For this second blog post for EDCI 339 Distributed and Open Learning, I will be responding to the prompt below:
How would you describe the historical and theoretical trends in k-12 open and distributed learning? What did you already know, what do you know now based on the course readings and activities, what do you hope to learn?
Before completing this weeks readings, I was unaware of just how far back the ideas of open and distributed learning date back to. I had assumed that these styles of learning emerged only with the acceleration of technology and the invention of the internet in the 1990’s. But to my surprise, the first distributed learning school in British Columbia was actually founded in 1919 (Barbour and Labonte, 2018).
What I know know based on this weeks reading is that educational practices that focused on individually paced learning, specifically using technology, were being used back in the 50s. In his blog post, Tony Bates linked a video of B.F. Skinner presenting his ‘Teaching Machine”, a machine where students are prompted with a question, they respond, then they are immediately given an answer. During this video, Skinner states that “A student who is learning by machine moves at the rate which is most effective for him” – B.F. Skinner on Teaching Machines, 1954
He also states that “The teaching machine is simply a convenient way of bringing the student in contact with the man who writes the program. It is the author of the program, not the machine that teaches. He stands in the same position as the textbook writer except he is much closer to the student. He and the student are constantly interacting.” – B.F. Skinner on Teaching Machines, 1954
The results that Skinner wanted to achieve using his Teaching Machine are similar if not identical to the results that we want to achieve now with online and open learning. In both instances, the students control the pace of their learning, it is ultimately still the teacher that teaches (not the technology), and student-teacher interactions are highly valued.
I find it so incredibly interesting that even through technology has changed some of the core values of tech assisted teaching still remain.
Moving foreword, I would like to explore how online and opened learning has changed since the creation of the new BC curriculum.
References:
Bates, T.(2014). Learning Theories and Online
Learning. [Blog post]. Retrieved from
https://www.tonybates.ca/2014/07/29/learning-theories
-and-online-learning/.
Barbour, M & Labonte, R. (2018) An Overview of
eLearning Organizations and Practices in Canada. In
R. Ferdig & K. Kennedy (Eds.), Handbook of research
on K-12 online and blended learning (pp. 600-616).
Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University ETC Press.
Amanda Street's Education Blog 
3 thoughts on “Blog Post 2”