Generations of Distance Education

Question 1

5 generations of DE thought about by Taylor (2000)

Answer 1

1. First Generation - The Correspondence Model
2. Second Generation - The Multi-media Model
3. Third Generation - The Telelearning Model
4. Fourth Generation - The Flexible Learning Model
5. Fifth Generation - The Intelligent Flexible Learning Model

Question 2

the 5 generations are not ______ categories

Answer 2

mutually exclusive

Question 3

The theory which outlines the belief that technology is the governing force in society, causing social change independent of social factors.

Answer 3

technological determinism

Question 4

The theory which tells us that innovation comes about because of certain human needs or problems, and that the resulting technologies are due to societal factors

Answer 4

social construction of technology

Question 5

Recognising that in education media are usually used in combination, the six key building blocks of media are

Answer 5

1. face-to-face teaching
2. text
3. (still) graphics
4. audio (including speech)
5. video
6. computing (including animation, simulations and virtual reality).

Question 6

Recognising that in education media are usually used in combination, the six key building blocks of media are

Answer 6

1. face-to-face teaching
2. text
3. (still) graphics
4. audio (including speech)
5. video
6. computing (including animation, simulations and virtual reality).

Question 7

Term used in referring to the unique features of media particularly their formats, symbols systems, and cultural values

Answer 7

affordances

Question 8

There are many dimensions along which some technologies are similar and others are different. three key characteristics or dimensions are particularly important:

Answer 8

1. broadcast vs communicative
2. synchronous (live) vs asynchronous (recorded)
3. single vs rich media

Question 9

The______is an extremely powerful medium because through a combination of tools and media it can encompass all the characteristics and dimensions of educational media.

Answer 9

Internet

Question 10

Two meanings about Technological Determinism

Answer 10

1. an internal, technical logic determines the design of technological artifacts and systems;
2. the development of technological artifacts and systems determines broad social changes

Question 11

Claim which combines the two meanings of Technological Determinism

Answer 11

an autonomous technology (in both its development and use) shapes social relations.

Question 12

3 varieties of technological determinism by Bimber (1994)

Answer 12

normative, nomological, and unintended-consequences accounts.

Question 13

Variety of technological determinism which claims that society is relinquishing control over technology, or replacing political and ethical norms with those of the technologist’s goals of efficiency and productivity

Answer 13

Normative accounts

Question 14

Variety of technological determinism which evokes the two-part definition: technology develops autonomously according to an internal logic and forces a prescribed social change

Answer 14

Nomological accounts

Question 15

Variety of technological determinism which claims that technology produces unpredictable social change, a view that challenges determinism, but reinforces the idea that technology is out of control

Answer 15

unintended consequences accounts

Question 16

Winner (1986) argues that artifacts have politics in two ways.

Answer 16

1. First, technologists can design an artifact to promote a certain type of politics
2. Second, the design and building of some systems seems to require a certain type of politics

Question 17

Two stages in the concept of Hughes (1994) of technological systems

Answer 17

1. the social construction of a system when it is young,
2. technological determinism comes into play once it is established and has ‘‘technological momentum.’ From that point on it shapes society more than being shaped by society.

Question 18

SCOT is one approach among several________ ways of studying science and technology that emerged in the 1980s.

Answer 18

constructivist

Question 19

An important, though negative, starting point for SCOT was to _____ technological determinism

Answer 19

criticize

Question 20

As a heuristic (mental shortcut) for studying technology in society, SCOT can be laid out in three consecutive research steps (Bijker 1995a)

Answer 20

1. Key concepts in the first step are ‘relevant social group’ and ‘interpretive flexibility.’
2. In the second step, the researcher follows how interpretive flexibility diminishes, because some artifacts gain dominance over others and meanings converge, and in the end one artifact results from this process of social construction.
3. In the third step, the processes of stabilization described in the second step are analyzed and explained by interpreting them in a broader theoretical framework: why does a social construction process follow this course, rather than that?

Question 21

The phrase _______ is often used as a reminder that non-technical factors are important for understanding the development of technology, and that these factors are closely related.

Answer 21

‘seamless web of technology and society’

Question 22

The principle of general _________ casts this into a methodological principle: human and non-human actors should be treated similarly

Answer 22

symmetry

Question 23

The principle of general _________ casts this into a methodological principle: human and non-human actors should be treated similarly

Answer 23

symmetry

Question 24

SCOT also provides a theoretical perspective on the relation between technology and society, and on their ______

Answer 24

joint developments or co-evolution.

Question 25

an increasingly influential, but still deeply contested, approach to understand humans and their interactions with inanimate objects.

Answer 25

Actor-Network Theory (ANT)

Question 26

“source of an action regardless of its status a human or non-human”

Answer 26

An actor

Question 27

Tracing of _______ between network components (or actors) is a key activity in ANT

Answer 27

associations or relationships

Question 28

________ can form relationships between actors

Answer 28

Intermediaries and mediators