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Designing Distance Delivery Courses
By Dr. Arlyn R. Rubash, Bradley University, Illinois
Mistake explanations help students learn. Immediate explanations are good, but delays until everyone has completed the assessment may be appropriate.
Quantitative questions often allow for easy transfers of answers among collaborating students. Confound quantitative questions with a multiplicity of answers. By modestly changing one input parameter, different questions are possible.
Finally, numerical pattern recognition is difficult due to rounding errors. Often, it is wise to implement quantitative questions with multiple-choice alternatives. Keep them interesting by calculating problems with likely errors to ensure the presence of false answers. The “none of the above” option remains possible to simplify that task.
Fortunately, distance delivery classes are easily replicable; incremental improvements are possible. Although many things need be completed in advance and remain immutable during the offering, revisions precede the next iteration. In the end, I have no misgivings that distance delivered courses designed with due diligence can surpass traditional courses.
References
Bowers, W. 1964. “Student Dishonesty and Its Control in College.”
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McGinniss, J. 1993. The Last Brother: A Biography of Edward M. Kennedy.
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Russell, T. 1999. The No Significant Difference Phenomenon.
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Twigg, C. 2001. “Innovations in Online Learning: Moving Beyond No Significant Difference.” The Pew Learning and Technology Program. Online: http://www.center.rpi.edu/PewSym/mono4.html.
Webb, J. 2001. “Technology: A Tool for the Learning Environment. Campus-Wide Information Systems 18 (2): 73-78.
Author’s Bio
Arlyn Rubash, Ph.D., is an associate professor of finance at
Bradley
University
in
Illinois
. He has a bachelor’s, MBA and Ph.D. from the
Pennsylvania
State
University
. He teaches a variety of finance courses that employ creative techniques for delivery. He delivered courses by traditional means, video taping lectures, taking students to visit corporations in the
United States
and abroad, and has included many creative devices in the process. His recent work includes extensive applications of the Internet for course delivery.
Cite this Site
Dr. Arlyn R. Rubash, Bradley University, Illinois, "Designing Distance Delivery Courses," T.H.E. Journal, 11/1/2004, http://www.thejournal.com/articles/17078
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