My OLTD (Online Learning and Teaching Diploma) program actually started several years ago, when I completed my first core course, MDDE 601: Introduction to Distance Education and Training, through Athabasca University's Master of Education in Distance Education program.VIU granted transfer credit for my Athabasca course MDDE 601 as equivalent to OLTD 501.
I completed MDDE 601, online, as I was beginning my first year as a Distributed Learning Teacher in the newly created CHOICES DL program in Port Alberni. This course provided me with an overview of current forms of distance education and explored a variety of applications, including distance education in post-secondary institutions, K-12 schools, and in workplace and training environments. The course also examined distance education technology, online teaching and learning, as well as learner support and the management and administration of distance education programs.
Course Description
a foundation of knowledge, skills and attitudes that will prepare you for further studies and which will enable you to become competent academics and practitioners of distance education;
an introduction to a wide range of literature in the field;
a critical approach towards the rhetoric and practice in the field of distance education and training; and,
the means to integrate prior knowledge and skills with the newly acquired knowledge and skills developed in the course.