Distance Education has not taken off I believe the way that most people have thought it would. according to Dr Simonson. Here in the United States, we have just begun using distance education and hopefully will use it to its full potential in the near future.
At first the distance education was used in the business sector and has now evolved over into the educational section. I know that in our district, we are using distance education by taking our Algebra Classes from the high school down to the middle school. Professional development is being used by distance learning.
As far as the "craft approach" used by educators to develop lessons, this cannot compare to the traditional classroom. There are many ins and outs to using and developing distance learning and it being productive for teacher and students.
I feel that one of our most important factors that can be hindered by distance learning is getting to know our students. This can be an important factor not only for students but for professors as well. Even thought this can bring us different strategies and different ideas, the common factor is teacher / student. I sometimes wonder if people tend to forget these to common factors. I agree with a classmate though the the benefits outweigh the negative effects of distance learning.
References:
Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, May/June). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 1: Training and Development). TechTrends, 52(3), 70–75.
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.
Hi Kimberly! I agree and disagree. I agree because I think you are right that we are not using distance education (especially the online component) to its fullest potential. I disagree because distance education has been around for a while starting with correspondence courses and moving forward to today where we see online and blended courses taking up the bulk of what we consider distance education.
ReplyDeleteYou mention that one hindrance is getting to know our students. I have found that my online students are more likely to share things about themselves than my face to face students. There is a mystique online that allows us to believe that we are invisible or unknown. I have had online students tell me it is easier to share their introduction because there is no one looking at them! Of course, I also believe students tend to share too much online. I think it is almost a catch 22 situation.
Erica
Kimberly,
ReplyDeleteThat is true that a lot of times the aspect of the student/teacher relationship is not achieved through distance education. This is why I feel that a combination or collaboration of both forms is needed...I just cannot see a third grader nor a twelfth grader becoming productive members of society if they do not aquire those social skills often received while in a traditional school setting. Yet I would have to argue that there are many times than not that because of the flexability within distance education, the ability to personalize lessons to fit student needs would be easier than in a traditional classroom where one has students sitting directly in front of them. With the distance education setting an instructor can guide a student to various websites or have programs for the student to participate in during class time which otherwise, walking to the computer lab would be lost. I think that distance education has come a long way, and has just a little further to go!
Taryn