Distance Education Redefined

My Prior Definition of Distance Learning

I’ve been a distance-learning student for over a year now and yet prior to this week’s resources I would probably define distance learning as simply an opportunity to learn via the internet from anywhere and at any time.  I would not have made the distinction between self-study and distance learning and would have considered tutorials such as those found on Lynda.com to be a source of distance education.  Further, I would probably project this prior definition to only higher education or self-study tools as this is all I have been familiar with before now, and would not have recognized the distinction between formal/academic learning as opposed to non-academic learning. 

As a high-school student my only experience with distance education was a DVD correspondence course that may have well been considered self-study since feedback from instructors was so untimely that it was virtually useless.  Later, in my teaching career I took some correspondence courses for professional development, which used a combination of textbook, DVD, and web-based videos to learn, and online testing tools for evaluation of understanding.  These were more effective than my high-school experience and were according to Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, and Zvacek (2012), “institution-based, formal education where the learning group is separated” (p. 32).  However this experience still lacked the fourth component of distance education according to Simonson et. al: “interactive telecommunications systems [that] are used to connect learners, resources, and instructors.”  This aspect of distance education has been unique to my experience at Walden.

New Perspectives

Simonson et. al. (2012) are quick to point out that “Interaction is critical, but not at the expense of the content…it is important that learners be able to interact with each other, with resources of instruction, and with their teacher.  However, interaction should not be the primary characteristic of instruction…” (p. 34).  Additionally, interaction is allowed to be synchronous or asynchronous, but must be two-way even though by definition the learning takes place with physical separation between learners and the teacher.  Going one step further, Simonson et. al. (2012) refers to Edwards’ (1995) distinction between distance learning and “open learning,” which “shifts from mass production and mass consumption to a focus on local and individual needs and requirements.”  In other words, open-learning, according to Edwards, tasks instructors in much the same way as traditional teachers to use curriculum as part of a larger strategy to meet the individual needs of a specific set of learners rather than the dissemination of generic curriculum indiscriminately to a larger number of diverse learners.  I also feel that although Simonson’s definition describes interactions via interactive telecommunications as including any mode of communication at a distance, the internet is making postal and telephone communications obsolete in distance education (ie. Email replacing mail, and Skype replacing phone conferencing service).

A new definition

After this week then, my definition of distance education would be: The formal academic education of individuals within an accredited organization, separated from each other and their teacher, but learning from anywhere and anytime by interacting and sharing knowledge with each other via web-based technologies.

Distance Learning of the Future

I think that several parts of the current definition will change as distance learning gains new traction in different facets of the educational sector, and as technology continues to bring those closer who are far away from one another.   First I believe that the “formal institution” will be challenged and distance learning will gain credibility through informal institutions of various kinds, and including self-study resources.  It is possible that in the future, simple one-minute games that people play for pleasure will be developed to train employees in processes and procedures, or to reinforce academic concepts.  “Accidental learning” –if I can coin a term—will be everywhere.  Intentionally created, but so accessible and fun that traditional forms of evaluation and accountability will be less necessary.  Instant feedback and data monitoring will be embedded in such a quick and easy-to access way that the average person will be able to track their learning in a wide range of subjects without the many formal needs of an institution.  As a result of this massive shift in what we perceive as learning, I believe that the “formal institutions” will find it harder and harder to keep themselves exclusively in the definition of distance learning. Whether or not this informal education will be effective or not remains to be seen, but the formats of learning, evaluation, and record-keeping will become less and less formal and more and more instant.

Related to this, just as formal online-universities have given the traditional university system a run for its money as of late, I think that as higher education costs go up we will see more private corporations and industries developing their own specialized post-secondary learning opportunities that allow post-secondary students to bypass the entire higher-ed system alltogether.  Much like the military pays for training and education for their highschool recruits through the GI bill, I foresee distance learning being used by companies who will act as their own “formal learning institutions” who would rather train their own employees right out of the chute—offering them instant jobs and no college debt.  Cisco systems has been offering this for years—essentially training high-school students in network and internet skills with the promise of instant employment after completion.  My prediction is that other organizations will follow this model in order to compete globally by providing more relevant training to future employees.  Distance learning will be a huge part of this endeavor much as the military uses it now.

A third trend to watch for is an increasing relevance for distance education in public perception.  As instructional designers continue to identify and develop a  “systematic examination of our pedagogical underpinnings” (Lynch, Corry, & Koffenberger, 1999, p. 20), distance learning will grow into its own skin and no longer need to carry a “craft approach” which essentially takes traditional-classroom methods and imposes them into a web-based format (Moller, Foshay & Huett, 2008).  In contrast, distance education will be recognized on its own merits of quality learning. 

Finally, as a result of increasingly advanced technologies for collaboration, data recording, adaptive learning (ie. Knewton), and interactive simulations, instructors both in and outside the brick-and-mortar classroom will be transformed into facilitators, coaches, and guides rather than gatekeepers to knowledge.  At first this will be intimidating and threatening until these instructors discover the joy of helping learners discover how to be high-level critical thinkers and problem solvers without being bogged down with so many duties of grading, recording, and curriculum development.  Time will be spent on the things that matter such as: providing feedback, questioning, empowering learners, individual student differentiation and creative development of authentic learning experiences.  There will still be place for the classroom teacher, professor or trainer, but the difference is, they will be doing what their title implies, not rushing through a lecture to get to their research, or managing endless details of everything from behavior to photocopies.  These leaders in education will once again capture the minds of learners and their own joy as educators. 

College student at Arizona State University using the Knewton platform

References:

Corry, M., Koffenberger, W., & Lynch, W.(1999). Web-based distance education: Faculty recruitment and training. In Proceedings of 1999 (pp. 671-676). Chesapeake, VA:AACE.

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.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and Learning at      a Distance. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon