Terry Anderson

Athabasca University · Centre for Distance Education

Not surprisingly, the number of online universities continues to expand-especially in Covid-19 times. These institutions all offer "online education" with diverse institutional, technological, and pedagogical processes. However, a fundamental element has to do with the experience of the students, and how they adapt to the educational model of the o...

Not surprisingly, the number of online universities continues to expand - especially in Covid-19 times. These institutions all offer “online education” with diverse institutional, technological, and pedagogical processes. However, a fundamental element has to do with the experience of the students, and how they adapt to the educational model of the...

This article focuses on educational technology as applied in the context of programs and institutions that offer completely distance education courses. All education in the 21st century is digital education in that the use of networking, text and image creation and editing and search and retrieval of information punctuates the life of almost every...

This article focuses on educational technology as applied in the context of programs and institutions that offer completely distance education courses. All education in the 21st century is digital education in that the use of networking, text and image creation and editing and search and retrieval of information punctuates the life of almost every...

Connectivist learning is interaction-centered learning. A framework describing interaction and cognitive engagement in connectivist learning was constructed using logical reasoning techniques. The framework and analysis was designed to help researchers and learning designers understand and adapt the characteristics and principles of interaction in...

Premised upon the observation that MOOC and crowdsourcing phenomena share several important characteristics, including IT mediation, large-scale human participation, and varying levels of openness to participants, this work systematizes a comparison of MOOC and crowdsourcing phenomena along these salient dimensions. In doing so, we learn that both...

Connectivist learning is interaction-centered learning. A framework describing interaction and cognitive engagement in connectivist learning was constructed using logical reasoning techniques. The framework and analysis was designed to help researchers and learning designers understand and adapt the characteristics and principles of interaction in...

Premised upon the observation that MOOC and crowdsourcing phenomena share several important characteristics, including IT mediation, large-scale human participation, and varying levels of openness to participants, this work systematizes a comparison of MOOC and crowdsourcing phenomena along these salient dimensions. In doing so, we learn that both...

Canada's important areas of expertise in open educational resources (OER) are beginning to be built upon or replicated more broadly in all education and training sectors. This paper provides an overview of the state of the art in OER initiatives and open higher education in general in Canada, providing insights into what is happening nationally and...

This chapter is concerned with the ways that people can and do learn together, from and with one another. After discussing the benefits of dyads (pairs of people), we explain our typology of social forms, categorizing social groupings as sets, nets, and groups, along with an emergent entity, the collective, which arises from them. We describe the p...

Publication of research, innovation, challenges and successes is of critical importance to the evolution of more effective distance education programming. Publication in peer reviewed journal format is the most prestigious and the most widespread form of dissemination in education and most other disciplines, thus the importance of understanding wha...

MOOC. De la teoría a la evidencia

The first MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) was launched in 2008 in Canada. Since then these new model of online education has proliferated around the world and sparked many interesting and often heated discussions regarding their benefits and implications in the field of education. In order to understand and contribute to the debate surrounding MO...

El primer MOOC (Curso Masivo Abierto en Línea) se realiza en 2008 en Canadá. Desde entonces la proliferación de este tipo de iniciativas en diversos lugares del mundo ha suscitado interesantes controversias sobre sus aportaciones y significados en el ámbito del aprendizaje y la formación. Para superar los debates basados en opiniones, intuiciones o...

The first MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) was launched in 2008 in Canada. Ever since then the proliferation of these kinds of initiatives from all over the world have sparked interesting discussions regarding its benefits and implications in the field of education. In order to work through the debate surrounding MOOCs and their educational possib...

In this paper we present a case study of a self-paced university course that was originally designed to support independent, self-paced study at distance. We developed a social media intervention, in design-based research terms, that allows these independent students to contribute archived content to enhance the course, to engage in discussions wit...

El primer MOOC (Curso Masivo Abierto en Línea) se realiza en 2008 en Canadá. Desde entonces la proliferación de este tipo de iniciativas en diversos lugares del mundo ha suscitado interesantes controversias sobre sus aportaciones y significados en el ámbito del aprendizaje y la formación. Para superar los debates basados en opiniones, intuiciones o...

This paper presents two conceptual models that we have developed for understanding ways that social media can support learning. One model relates to the “social” aspect of social media, describing the different ways that people can learn with and from each other, in one or more of three social forms: groups, networks and sets. The other model relat...

This study reports on a one-year-and-a-half longitudinal case study that examined students' behaviors and learning outcomes under an online learning environment by using a blog visualization technique. Information visualization is a new area of study that is currently being developed. However, research that examines this topic in CALL was difficult...

This study reports on a one-year-and-a-half longitudinal case study that examined students' behaviors and learning outcomes under an online learning environment by using a blog visualization technique. Information visualization is a new area of study that is currently being developed. However, research that examines this topic in CALL was difficult...

