Contact Hour Equivalents for DL

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Subject: [PD 3373] Re: Post
From: Leslie Petty leslie.lpetty at gmail.com
Date: Mon Jun 15 13:32:48 EDT 2009

2) Our services are forward-funded on a learner contact hour basis. Finding ways to realistically assign contact hour equivalents for online work is an issue we are addressing. Ideas on how others have addressed this issue are welcome.

Your second question asks about contact hour equivalents. Project IDEAL states have identified three models of assigning proxy contact hours for various distance curricula: clock time, teacher verification and learner mastery. The use of a particular type of model depends on the curricula used (e.g., the clock time model can only be used with curricula that record the amount of time that students are logged and automatically log off inactive students after some specified period of time). For more information, I would recommend looking at two documents available at the Project IDEAL website: a description of each of these models in OVAE's Distance Learning Policy Guidance document (http://www.projectideal.org/pdf/Print%20Resources/DistLearningPolicyGuidance.pdf) and the Project IDEAL working paper, Measuring Contact Hours and Educational Progress in Distance Education, available for free download ( http://www.projectideal.org/pdf/WorkingPapers/WP2MeasuringContactHours2005.pdf). These three models are acceptable for use to track distance students' hours in NRS, but other approaches may be also be acceptable, if the rationale for their assignment of proxy hours has been systematically determined.

Proxy contact hours have been established for several curricula used for distance learning. You can find this information on pp. 75 - 76 of the Fourth Edition of the Project IDEAL Handbook of Distance Learning for Adult Learners, which you can download for free (http://www.projectideal.org/publications_resources/handbook.html). IMPORTANT NOTE: To get the 4th edition (not the 3rd edition), click on the picture of the handbook, not the link in the text.

Leslie

Subject: [PD 3372] Re: Post
From: Steve Kaufmann steve at thelinguist.com
Date: Mon Jun 15 12:54:59 EDT 2009

2) Measurement is easier in an online environment. Our tutors correct texts online and provide one on one or one on many lessons online. In each case this is followed by a report. These are easily tracked. What is more important, perhaps, is that the activities of the learner can be tracked. These can be viewed by the teacher, by other learners, and by the learner him/herself. This is both motivating and a great way to measure success.

Steve

-- Steve Kaufmann
www.thelinguist.blogs.com
www.lingq.com

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