Artifacts are part of the course requisites and include various assessments. On this page, you will find overviews and links to various artifacts associated with each course. Be sure to click on the links associated with each artifact to view the actual tasks completed.
But first, a brief outline of the course requisites for this program...
Course Requisites
This program entails the completion of various courses that requires the use of many resources, the articulation of personal reflections on courses, and the submission of various tasks.
To find out more about the courses offered in this program visit the UMUC website.
Quick Navigation Panel |
The following navigation panel provides quick links to the various artifacts on this page.
Orientation to Graduate Studies at UMUC
UCSP 615 provides an overview of the skills needed for academic and professional success.
Project
Project
Project
Foundations of Distance Education & E-learning
OMDE 601 deals with the history and evolution of distance education on the continuum from correspondence education to fully online learning.
Assignment 1
Essay 1: Understanding the Concept of Distance Education.....
Providing an all-encompassing definition of distance education is no simple feat, as this task revealed. Hence, after a perusal of various scholarly resources on the topic, a definition that closely matched a personal view of distance education was identified and the different elements contained therein were distinguished and elaborated on to highlight the key features of the distance education spectrum. To read the essay, click on the file icon below...
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Assignment 2
Essay 2: The University of South Africa and The Open University, UK: Do Different Contexts Equate With Different Approaches to Distance Education?
The second wave of distance education gave rise to single and dual mode universities (Anderson & Simpson, 2015; Guri-Rosenblit, 2009). Single-mode institutions are also called mega-universities, where all staff and systems are dedicated to distance education only (Moore & Kearsley, 2012).
Within this framework, assignment two entailed a thoroughly researched comparison between two distance education institutions functioning in different contexts. Hence, this essay focused on the comparison between the Open University, UK (OUUK) and the University of South Africa (Unisa) from a transactional theory perspective. This was an interesting and insightful task that illuminated aspects of distance education that I did not contemplate before. To learn more about this topic, I invite you to read the essay, available as a downloadable attachment below.
Assignment 3
Essay 3: Current Distance Education Practice: A Shadow of the Past?
The theories of transactional distance and andragogy are still applicable in current distance education practice. While transactional distance theory provides insight into organizing online learning spaces in a way that optimizes effective learning and learning experiences for all participants in the distance education transaction, andragogy considers the needs of adult learners in virtual learning spaces (Stein et al., 2009, Arghode et al., 2017). Therefore, as much as the theories of transactional distance and andragogy could be classified as dated, they are still relevant and applicable in current distance education practice, even within a rapidly advancing technological revolution that is reshaping the distance education arena. Current distance education is indeed a shadow of the past!
To learn more about this topic, I invite you to read the essay, available as a downloadable attachment below. |
omde_601-9040-abdoolsatar_a-a3_essay_3.pdf | |
File Size: | 201 kb |
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Skill Builder 3
Twitter: Following DE Scholars
For this task, students had to Join Twitter and follow the OMDE601 course and at least one DE scholar. At least once during the course, an interesting article by the scholar had to be retweeted.
Here is one of my retweets of Dr Terry Anderson's (@terguy) article ....
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Skill Builder 4
Mind Map: Conceptualizing Distance Education
This task required the development of a mind map with a mind-mapping application. MindMeister was used to design the following mind map. As the task centers on a definition of distance education (DE), various definitions have been quoted from theorists in the field in line with a personal understanding of the concept. Several key ideas, and sub-ideas stem from these theoretical and personal definitions, which have been graphically presented in the mind map. There are two options to interact with this mind map and all the related ideas and sub-ideas:
Click here to view the mind map ....
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Skill Builder 5
Bibliography
For this week's skill builder, a bibliography had to be developed in APA format. To do this, a research topic and/or a research question had to be defined first, before conducting research on the topic in the UMUC library. Research topics had to be related to Wave 2 of distance education or a topic that is related to essay assignment 2 or 3. I have chosen Assignment 3 as the foundation for my research topic, which is outlined as follows:
Topic Current Distance Education Practice: A Shadow of the Past? Introductory Research Question How have earlier distance education theories such as transactional distance and andragogy influenced current distance education practice? Click on the file icon below to view the bibliography ...
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Working collaboratively on a virtual platform to develop a grid is a challenging task that requires new skills
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Skill Builder 6
Group Grid - DE Waves
A group grid reflecting the four waves of distance education had to be developed through a virtual platform. Virtually interacting and completing a task with team members spread across various countries of the world and spanning different time zones was a interesting experience that required a lot of planning, flexibility, and patience. Nonetheless, the end result was an aesthetically-pleasing, well-developed, and professionally edited grid (thanks to all the team members who assisted, some putting in more effort than others!)
Group Members:
Click here to view the group grid ....
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Skill Builder 7
Annotated Bibliography - ScoopIt
An annotated bibliography is a compilation of sources on a particular research topic or area of interest that includes a short description or evaluation (i.e. an annotation) of each source in the list. Annotated bibliographies are particularly helpful in organizing information sources for large projects as the annotations provide an evaluative summary of each source in relation to the larger body of knowledge in the particular area of research interest. In this way, researchers can see at a glance which sources of information:
In skill builder 7, students were tasked with developing an annotation of one source of information identified for a subsequent assignment, which had to be uploaded on the Scoop.It platform. View my annotation on Scoop.It here. Or view the annotation in PDF format here...
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Annotated bibliographies
I have also 'scooped' some resources on how to write annotated bibliographies on my Scoop.It page.
Go on.... have a look! |
Distance Education Waves - Final Group Grid
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Skill Builder 8
Final Group Grid - DE Waves
The final group grid reflecting the four waves of distance education had to be perfected for this task. Again a virtual platform had to be used to completed this task. Virtually interacting and completing a task with team members spread across various countries of the world and spanning different time zones was a interesting experience that required a lot of planning, flexibility, and patience, as our group had shrunk from having 6 members to only 3 members. Nonetheless, the end result was an aesthetically-pleasing, well-developed, professionally edited, and intellectually stimulating grid. The group grid was also licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Distance Education Wave Graph by Ashiya Abdool Satar , Lausten Reed and Nicole young is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Group Members:
Click here to view the group grid ....
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