Elements of Distance Education Diffusion

From the constructivist standpoint the new online learning movement presents participants in the learning environment with an opportunity to reexamine the ways in which different aspects of traditional instruction can be reconstructed in order to operate effectively in the online asynchronous environment. This technological shift—from fixed knowledge given at a certain time, to knowledge being accessible anytime at anyplace is creating new wave in the online learning environment and acts as a changing agent in the way learning is transacted from those who provide information meaning facilitators to those who receive it (i.e. students).

George Siemens in his video presentation states that collaborative interaction is one of three elements that attributes to the growing acceptance of distance education in today’s corporate and educational spheres. Social software such as wikis, blogs, social bookmarking, instant messaging, Skype, Ning to name a few provide opportunities for learners to create, dialogue about, and disseminate information. Researchers believe that collaborative learning bring positive results such as deeper understanding of content, increased overall achievement in grades, improved self-esteem, and higher motivation to remain on task.

While I tend to agree with Siemens’s view collaborative interaction in the online learning environment requires many new skills to learn, work with, and adapt to the ever-changing world. The level of technical skill and continuing professional development required to effectively use these systems in the classrooms can be daunting. Bruner (1986) asserts that “learning in most settings is a communal activity, a sharing of the culture” (p.127). So to say, that collaborative interaction should not be encouraged in the online classroom would be wide of the mark. Promoting collaboration that represents social views enables learners “develop their own plans and understandings through joint effort and have the opportunity to come to new understanding through the give-and-take of interaction, argument and discussion” Vygotsky, (1978); Watson et al, 1999, p. (142).


While this new movement has the ability to change the traditional way we interact with each other in the classroom in terms of student-teacher relationship to improve learning outcomes, changes in instructional design does not cause significant impact upon learning outcomes of the students. One reason is due to inadequate professional training. In other words, even though technology may change the way students learn, it will have very little impact without teacher support.

References

Bruner J. S. (1966). Toward a theory Of instruction, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University.

Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press: Harvard.

Watson, M., et. al. (1999). CDP cooperative learning: Working together to construct social, ethical and intellectual understanding. In Sharan, S. (ed). Cooperative learning methods. (pp. 137-156), Praeger Publishers: Westport, CT.

The Next Generation of Distance Education

Students of all ages, from preschool, through university, professional upgrading, employment training and lifelong learning are participating in educational programs delivered over computer networks. Learning is not bound by geographic constraints of the past and all but few seem to be embracing it.

While the integration of these new technologies has the potential to make higher education more accessible to different populations such as full-time employees and stay-at-home parents, etc., there is also the real possibility that the integration of technology could exclude many important factors. Issues such as instructional decisions, learning outcomes, training and development and organizational change when dealing with the needs of online students have endured harsh criticism and there seems to be no simple solution to the problems.

Opinions are mixed with regards to the benefits of online learning. Efforts to evaluate online learning by some researchers, focuses on the transfer of course content and found compared to traditional course delivery and face-to-face instruction; there is really no significant difference. Several research studies have covered effective pedagogical strategies for online teaching. Huett et al (2008) for instance, described in a three part series on distance education the major e-learning trends that are synonymous to higher education, and the K-12 education sectors. Simonson (2000) in another article thinks that one strategy to success in online environment is to provide different but equivalent learning experiences to each learner.

A look at the guidelines formulated by the different articles shows that they differ from each other slightly in emphasis, organization, and level of detail. At the same time, they are quite similar as they set standards for distance education and relating them to institution’s curriculum and instruction goals.

The authors all shared valid points and I agree wholeheartedly. In my view, distance education is implemented ineffectively more often than not for the wrong reasons. Perhaps, for some institutions it is a need to be a part of the “band wagon” so content from the traditional classroom is quickly transferred to the online course shell without clear goals or it could be in response to pressure from students or administrators. Whatever it is, there is a genuine concern over poor pedagogical or administrative decisions associated with online 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 2: Higher education). TechTrends, 52(4), 66-70.

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

Simonson, M. (2000). Making decisions: The use of electronic technology in online classes. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 84, 29-34.