Read/write social technologies enable rich pedagogies that centre on sharing and constructing content but have two notable weaknesses. Firstly, beyond the safe, nurturing environment of closed groups, students participating in more or less public network- or set-oriented communities may be insecure in their knowledge and skills, leading to resistan...

Interaction has always been highly valued in education, especially in distance education (Moore, 1989; Anderson, 2003; Chen, 2004a; Woo & Reeves, 2007; Wang, 2013; Conrad, in press). It has been associated with motivation (Mahle, 2011; Wen-chi, et al., 2011), persistence (Tello, 2007; Joo, Lim, & Kim, 2011), deep learning (Offir, et al., 2008) and...

Interaction has always been highly valued in education, especially in distance education Conrad, in press). It has been associated with motivation (Mahle, 2011; Wen-chi, et al., 2011), persistence (Tello, 2007; Joo, Lim, & Kim, 2011), deep learning (Offir, et al., 2008) and other components of effective learning. With the development of interactive...

p>Se presentan dos modelos conceptuales que hemos desarrollado para comprender las formas en que los medios sociales pueden apoyar el aprendizaje. Uno se relaciona con el aspecto “social”, que describe las distintas maneras en que las personas pueden aprender con otras y unas de otras en una o varias de tres formas sociales: grupos, redes y...

Most research and practice relating to online and distance learning to date has focused on the social form of the intentional group, a named collection of people, typically hierarchically organized, with norms and/or explicit rules of conduct as well as inclusion or exclusion, membership, pacing and shared goals. The group provides a backdrop and i...

Within the overall framework of design-based research, this paper reports on a study that focused on evaluating an online training course for online instructors. This intervention was designed as a possible solution to the problem facing some higher education institutions of how to provide quality, accessible training for mostly part-time instructo...

As increasing numbers of higher education students take online courses, there is a corresponding need for additional instructors to teach these students. The research literature indicates that there are different instructor roles, competencies, and attitudes that are required for teaching effectively online than for teaching in campus-based classro...

Abstract: In this paper we revisit the major forms and structures that have been developed by educators and institutions to support both distance and campus based education. In addition to individual learning, some students, content and systems stress interaction specifically that between students and teachers, students and other students, and stud...

This theoretical paper attempts to clarify design issues that the field of education has encountered in the context of OER (Open Educational Resources), Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and increased emphasis on informal learning, as examined through the lens of the Interaction Equivalency Theorem. An overview of the core concepts of the Interac...

Mobile learning benefits from the unique merits of mobile devices and mobile technology to give learners capability to access information anywhere and anytime. However, mobile learning also has many challenges, especially in the processing and delivery of learning content. With the aim of making the learning content suitable for the mobile environm...

Introduction This presentation provides information on historical and current distance learning in Japan. Distance education is prevalent in Japan, where it has been incorporated into people's lives for over 100 years. Despite the importance of distance education in Japan, its existence has not been well researched or appreciated outside of the cou...

p>This article presents the rationale, common practices, challenges, and some personal anecdotes from a journal editor on the production, use, and re-use of peer-reviewed, scholarly articles as open educational resources (OER). The scholarly and professional discourse related to open educational resources has largely focused on open learning object...

This study used a cross sectional sample created by self-selection from a researchers' email invitation to accountants in Canada to determine which modalities accountants preferred when selecting Continuing Professional Development (CPD), and the selection factors they used in making those choices. The survey contacted 32,000 accountants in Canada...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe how researchers from four large Canadian distance education or dual mode institutions conducted a survey aiming to describe the use of and interest in social software and Web 2.0 applications by distance education students and to measure their interest in collaborating with peers. Design/methodology...

Higher education institutions face a number of opportunities and challenges as the result of the digital revolution. The institutions perform a number of scholarship functions which can be affected by new technologies, and the desire is to retain these functions where appropriate, whilst the form they take may change. Much of the reaction to techno...

The current paper reports on empirical research investigating the qualitative changes in writing proficiencies in response to using three online writing tools, i.e., discussion forums, blogs, and wikis, in an EFL blended-format course. Questionnaire, interview, and text analysis were combined for triangulation. A qualitative change in differentiate...

This paper reports on a study examining the effects of visualizing online writing activities on student behaviors and learning outcomes. A design-based research approach was adopted to develop and integrate theory and practice in natural educational settings (Anderson & Shattuck, 2012). The study was conducted in an 18-week, semester-long undergrad...

