The Learner Support in Distance Education and Training course is where I learned the importance of learner support and its various dimensions, aspects, and components. I learned that student support is essential to successful distance education and E-learning, particularly as learners and teachers are physically separated from each other and learners need to be supported in order to prevent feelings of frustration and isolation or falling behind, and to increase motivation. I learned the different types of learner support and how to plan, implement, and assess them and ensure learners use them as needed.

Artifact 1

This assignment was a critique of an article that had been written about the process for moving from a manual to an IT-based student support system. The focus on my critique was on the process of implementing that change and not so much on the benefits of student support, which I’d learned about through other assignments. Here, I was able to utilize the literature to look at the process of change implementation from different perspectives, and consider how that change process can be successful. I was able to find a useful balance between general change implementation, and one specific to revamping student support services.

Artifact 2 Part 1

This is part 1 of 2 of a case study assignment. For this first portion, my group and I wrote the case; in part 2 of the assignment we wrote individual responses. For the case, we chose a real world challenge that we felt needed a distance education student support solution. We understood and documented various components of the challenge including context and relevant factors, unique aspects of the education provider, resources available, characteristics of the learners and other components. We were careful to create a complete case that we could study and address in our individual responses in part 2. Our group had six members in the US and abroad, and so the process of completing this assignment also taught me how to effectively utilize distance education techniques for successful group work.

Artifact 2 Part 2

This is the second part of the case study assignment. In part 1 my group and I had created the case, and in this portion I wrote my individual response to that case. Specifically, I read and considered the relevant literature and then wrote a proposal for a comprehensive student support system to address the challenge posed. Having created the case with my group, writing the solution was a more meaningful exercise, and one that I enjoyed working on a lot. I am thankful to my teachers for their creativity when designing this assignment for us. That creativity consequently enabled me to be most creative in my group and individually.