All of the authors seem to agree that distance education is being considered to be a quick fix for several of the problems facing education and training today. Teacher shortages, the need for more advanced courses, and an increasingly diverse learner population and geography are all reasons seen by policy-makers as reasons why distance education (DE) needs to be pursued as an alternative of face to face education at all levels.
Simonson (2000) points out that the brick and mortar environment and the distance education environment cannot be considered one in the same. The evolution of distance education must include ways to be more than a new delivery system for old pedagogy and practices. As the courses that are created for distance education proceed, new ways must also be developed to create an equivalency to the face to face education, while recognizing the unique opportunities afforded by online practices.
Moller, Huett, Foshay and Coleman posit reasoning behind a push toward distance education that seems to expect that DE will solve education ills at the high school, college, and corporate training levels. However, the stress that if the courses are not developed well with new pedagogy and educational philosophy to match the potential of tools that are usable, then the results will not be satisfactory. Instructional designers need to be a part of the systems that are developed from the beginning.
I agree with these authors that distance education is something new. We have an opportunity to create ways to educate and re-educate using research-based thinking and 21st century tools. Unfortunately much of what changes in education often is what is expedient, haphazard, and slapped together. Perhaps we can change that this time.
Simonson, M. (2000). Making decisions: The use of electronic technology in online classes. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 84, 29–34.
Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W. & Coleman, C. (2008, September/October). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 3: K12). TechTrends, 52(5), 63–67.
Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, July/August). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 2: Higher Education). TechTrends, 52(4), 66–70.
It is interesting that teacher shortage could mean a boom in distance learning online when in Illinois we are facing 17,000 teachers being laid off. To me this means overload of enrollment potential in online classrooms but the facilitation and creation has not been properly considered.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing,
~Laurie
Cynthia,
ReplyDeleteYour comments on Simonson are the same as what I took away; Distance education cannot be the same as locally provided education because the environment, and in some ways the students, are different. There are specific physical requirements and there are student expectations that clearly differ from the standard classroom teaching. When we consider how long the standard has been in place, it's easy to see how it is outdated in many ways anyway, let a lone with the technological developments in the past 30 years.
I hope that DE does not fall into the same pit as other innovations/programs that had great potential that were not given enough time to reach it. However nothing that is worth it is a quick fix. If it DE is going to work, it must be "worked at." For this to happen law makers to administration to classroom teachers to parents have to believe DE to be real education and support it as much as they do traditional education.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteRight on target, DE is and will be a different way of learning. The fact that we are not sitting together makes the experience unique. Right now my environment affects my opinion and as I look out the window on this very nice Sunday I get a different input than if we were sitting surrounded by walls, subjected to the feel of the building. I can stop, take a walk outside, complete my thought and then return to my post.
This will transform how we create knowledge as learners become more empowered and influences become plentiful.
I agree that there is a significant difference between a brick and mortar institution and DE, and the students in DE are different as well. I believe that in order for DE to succeed this difference needs to be communicated up front. We are trained from preschool age as to what a school is, how to listen to the teacher, how to work with our peers; DE changes what we know education to be and this new way of learning must be 'taught' to those who will use it!
ReplyDeleteHello Cynthia:
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you. However, one of the key factors that will make distance education successful is training. Instructors and staff alike need to be trained in instructional design so that the needs of the online students can be adequately met and to ensure that quality education is gained.
There is great opportunity for online education and educational institutions, whether K-12 or higher, need to do what is necessary to take hold of this opportunity.
Soushira