Afin de favoriser une meilleure compréhension des sujets à l’étude ainsi que l’entraide entre étudiants, des logiciels ont été introduits dans le cours de comptabilité de management offert à distance par la Téluq suivi par 35 étudiants : le logiciel de construction de cartes de connaissances ‘Xmind’, le logiciel social ‘Elgg’ et le logiciel de visi...

p class="MsoNormal"> Este artigo define e examina três gerações de pedagogia de educação a distância. Ao contrário de classificações anteriores de educação a distância, baseadas na tecnologia utilizada, esta análise centra-se na pedagogia que define as experiências de aprendizagem encapsuladas no design da aprendizagem. As três gerações de pedagogi...

Moore's theory of transactional distance describes the communications and psychological gulf between learner and teacher in a distance education setting. The theory was formulated in a correspondence era of distance learning and matured in an era where discussion forums and virtual learning environments reduced transactional distance in a closed-gr...

Design-based research (DBR) evolved near the beginning of the 21st century and was heralded as a practical research methodology that could effectively bridge the chasm between research and practice in formal education. In this article, the authors review the characteristics of DBR and analyze the five most cited DBR articles from each year of this...

This chapter examines the potential for voice activities to enhance online learning. Although research related to online writing tools (such as e-mail, discussion threads, blogs, and wikis) is growing and the use of synchronous and asynchronous voice tools (such as internet phone, VoiceThread and multimodal web conferencing) has developed rapidly,...

This paper updates earlier work in which we defined three generations of distance education pedagogy. We then describe emerging technologies that are most conducive to instructional designs that evolve with each generation. Finally we discuss matching the pedagogies with learning outcomes.

This paper is a reaction to the increasing high cost of higher education and the resulting inaccessibility for the millions of potential learners now seeking opportunities for quality higher education opportunities. The paper examines the cost centers associated with campus-based and online education systems and then suggests that disaggregation ma...

The publication of the results of research in distance education in peer-reviewed journals is an important means of communication, dissemination, discourse and reporting of practice in the field. This study is an attempt at analyzing the relationships and influences among these journals. It is based upon a sample of 1416 scholarly articles publishe...

This study reports on the effects of visualizing blogs on student learning. The research was conducted in a blended-format undergraduate course on English in the workplace for engineering students. In online learning research, visualizing online posts, such as forum and blog entries, has been explored. However, although technical issues have often...

p>In recent years, there has been a rapid growth in the use of social networking tools (e.g., Facebook) and social media in general, mainly for social purposes (Smith, Salaway & Caruso 2009). Many educators, including ourselves, believe that these tools offer new educational affordances and avenues for students to interact with each other and with...

This paper examines the learning outcomes associated with implementing discussion forums and blog writings using pseudonyms in blended learning. Although anonymity or masking one's identity has been used as a teaching strategy designed to induce higher writing production and lowering anxiety in face-to-face writing instruction, little research has...

This paper defines and examines three generations of distance education pedagogy. Unlike earlier classifications of distance education based on the technology used, this analysis focuses on the pedagogy that defines the learning experiences encapsulated in the learning design. The three generations of cognitive-behaviourist, social constructivist,...

p>Este artículo se deriva de un trabajo previo, Three generations of distance education pedagogy , (Anderson y Dron, en prensa). Detalla las tecnologías y resultados sinérgicos del uso de pedagogía efectiva en combinación con tecnologías emergentes, para la creación de oportunidades de aprendizaje poderosas. En forma contraria a clasificacio...

Presence - or having a sense of active participation - in distance education has increased with the expanding use of and affordances of communications technologies. Virtual worlds have been on the forefront of popular and education technology in the last three years and innovative methods of teaching and learning are emerging in these contexts. Usi...

The rich promise of social software in formal education can be offset by a clash between hierarchical organisational structures and the bottom-up, distributed nature that characterizes network development and growth. Learners often experience confusion when using social networking systems within formal education systems, negating many of the potent...

Understanding the affordances, effectiveness and applicability of new media in multiple contexts is usually a slow and evolving process with many failed applications, false starts and blind trails. As result, effective applications are usually much slower to arise than the technology itself. The global network based on ubiquitous Internet connectiv...

This paper examines the effectiveness of the simultaneous use of three different online writing activities e forums, blogs, and wikis e in formal university language education. This exploratory study on the implementation of forums, blogs, and wikis was carried out in an English as foreign language (EFL) course that featured a blended learning desi...

This paper examines the effectiveness of three different online writing activities in formal university education: forums, blogs, and wikis. Constructivism – reflective and collaborative learning fostered by scaffolding – provides a main support for their use in education. Prior research regarding the use of blogs and wikis, especially in language...

This paper examines the key issues regarding The Interaction Equivalency Theorem posited by Anderson (2003a), which consists of the three interaction elements found in formal education courses among teacher, student, and content. It first examines the core concepts of the theorem and argues that two theses of different dimensions can be articulated...

Open access (OA) publication has emerged, with disruptive effects, as a major outlet for scholarly publication. OA publication is usually associated with on-line distribution and provides access to scholarly publications to anyone, anywhere–regardless of their ability to pay subscription fees or their association with an educational institution. Th...

