Elements of Distance Education Diffusion

Module 2 – Blog
Elements of Distance Education Diffusion

The element of distance education that I feel would have benefited my company is global diversity. I know when I worked in the telecommunications industry my company had several international associations. Our basic form of communication was emails and conference calls. I had the opportunity to work with people from all over the world but in one location. Later I had to train interns from China who came to the US. If distance education and new technologies were available then the interns could have been trained without leaving home. The only set back to this would be the time difference. I really don’t think it would have bothered me at the time. I was doing midnight to 6AM labs.

The online tools that would be helpful for my company today are Skype, YouTube, and Blackboard. The training information could have been setup in Modules like a class for the interns and possibly have video podcasts demonstrating a certain task that were performing. But according to Dr. Siemens even though we see a rapid growth in distance education all learners need to develop a certain comfort level to be successful (Siemens, n.d.).

Reference:
Siemens, G. (n.d.). The future of distance education. Retrieved September 24, 2009, fromhttp://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=3649021&Survey=1&47=5863341&ClientNodeID=984645&coursenav=1&bhcp=1.

OTHER BLOGS ON GLOBAL DIVERSITY:
(1) I read a blog on global diversity where the President of Roger Williams University has setup a program to offer master’s degree for Turkish leaders. The President saw a need to develop ties with this country for educational reasons. The university also employs many professors from Turkey. The President basically wants to bring the world together through education.
http://president.rwu.edu/blog/?cat=15

(2) The next blog that I read was about global diversity in the workplace and at colleges/universities. The blog explain how being culturally aware and learning proper name etiquette. I feel this is very important, in establishing respect and repour with colleagues, students and coworkers. If you cannot pronounce someone’s name and continue to mispronounce it can be very insulting for some people. Like the blog stated it is always best to ask first if you don’t know how to pronounce the names. I know from experience butchering someone’s can make or break a deal.

http://succeedinamerica.wordpress.com/2009/06/24/the-naming-game-global-diversity-speaker-intelligence/