Prior to taking this class, the strongest image that came to mind when thinking of distance education was attending a class from a remote location. In the 1980’s, I took a graduate level course in computer architecture. The company I was working for had a satellite link to a local university. We would attend the lectures via satellite TV and ask the professor questions via a two way intercom. Thus, I had thought of distance education as any situation where the learner is geographically separated from the instructor.
Considering this week’s resources has broadened my understanding in a couple of ways. First, the Distance Learning Timeline Continuum showed that the history of distance education goes back to correspondence courses and those college courses you saw on public television on Saturday mornings. Thus, distance education has evolved as communication technology has evolved.
 |
| Distance Education Mind Map |
In terms of defining distance education, in this week’s video presentation, Dr. Simonson gave a succinct definition of distance education. He defined distance education as “formal education where a learning group (students, instructor, resources) are separated by geography and/or time. Technology is used link the resources and the learning”. Further, Dr. Simonson stated that distance education consists of two main components – distance teaching and distance learning. I think that this is an important distinction to make, that there is a teacher involved, keeping the students on track and accountable. Thus, self-study e-learning courses do not qualify as distance education.
What factors will drive the future of distance education? The first is technology. Technology will make distance education more accessible. The Horizon Report discusses two technologies that will have significant impact on the distance education. The first is eBooks. The widespread adoption of eBooks and eReaders (like Kindle and iPad) will make it much easier to access textbooks and other course materials while the learner is “on the go”. Another technology that will impact distance education is mobile devices (e.g. smart phones). For example, learners will be able to collaborate with each other or get timely feedback from an instructor via texting or social media.
The other driving factor is economics. In the corporate world, a tight economy means that corporations are looking to improve the productivity of their workforce. Thus there is less time and money to spend on training. It has been my experience in the corporate environment that companies are less will to send their employees away for a week of training. Rather, they moving more towards “just in time” training – giving employees only the training they need, when they need it.
References:
Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., and Haywood, K., (2011). The 2011 Horizon Report.
Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.
Simonson, M. Distance Learning: Timeline and Continuum Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4894950&Survey=1&47=8276485&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1
Simonson, M. :Distance Education: The Next Generation. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4894950&Survey=1&47=8276485&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1
No comments:
Post a Comment