This article provides a personal perspective about the development of the seminal papers associated with the Community of Inquiry Framework. The framework and its construction are described. The main part of the paper explores the evolution of the framework and its associated methodology. Finally, research associated with the validation of the fram...

This paper evaluates the usage and perceived usefulness of the World Wide Web (WWW) to support classroom delivery of University courses. The study used qualitative and quantitative tools focusing on two undergraduate classes. Roger's (1995) theoretical model for adoption of innovation was used to identify and classify barriers to adoption of this e...

In this paper we define collective applications as those that employ the aggregated behaviours of individuals in a crowd to shape their environment and to provide structure and influence in that environment. Collectives occur in most systems that aggregate user-generated content, whether or not that is the intention of the designers or contributors...

In order to stay current within their field, many professionals regularly attend conferences and training events in distant locales. Travel to these conferences costs professionals, and their sponsor organizations, both time and money. In the past the benefits afforded by these conferences, and the lack of comparable alternatives, have provided jus...

Understanding the affordances, effectiveness and applicability of new media in multiple contexts is usually a slow and evolving process with many failed applications, false starts and blind trails. As result, effective applications are usually much slower to arise than the technology itself. The global network based on ubiquitous Internet connectiv...

Any view of e-learning in Canada must be informed by the uniquely Canadian feature of provincial jurisdiction over education. Therefore any investigation of e-learning in Canada must focus more on specific provincial initiatives in technologically enhanced learning rather than a Canadian overview. A distinctive "Canadian" model does not exist. The...

The emergent world of network-based education creates challenges for researchers who wish to further our understanding of the opportunities and limitations while acting ethically in relation with learners, educators, and educational institutions. Existing ethical guidelines and practices were developed in place bound contexts in which privacy, safe...

The emergent world of network-based education creates challenges for researchers who wish to further our understanding of the opportunities and limitations while acting ethically in relation with learners, educators, and educational institutions. Existing ethical guidelines and practices were developed in place bound contexts in which privacy, safe...

Web-based assessment is used in different contexts with the aim to support students and help to make learning easier and more effective for them. Typically, the individual characteristics and needs of students are used to personalize and customize existing approaches to assessment. In this paper, we show the potential of adaptive web-based assessme...

Web-based assessments can be used in different phases of education in order to support students and make learning easier and more effective for them. This support can range from the assessment of readiness for a particular educational institution, over methods which improve the learning process itself such as peer assessment, to the assessment of t...

In the mid 1980s education researchers began exploring the use of the Internet within teaching and learning practices, now commonly referred to as e-learning. At the same time, many e-learning researchers were discov- ering that the application of existing ethical guidelines for qualitative re- search was resulting in confusion and uncertainty amon...

Understanding the affordances, effectiveness and applicability of new media in multiple contexts is usually a slow and evolving process with many failed applications, false starts and blind trails. As result, effective applications are usually much slower to arise than the technology itself. The global network based on ubiquitous Internet connectiv...

It is evident that any view of e-learning in Canada must be informed by the uniquely Canadian feature of provincial jurisdiction over education. As was noted in the introduction, Canada is the only country that does not have a national department/ministry of education. Therefore, any investigation of e-learning in Canada must focus more on specific...

This paper describes an exploratory, observational study using a purposive sample selection to determine if the presence indicators of the well regarded Community of Inquiry model can be a useful tool to observe and assess learning events which use a Multi User Virtual Environment (MUVE) as the mode of delivery [1]. Specific research questions addr...

This paper discusses the use of social software tools in distance education applications. It presents data from an exploratory application of social software tools in a paced, graduate level course delivered online. Results indicate that the functionality of current generation of social software tools can be duplicated using existing LMS and email...

Mid 2006 finds the academic research community engaged in an ideological and fiscal war related to Open Access publishing. Open Access requires that the full text of publications be made available at no cost to anyone on the open Internet. Recent position and discussion papers in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries, h...

A complex view of learning recognises that learning cannot be pre-determined by teaching, but is as much defined by circumstances and context as pre-defined learning objectives. Learning designs that accept uncertainty help us to envision classrooms and curricula that are open, dynamic and innovative. Architect Christopher Alexander's patterns and...

Weblogs or blogs are being heralded as the "next big thing" in education. In this article we examine the advantages and disadvantages of this form of Internet-based interaction using the Community of Inquiry model with its focus on social, cognitive and teaching presences. We conclude that blogging has distinct advantages over more common threaded...

Athabasca University - Canada's Open University (AU) made the commitment to put all of its courses online as part of its Strategic University Plan. In pursuit of this goal, AU participated in the eduSource project, a pan-Canadian effort to build the infrastructure for an interoperable network of learning object repositories. AU acted as a leader in...