1996). World Lecture Hall. In World Lecture Hall [On-line]. Available: http://www.utexas.edu/world/lecture/.

San Diego State University

CSU Instructional Technology Initiatives
Office of the Chancellor
The California State University

Bob Hoffman
Respond to forum: DCDPBL Faculty Develpoment Institute Forum

All contents copyright (C) 1996, SDSU. All rights reserved.
Revised: March 12, 1996
URL: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/clrit/DCD_Examples.html