OMDE 602 - Distance Education Systems

Course Description:

Distance Education functions within the organizational structures of educational institutions, business, non-profit organizations and government will be examined. Students analyze operational, logistic, and regulatory systems within distance education and training organizations. A range of theories pertaining to systems in general, systems in education, systems needs in distance education, and systems approaches to organizational development are introduced.

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Assignment 3 & 4 -  Schematic View of a DE Environment / Quality Control in DE

This assignment incorporated Assignment 3 into Assignment 4. A schematic presentation and comprehensive systems view of DE was created where the inputs and outputs of all aspects within a learning environment was developed. Additionally, the assignment asked to look at how quality control is achieved in a DE organization through the use of formative, summative and confirmative evaluations. Assignment three was attached as an appendix to the completed assignment number four. 

This was a very difficult class for me and since I had taken it, the course designation had been moved from OMDE 602 to OMDE 609, signifying to students that lower level courses should be completed before attempting this course. Still, the course did give me a broad look at DE systems and how one system affects another and remains one of my most worthwhile courses in the MDE. I wish I had taken it at a later date as I most likely would have benefited more.

OMDE 607 - Instructional Design in Distance Education

Course Description:

This course examines the process of instructional design and development in distance education and training context. Students critically evaluate the relationship between instructional design and technology. Various models of instructional and course development are considered (for example, large- versus small-scale course development, centralized versus decentralized course development, individual faculty/author versus team development). Students apply the instructional development process by developing a small instructional unit. Special emphasis is given to Web-based instructional design and theory.

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Contextual Analysis

Summary of Contextual Analysis

One area of education that I'm always trying to improve upon is course design and this course demonstrated to me that importance exists in distance education as well as in face-to-face courses. It provided a clear, systematic method with full explanations and examples within the textbook (which I've used heavily not only in the MDE but in the courses I teach as well. These assignments provided me an important aspect of course design - namely knowing your audience and environment. I hadn't taken into account aspects such as lighting and temperature or fully considered the audience characteristics before now and quickly came to realize the benefits of fine-tuning the details in preparation of designing the course material, not after the material has been produced.

I particularly enjoyed this class and in many ways, it was a "turn-around" class for me. I took it in my second semester and after the head-spinning first semester I was grateful for this class. I also did not think I was able to achieve an "A" until this course and was ecstatic when I saw my final grade! (Every class after this course was an "A"!). Dr. Som Naido was an awesome professor and the material was more hands-on than theoretical so it came to me much more easily than anything prior to or since.