Not all distance-learning programs rely on video instruction as a component of their courses. In fact, most do not. Why not? Well for one, videos can be costly. Traditionally video involves a whole team of people who work together writing, producing, and packaging what becomes the final product: a complete series of lessons on tape, DVD, or web.

Video formats have been a part of KET Distance Learning since the beginning. KET’s innovations in video as a teaching medium (see below) allowed students even in the remotest areas of Kentucky the opportunity to connect with other learners of German (as well as other many other subjects)—an opportunity they wouldn’t have had otherwise.

Of course some things were different back then… The program was televised live via satellite to participating schools. German classes in the various schools all met at the same time so that they could watch the show when it was broadcast. Is that amazing, or what? Today every school seems to be in its own little universe with a distinct timetable and any variation of block scheduling (with extended 90 minute classes), or regular scheduling (usually 55 minute classes,) or even a combination thereof (alternating between 90 and 55 minutes.) Some schools offer shortened class periods of 45 minutes. Others provide no time at all during the regular school day for German DL classes. Interested students have to meet before or after school and count on office staff somewhere in the building to help act as facilitators to download tests and enter grades. And then there are the students that are learning from home, either through home-schooling or cyber schools (like the Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School.)

W H A T has been going on here in the last ten years??!! A revolution?

And it appears that it is just the beginning. This trend in education towards individualized learning with more choice and greater local control will not be going away any time soon. Distance learning programs will have to keep pace.

Ironically enough, live broadcasts back in the nineties allowed for a more interactive format than what we have today. Back then, individual classes at the various schools were encouraged to call in to ask the teacher questions during the broadcast. Each episode featured a “school of the day” that would remain on the line for most of the lesson. Students interacted with the teacher as well as with other students who called in. In addition, KET pioneered a wonderful technological tool to allow student input: the KET keypad, a fully patented device that helped the KET distance program win national recognition (have a look here and here.)

But it was inevitable that the format had to change. School schedules were rapidly diverging from the norm. Dependence on satellite service also became an issue. It became necessary to go to pre-recorded video tapes.

That leads us up to today… Fortunately we can now rely on other means to achieve the all-important interaction that we need. The read- write web, or Web 2.0 , provides all kinds of possibilities. The question here is: Will video instruction continue to play a role, given the changed environment?

I think it can.

One important advantage of the video format is that it brings the image of the teacher to the learner and thus helps remove the distance out of the dl equation. Providing students a way of “getting to know” their teacher can’t hurt and may even make them more receptive to the course content. As different teaching styles work for different teachers, there is probably no one right way to approach video in a K12 DL course. Nevertheless we could probably come up with an outline of best practices for effective video teaching in the 21st century.

What items would be on such a list? At this point I can only come up with a few descriptors for an unfinished list, but I’d definitely like to expand on it. Here’s a start:

Video instruction in K12 distance learning should be…

-divided into shorter segments

-organized in a way that encourages student exploration

- easily accessible (available online)

-focused on student needs in DL (not driven by a textbook agenda)

-conducted by a teacher persona students can relate to

Sure, I understand the phenomenon of mass collaboration. There’s no rocket science involved. It makes sense as a scientific theory. Why the hype?

Well, whenever you experience its workings first hand, you can’t help but feel a little awe-struck.

Case in point: As I’ve l been experimenting with a myriad of wonderful web tools out there — for the development of a new, single-year of curriculum (and desperately trying to narrow down my focus,) it has become clear that it will be necessary to keep things as flexible and open-ended as possible. There’s no way around it. Things are changing so quickly.

For some time I’ve been carrying around this urgent but vague notion about what is needed: something flexible and open-ended…okay, but what? And now I find that many others have been working on this idea all along: it’s called loosely coupled teaching. Last week I first encountered the term in a post on Scott Leslie’s blog edtechpost and found out that there is even a whole group of educators who blog about LCT ! Some great ideas there!

Loosely coupled teaching makes use of loosely coupled tools, i.e. individual platforms that exist on the public internet. On his blog, Leslie is compiling a list of best practice examples of courses “taught using contemporary social software/web 2.0 tools outside a course management system.” Leslie concentrates his interests mainly in the arena of higher learning, but no matter. LCT shows great potential for K12 and dl as well.

And so I am awed and thankful that this conversation has already been taking place. The ongoing collaboration could bear some substantial results.

The need for students to be able to add text comments to class content –like on the youtube site or on Chinesepod (see below) — seems more and more inevitable. The advantages cannot be overlooked…. especially for K12 distance learning where we have to overcome geographical obstacles and work to ensure that students perceive a special sense of belonging and community. In K12 distance learning it is just as important that instruction be delivered with a personal touch as it is in the regular classroom. By writing comments, students will begin interacting with each other and –before you know it–teaching one another. The teacher can chime in too of course.

If that is indeed where we are going then it will be important to draw up a list of expectations and etiquette for acceptable Web 2.0 use. I am not sure if this has already been done, but a colleague sent me this link from the Des Moines Register where they have established an etiquette policy for their readers that evidently has been quite successful.

What we’ll allow and what we won’t.

Spelling out a few rules.