Before starting this degree, I looked at distance education as a tool mostly for higher education. I did not realize that distance education was composed of four elements: (1) institutionally based; (2) separation of students and teacher; (3) interactive telecommunications; and (4) sharing of data, voice, and video. (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009, 32-33) While I knew that students and teachers must be separated for distance education and that there must be interactive telecommunications with a sharing of data, it did not occur to me that distance education needed to be institutionally based or that the sharing of information would also include voice and video. While I understood my motivations for engaging in distance education, I never considered the motivations of the institutions providing distance education. I also did not realize how long distance education has existed. Although I knew that early distance education started with correspondence, I did not know that it started in the early 1830s. I also was not aware that distance education was offered via radio, television, or telephone. I also did not know that Internet distance education was offered as early as 1979. (Distance Learning Timeline Continuum, date unknown)
My prior personal definition of distance education would have been: learning that is undertaken where the student and the teacher are not together and must communicate distantly through the mail or by Internet. This learning would usually be for the purpose of higher education or business, but could also include informal learning experiences outside an institution for personal growth.
Revised Personal Definition
After this week's reading, I've come to realize that distance learning is more formal than I imagined. It does not include personal study that is not institutionally based. Distance education is rapidly changing as technology changes. Distance education allows learning experiences to be offered to many people at the same time. (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009, 35) The institutions that offer distance learning have motivations for offering the courses, just as the learners have motivations for taking distance education courses. Distance education allows smaller institutions to reach more people, increasing competition. (Moller, Foshay, & Huett, 66) Distance education provides many challenges for developers and instructors. At this point, many courses are being developed by individuals with no formal training in developing online instruction. (Moller et. al., 2008, 67) Often instructors are teaching online courses without training in new uses of technology, "new pedagogical issues surrounding student interactions, course content design and delivery, multiple levels of communication, defining new types of assignments and performance expectations, and different assessment and evaluation techniques. (Moller et. al., 2008, 67) At the K-12 level, there is concern that the students involved in distance education are the least likely to succeed in that environment. Students need to be independent, autonomous, metacognitive, motivated, and possess self-regulatory skills. Younger students may not yet have developed these skills. (Huett, Moller, Foshay, & Coleman, 2008b, 64)
My revised personal definition of distance education is: learning that takes place for an institutional purpose (education or training). There is a separation between the student and the teacher, physically and/or temporally. There is two-way communication between students and teacher that leads to relationships and provides feedback. The sharing of data can take many forms including text, video, voice, or a mixture of forms. Both the student and the institution has a motivation for utilizing distance education.
Future of Distance Education
Tracey & Richey state that "the evolution of distance education has paralleled advancements in technology, but its development is also a reflection of changing educational values and philosophies." (17) I believe that both components of this statement are very important. Innovations in technology continue to rapidly emerge. With each innovation comes more possibilities and potentials to improve both face-to-face and distance education. As learning experiences continue to improve, society's attitudes toward distance education will become more accepting and appreciative. This changing view toward educational values and philosophies has led to distance education being widely adopted with exponential growth expected to continue. (Simonson, date unknown)
Unfortunately, there has not been enough research into acceptable practices, there are not enough training instructional developers, and training has not been consistently provided to instructor. If distance education continues to be developed by untrained personnel, distance education will continue to be looked upon with apprehension and distrust. For distance education to be widely accepted as an effective learning medium, business need to look beyond their bottom line to providing training based on "quality; needs assessment, ROI and measurement of outcomes; the influence and fusion of training, performance support, and knowledge management; the need for better instructional systems design methodologies; and the revision of learning models." (Moller, Foshay, & Huett, 2008a, 71) This is the time for instructional designers to conduct research into the benefits of distance education in all learning environments, to persuade institutions on the necessity to develop effective learning experiences based on the research, and to convince decision makers to provide training and support to instructors before instituting distance education. If quality learning experiences developed by instructional designers and based on research are combined with trained instructors, distance education has a bright future.
Mind Map of Distance Education
Distance learning timeline continuum. (Date unknown). Laureate Education, Inc. Multimedia Program.
Huett J., Moller, L., Foshay, W. R., & Coleman, C. (2008). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 3: K12). Tech Trends, 52(4), 63-67.
Moller, L., Foshay, W. R., & Huett, J. (2008a). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 1: Training and development). Tech Trends, 52(3), 70-75.
Moller, L., Foshay, W. R., & Huett, J. (2008b). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 2: Higher education). Tech Trends, 52(4), 66-70.
Simonson, M. (Date unknown). Distance education: The next generation. Laureate Education, Inc. Video.
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Tracey, M. W., & Richey, R. C. (2005). The evolution of distance education. Distance Learning, 2(6), 17-21.
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