Distributed+Learning+Challenges

== DISTRIBUTED COGNITION AND DISTRIBUTED LEARNING > 1. INTRODUCTION > 2. DISTRIBUTED COGNITION AND DISTRIBUTED LEARNING > 3. APPLICATIONS OF DISTRIBUTED LEARNING > 4. DISTRIBUTED LEARNING EXAMPLES > 5. CHALLENGES TO IMPLEMENTATION OF DISTRIBUTED LEARNING > 6. ASSESSING DISTRIBUTED LEARNING > 7. REFERENCES

**5. CHALLENGES TO IMPLEMENTATION OF DISTRIBUTED LEARNING IN:**

 * 1) **Elementary Settings**
 * 2) **Secondary Settings**
 * 3) **Higher Education Settings**
 * 4) **Corporate Settings**

**5.1. Elementary Settings**

 * Can DL be used with very young students?** Yes, I believe so. I just read about a study in which the fastest growing techies are the 3-5 year olds. (**citation needed)**

Distributed learning can be used with young students, although it presents its fair share of challenges. Due to the rise of internet crimes involving children and media coverage of such events, parents are becoming increasingly more conservative about the idea of their children accessing the internet. That being said, students must be heavily monitored as they venture out and access a world beyond their own. This is not an easy task.

It can also be a difficult and time-consuming process trying to find internet sites and web-based distributed learning tools suitable (content/accessibilty) for the use of any elementary age student.

 Implementation at the elementary seems to be one of the most difficult aspects in creating a distributive learning environment. Elementary schools are often times more conservative in the actions the administration takes and usually do not act in random fashion. It is not to say that elementary schools are not multilayered distributed learning communities (Dede), since they do participate and interact as a community and do use different forms of media to convey ideas. Although their current media (plays, assemblies, recess) are outdated by what today’s distributed learning wants to convey, nevertheless it spreads ideas through the different grade levels (groups) and enhances the community (school itself). With this said, administrators usually tend to brush off any extra operational addition to their school site. Adding ‘interactive media” (Dede) does ensue a large financial cost that can burden any school. Adding this media does not only entail hardware costs, but it also brings with it cost for training, maintenance, and security measures due to the price of the hardware in the first place. Even a sound idea arises today, administrators are wary about implanting such major decisions without checking their budgets. It sometimes boils down to that they do want to do it, but do they have the finances available to do it? Secondly while the financial aspect plays a huge role within creating a utopian distributed learning environment, the curriculum also has to be able to accept these changes in educational distribution within and outside the community. Although a normal school day is eight hours, those are precious to both teacher and instructional leaders. Just in California alone teachers are required to fulfill and teach the states mandated standards due to NCLB within a year and still find time for other things like benchmark assessments, state testing, and other mandated programs, whether they be state, or district wide. Since elementary school students are in the first years of their educational development, the administration and instructional leaders tend to focus on developing the students reading and arithmetic skills. It is not uncommon to see a seemingly perfect computer lab go without use at an elementary school. It is also difficult to procure qualified staff or volunteers that will work or participate in a distributed learning community since the compensation is usually not very appealing. In any case this should let administrators, teachers, and instructional leaders stop them from exploring the educational possibilities of using interactive media and other forms of interaction that will and can enhance a distributed learning community at the elementary level.



**5.2. Secondary Settings** (TOP)
Today’s students are in a unique position to experience a shift in scientific culture, where the availability of public data is dramatically increasing and computational technology is continually changing; in fact, the expectation is that these students will enter the workforce with the understanding and skills needed to operate very successfully within this expanding research environment. (VBI, 2005)

Challenges to implement distributed learning in the secondary settings are very similar to those found in the elementary setting, higher education, and corporate setting. The main challenges facing secondary schools are costs, implementation and security. The costs of implementing distributed learning systems are one of the major factors why schools do not implement powerful tools such as BlackBoard. BlackBoard costs are based on a per student license model which can quickly become expensive. In addition to buying the software, implementation costs, and training and professional development yearly maintenance and license renewal fees are a factor that increases costs which ultimately make these systems cost prohibitive. The second challenge is the implementation of distributed learning tools into the classroom. Research shows that when “interactive media” is incorporated properly into student instruction and teacher professional development it helps shape the learning experience (Dede, 2004). However, in order to shape the learning experiences in a positive manner the distributed learning must be implemented correctly and the implementation must be able to provide support to administrators and teachers. It is not enough to deliver a system without the proper support mechanisms. The third challenge is security around distributed learning tools. With malicious viruses, malware and predators increasing at ever increasingly rapid rates it makes the implementation of distributed learning tools even more difficult (Technology, 2007). According to online security software publisher SentryPC.com 77% of the targets for online predators are ages 14 or older and another 22% were users ages 10 to 13 (SentryPc, 2007). This is why when secondary schools implement distributed learning it becomes entangled with CIPA and COPA laws. Schools must ensure that in order to implement a distributive learning system that all laws are met in order to keep the children safe from the negative online side effects. We can quickly see that that the challenges that secondary settings need to overcome are not easy, but for these three challenges the schools can make substantial advances in educating children for the 21st century. The skills that the students gain from using the distributive tools can outweigh the challenges that need to be overcome. 

