Distance Education in Rural Contexts

Sponsor:
SIG-Rural Education

Schedule Information:
Scheduled Time: Thu, Apr 16 - 12:25pm - 1:55pm Building/Room: San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina / Newport Beach
Title Displayed in Event Calendar: Distance Education in Rural Contexts

Session Participants:
Barriers to Distance Education in Rural Schools
*Matthew J. Irvin (University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill), Wallace Hannum (University of North Carolina), Claire de la Varre (University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill)
Beyond Volunteerism and Good Will: Examining the Commitment of School-Based Teachers to Distance Education
*Dennis M. Mulcahy (Memorial University - Newfoundland), *Michael Kristopher Barbour (Wayne State University)
Distance, Climate, Demographics, and the Development of Online Courses in Newfoundland and Labrador
*Scott Reid (University of Ottawa)
Teacher’s Experiences of Rural School Reorganization
*Catherine Savage (Victoria University, Australia)

Discussant: Kevin Patrick Brady (North Carolina State University)
Chair: Michael Kristopher Barbour (Wayne State University)

As I mentioned above, you can see some of the information about the first two at Barriers to Distance Education in Rural Schools and Beyond Volunteerism and Good Will: Examining the Commitment of School-Based Teachers to Distance Education. The description of the third and fourth presentations were:

Distance, Climate, Demographics, and the Development of Online Courses in Newfoundland and Labrador

One of the assertions of the Actor Network Theory is that physical factors can be actors within a network of other factors which determine the development and use of technology. This paper documents the impact of climate, distance and demographics on the adoption of online courses at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada. The qualitative study demonstrates that these physical factors did influence professor’s decisions to use online courses. The findings support the Actor Network Theory and provide insight into the interaction of physical and human actors within a network that facilitated the adoption of online courses at the university being studied.

Teacher’s Experiences of Rural School Reorganization

An oversupply of rural schools in some areas increases the likelihood of school mergers to create more efficient and effective provision of schooling. This research investigated a rural school reorganization led by the New Zealand Ministry of Education. Interviews with 6 teachers were held on three separate occasions throughout 10 months of the reorganization process. The interviews were analysed using content analysis and conclusions were reached using an inductive method of categorising. The impact of reorganization on teacher’s personal and professional lives is significant and unique to the process of change. Further research in policy design and implementation is required to ensure future rural school reorganizations are successful.

The discussant’s comments were focused, as he mentioned a couple of overall themes and them provided each of the presenters with some specific feedback.

In discussing the first K-12 Online Learning Presentations, Barriers to Distance Education in Rural Schools, the discussant was pleased to see that the general availability in rural areas was high - particularly in North Carolina, where both the presenters and the discussants were from. It was particularly promising to see that technology issues were rated as very low, something which the discussant attributed to the various federal and state programs that have been put in place to bring Internet access to rural communities. In beginning to transition to his discussion of my own paper, he specifically noted a personnel barriers (although not one of the ones brought up by the presenters) - the need or difficulty in getting highly qualified teachers and administrators in rural areas and how the distance education to provide access to these personnel lacks from of the personal connection, so distance teachers have to work harder to build relationships with students and schools.

In his discussion of my paper, Beyond Volunteerism and Good Will: Examining the Commitment of School-Based Teachers to Distance Education, he spoke about the fact that local personnel is critical to the successful implementation of any program, distance education or otherwise. And that having good local personnel is largely dependent upon providing proper professional development and an adequate commitment of time for that personnel.

As the other two presentations did not deal with K-12 Online Learning I did not take notes for his comments about them - but if you’re reading this Kevin feel free to add them in the comments area.

Overall, the discussant felt that all four presentations showed great promise for distance education as a way to meet the challenges facing rural schools. He also felt that more research was needed into the personnel barriers, as he felt that they were both complex and multifaceted.