The Theory of Cooperative Freedom

The Theory of Cooperative Freedom

Major elements that define distance education

(Keegan, 1988)

separation of teacher and learner;

• influence of an educational organization;
• use of technical media;
• the provision of two-way communication;
• possibility of occasional meetings for both . didactic and socialization purposes;
• participation in an industrialized form of education.

The implications of introducing

Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) in distance education (Mason and Kaye,1990)

• The breaking down of conceptual distinctions between distance education and place-based education;
• The changing of traditional roles faculty,administrative and support staff;
• The provision of na opportunity to create a network of scholars, space for collective thinking and acess to peers for socializing and serendipitous exchange .

Distance Education Theories

(Keegan, 1988)

• Theories of autonomy and independence;
• Theories of indistrialization;
• Theories of interaction and communication.

Cooperative Freedom: an Online Education Theory

Cooperation:

voluntary interaction among individuals during learning.

Freedom:

each dimension should be regarded as continuous rather than dichotomous, as dichotomous, not absolute

Cooperative Freedom:

a distance education system that combines freedom for the individual with group cooperation.

The Theory of Cooperative Freedom is based on three pillars:

voluntary, but attractive participation;

means promoting individual flexibility;

means promoting affinity to learning community.

Freedom, Flexibilty and Coopertation:

the Hexagon of Cooperative Freedom can serve as a guide for implementation of distance education.

Cooperative Distance Education:

individual flexibility + freedom;

group collaboration + social unity.

Paulsen, Morten F. (2003)

Online Education and Learning Management Systems

Irene Maria Cunha Galrito

PPEL4 - Mestrado Pedagogia do E-Learning, March 2010

The Hexagon of Cooperative Freedom

Freedom of time:

allows students to communicate whenever it is convenient;

ideally, online education is completely ndependent of time.

Freedom of content:

should allow students to choose among a range of courses and to transfer credits between programs and universities.

Freedom of space:

can be accessed worldwide, wherever there is an Internet connection.

Freedom of access

there are no physical limitations;

a flexible system can enroll all students who want to study;

no descrimination on the basis of social class, entry qualitifications, gender, age, ethnicity or occupation;

to people with disabilities;

students should decide for themselves whether they are capable of pursuing the course of study.

It should be available to students with no access to or limited knowledge of distance education technology.

Freedom of pace:

allows students to choose the pacing they prefer;

can be provided to a greater or lesser extent.

Fredom of medium:

access to to several media or sources of information: print, video, face-to-face meetings, computer conferencing, etc.