Technology is being used for our everyday lives. There are so many different kinds to choose from that research has to be done to know which one will be of use for the kind of end result that an instructor may want. With any instructional activity heavily invested in technology for the delivery of content, the choice of types of tools is important (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, Zvacek, 2012, 204). This leads to instructors having to think creatively to design instruction that will allow their students to interact while learning material.

There are so many questions that one might ask themselves when trying to choose the right kind technology for distance learning. It is important that there be work done on the front end to ensure that the technologies that will be used will benefit all learners. Technology used in distance learning should be considered as a tool to deliver the instruction and not as a method (203). You have to plan how you would use the technology to present information to your learners and you also have to learn how to use the technology so that you can get the best end product. Using the distance education technologies should not limit the choice of strategies used by instructors, but should open new possibilities for those wishing to enrich their teaching (Smaldino, Lowther, & Russell, 2011; Westbrook, 2006).

The example that I chose to focus on is example 2 interactive tours. It reads “A high school history teacher, located on the west coast of the United States, wants to showcase to her students new exhibits being held at two prominent New York City museums. The teacher wants her students to take a "tour" of the museums and be able to interact with the museum curators, as well as see the art work on display. Afterward, the teacher would like to choose two pieces of artwork from each exhibit and have the students participate in a group critique of the individual work of art. As a novice of distance learning and distance learning technologies, the teacher turned to the school district’s instructional designer for assistance. In the role of the instructional designer, what distance learning technologies would you suggest the teacher use to provide the best learning experience for her students?” In this case there are two things that need to be accomplished. The first is the teacher would like for the students to take a tour of these two museums and interact with the curator. A virtual field trip combined with video conferencing equipment would be one of the best kinds of technologies to use for this part of the assignment. Not only are the students able to tour the museum, but they can also ask the tour guide “curator” questions pertaining to this assignment.

Next, it says that the instructor would like for the students to critique two art pieces. This can be obtained from the museums website or sent as a picture file to the teacher to display for his or her students. This could be used as a collaborative assignment where students could be put into groups and maybe linked to have a video conference with a New York City school that was able to view the display. This is a great interactive piece for high school students to hear viewpoints of students from another side of the country. A well-designed distance education course can be as easy to deliver as a traditional face-to-face course (205).

References

Education world. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech071.shtml

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Video conferencing for education. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.ivci.com/education-video-conferencing.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8BSzQG2Ti0