Module 1 The Next Generation in Distance Education

Module 1 The Next Generation in Distance Education

I have been involved with distance education for over 14 years both in educating elementary and middle school students along with earning two Master’s Degrees at the university level.  Many people have not accepted this form of education yet, even though it has been around for many years.  To some, distance education is still a new idea and they are not ready to make the change.  I remember after I had been teaching for six years in the virtual environment, a teacher in a local district that I had just met explained to me that I really should look for a new job since this job would not be around very long.  I wonder if he still feels the same way?  I do believe that distant education is not for everyone, but there are certainly people that it is right for.

Moller, Foshay, Huett, Coleman and Simonson (2008) agree that distance education will have an explosive growth in the future.  They feel it will occur in business training, higher education, and K12 education.  Moller feels that online courses are considered easier although it takes more work to develop the courses.  Moller also feels that teachers need to be trained on how to deliver the content in a K12 environment online.  I agree with this.   There is a need to reorganize K12 educational systems to incorporate distance learning into the curriculum, state standards, and national levels.  Distant Education should have the Equivalence Theory intact. Distance Educators should provide the same education but should adapt it to the online environment

The authors speak about the differences between face-to-face education and distance education, it should be found that all education should follow a learning theory.  Behaviorism, Connectivism, Cognitivism, and constructivism do not have separate online theories for education.  They just have one theory of education.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). Principles of Distance Education. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008a). 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. (2008b). 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 classrooms. New Directions for Teaching and Learning 84, 29-34.


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