5.3. Higher Education Settings **(TOP)**
Distributed learning in higher education can take on many forms. An important factor in the development of distributed learning models is access to information and this be best illustrated by examples of Universities publishing entire curricula online for free consumption. MIT, UC Irvine and Harvard are just a few of these examples. MIT’s OpenCourseWare (OCW) program is the culmination of thirty four departments and counting according to the Online Education Database (OEDb). These increasingly familiar programs are not considered to be distributed learning by its, most precise definition, because they are simply clearing houses of knowledge. There is no credit or degrees offered by accessing content. Yet, these institutions are a valuable part in the increasing movement and experimentation in both the development of distributed cognition and learning.

However, the example above provides opportunities for not only individual enrichment but organizational and/or collective progression. “Organizations are turning more and more to knowledge creation and management for the development of their competitive edge and organizational strategies.” (p.242 Richardson) With an increasingly broad range of technical, scientific and cultural information opened up by Universities the possibility of true democratization of knowledge becomes more and more a reality. Every system, no matter how open must come with a set of rule, however subtle and ill defined. One such rule for both distributed learning and cognition is access to an abundant supply of accessible information. Universities are increasingly adhering to this rule.

5.4. Corporate Settings
Learning technologists and corporate management must closely examine a multitude of factors before deciding on technology, methods, and timelines for implementing distributed learning within an organization. Without careful analysis of an organization's business goals and training needs, the following factors may present challenges: costs, management, infrastructure, content, media and people (instructors / developers and learners).

Like any technology initiative or business decision, budget allocated to an organization's learning function is expected to yield some type of measurable return on investment (ROI). A cost and benefit analysis should be made to study the impact of that decision on the company’s long term success and effect on business goals. Cost involved in creating or buying distributed learning tools and the time required to develop and implement such tools should be considered. Additionally, effective learning should be treated as a process and will require continued funding for evaluation and follow-up learning after implementation is complete.
 * Costs**

Distributed learning can be expensive depending on what the company is targeting; in any case a dedicated budget is required to guarantee the success of implementing this model. Money is needed to provide computer hardware, infrastructure, IT support, and higher third party consultant to help with the design and development of the model if needed. “cost-efficiency of distributed learning (e-learning) programs has been increasingly important because some institutions have failed due to the lack of well thought out financial budgeting plans" (Morgan, 2000). Further, chief executives are increasingly concerned with the impact of training on “the bottom line” (Phillips, 1997).

In addition, it was revealed that trainers perceived that cost is a key barrier for successful implementation of e-learning (Xebec McGraw-Hill, 2000). At times the cost of a license for a group of employees is compared to the number of employees that would use an application. The results can be viewed as cost-prohibitive in the eyes of upper management, and thereby eliminated as a budget constraint.

Aside from real monetary expenses, time and human capital are also critical resources needed for distributed learning and training projects. All parties involved in the learning process, from analysts to developers to instructors, must be adequately prepared To ensure learning meets the needs of the company an needs analysis must be completed including rigorous attention to both qualitative and quantitative inputs, such as focus groups and metrics. The process to make sure the right model invested in can be time consuming and, in turn costly.

Infrastructure includes a company's existing technical systems and how a new learning model will be integrated into those systems. Technical architecture that will host learning content, house media files,or enable online learning are all considerations that should be taken into account before a hosted system is selected or new technology is purchased. Infrastructure also pertains to the way in which the training will be delivered or deployed.
 * Infrastructure

Content and Media Managers and learning professionals should consider who the intended users of the learning system will be and how a distributed model aligns with their current work processes. The needs of the learners and the expected outcomes of the training to be delivered should be the drivers of the technology selected and not the other way around.

Various learning formats and media types can be used to enhance learning in a distributed environment. Media selected should support the curriculum and desired goals of the organization. Will learning take place through a classroom, web, or blended training? Are there evaluation methods in place to ensure that knowledge transfer and real learning have occurred?

Challenges:** Evaluating employees development and performance is tied to the time spent on developing a model that is aligned with company’s vision and goals. Take the employee’s reaction to distributed learning into consideration and compare it with the traditional face-to-face classroom settings. Ask the following questions: > (Dijlah Benjamin - I am sure there are other challenges feel free to add some more.)
 * How long does each course take?
 * Are resources available?
 * What is the age group performance?
 * What is the level of expertise achieved?
 * What licenses need to be purchased, and how many?
 * What is the ROI for the company?