Sunday, November 4, 2012

Distance Learning from my perspective


Distance learning continues to adapt to the advances of distance communications (Tracey, & Richey, 2005).  From the early years of correspondence courses, through telegrams, to radio broadcasts, then television courses, and onto VHS video, the time lapse between student and instructor has decreased (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012).  In the current age of the Internet, distance learning has seen exponential growth due to the rapid rise of global communication and the mobile industry.  As the author of “The World is Flat,” Thomas Friedman dared to open our minds to how the instant information age has created a level playing field upon which anyone with access to information can now be a contender (2007).

This rapid growth in the industry has much to do with telecommunications growth.  However the growth of students taking distance courses has as much to do with the need for a highly skilled, technologically rich workforce as it does with the dynamics of the modern family where parents work to support and improve the status and earnings of the family unit.  A handful of years ago, several of my closest teacher friends embarked on a journey to earn a Master’s degree for art education.  Three of my friends enrolled in the same university, which was just beginning their first online program.  The other teacher-friend began taking courses via correspondence.  The process fascinated me in the aspect of time.  The correspondence course offered little feedback or formative assessment, however the teacher had complete flexibility in how quickly the work was completed and submitted.  At the same time, my three friends taking the new online course encountered bumps along the road as professors learned and adapted to the new style for sharing information.

While distance learning can mean multiple things, to me the definition is simple.  Distance learning is a formalized process that guides the student through the discovery of and synthesizing of new information without the immediate and direct guidance of the instructor (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012).  While my view of distance education has been shaped by multiple experiences, the idea of synchronous versus asynchronous plays a major role in my view of distance education.  When comparing mail-in correspondence courses to Skyped lessons in real time, the idea of time becomes a greater limiting factor than geographic distance.

Through my work with high school teachers building online courses to supplement their face-to-face classes I have needed to consider time in a completely new manner.  Conversations with students that formerly were constrained to a one-hour class period, can now take place over the course of an entire week.  This flexibility offers students the chance to truly reflect upon their learning and offer richer opinions online than they are able or willing to contribute during the synchronous class-time allotted by the school (Bergmann, & Sams, 2012).  Similarly, students are able to access digital content to supplement or review information supplied in class.

While there is much debate concerning the effectiveness of online courses, their popularity continues to rise.  Fully online programs are currently hampered by a lack of technological skill on the part of the participant.  However, as the technology skills held by the majority population continues to grow, combined with the increasing availability of low-cost Internet and Internet capable devices, distance-learning courses will increase in popularity.  Although, as a teacher, I must state that online courses will never fully replace the need for teachers as mentors, models, and guides for the learning process.



My mindmap for distance learning, pictured above can be found at: http://www.pearltrees.com/#/N-u=1_520124&N-p=63076816&N-s=1_6756491&N-fa=4275105&N-f=1_6756491







References:

Bergmann, J. & Sams, A. (2012, April).  How the flipped classroom is radically transforming learning.   Learning, Innovation & Tech Bombs & Breakthroughs.  Retrieved from: http://www.thedailyriff.com/articles/how-the-flipped-classroom-is-radically-transforming-learning-536.php

Friedman, T. L. (2007).  The world is flat: A brief history of the 21st century.  Picador Publishing, New York, NY.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Tracey, M., & Richey, R. (2005). The evolution of distance education. Distance Learning, 2(6), 17–21.

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