Reflection: The Future of Distance Education

The digital age has spurred a change in the domains of learning and teaching. Many colleges, universities, and other institutions are rapidly adopting distance learning (DL). DL provides an amazingly interactive learning platform that makes it possible for individuals like me to access and pursue our education on our own terms wherever and whenever it is convenient to do so, while balancing the equation of their professional, intellectual, and family life. However, the perceptions of distance learning vary from individual to individual, but society will experience positive perceptions of distance learning in the next five to ten twenty years.

The rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICT) and the nature of the world reacting in the global market, characterize the future of online learning. The changing conditions of the society and learning technologies influence greatly the quality of distance learning. Siemens (2008) discovered there is a growing shift toward the triple helix (universities, governments, and business) model of education that forms a strand of interaction to equip students for an online environment. Statistics illustrate the effectiveness and growth of distance learning: 69% of academic leaders believe that student demand for online learning is still growing (Allen and Seaman, 2007). The physics of DL is becoming like long distance travel across galaxies accomplished as if a stone is skipping across water and forming intersecting circumscribed waves. The stone does not go through the universe but rather skip around it. The space skipped represents the protagonists of DL, who, as time goes by, in the next five to ten years, those protagonists would see themselves swallowed into the circumscribed waves (the majority of proponents of DL), just like in democratically decision making arena. DL is growing exponentially (Simonson et al., 2009). In the next ten to twenty years, mobile learning (ML) would characterize DL, if governments, policy makers, universities, and other institutions chose to evolve. Most 21st Century individuals use mobile and pocket devices such as personal digital assistants (PDA), mobile phones, and portable computers for teaching/learning. I am able to access my Walden portal on my phone (Epic 4G) anytime and anywhere, thanks to the new and emerging technologies.

Individuals’ cultural myth (DL is valueless) is at variance with their basic instinct (freedom of choice of learning skill DL offers). Their cultural myths inform their ethics, and their ethics create their behaviors (negative perceptions of DL). As an instructional designer, I will use the available innovative technology and communication technology tools, following the ADDIE model with ARCS motivation model (Keller, 1987), to design a DL environment using appropriate course management (CMS) and course learning systems (CLS). Since DL is no longer face-to-face (F2F) classroom instruction, I will team-up with Software developers and subject matter experts (SMEs) to embed in the CMS tools to address learner’s readiness. These tools will prepare and develop learners’ confidence in using electronic communication for learning and, in particular, develop their competence and confidence in the use of Internet and computer-mediated communication, and enhance their ability to engage in autonomous learning (Hung, Chou, and Chen, 2010). I will incorporate in the design multimedia, which will comprise text, simulators, sound, streaming videos with interactive Flash-based activities, with sound instructional strategies to enhance learning. I will devote my time on research and application, to advocate for distance education,refuting any negative arguments on DL with similar arguments in F2F environment.

To be a positive force for continuous improvement in the field of distance education, I need to educate the society to recognize and acknowledge what works and does not. Many institutions realize that face-to-face (F2F) education needs a shape up; it does not serve the digital society any longer, and that explains the exponential growth of distance education. I will make the society aware of the benefits of distance education, through intensive mixed (qualitative and quantitative) research method. Distance education provides the learner with benefits such as flexibility and convenience. Moreover, during learning time, learners would set their own curriculum, choosing which skills they would like to acquire, in distance education environment, while F2F environment imposes what learners have to learn. I will strive to encourage, through publications, the intentional communities to interact with mutual agreements as co-equals, with awareness, honesty, responsibility, dutiful, professional, and in ethical manner. They will observe what serve them as a value creation people, and adopt such behavior to encourage others to follow. As a product of distance education, I will endeavor to implement effectively and efficiently what I learn in DL environment, to be a model to the society.

It should be clear to everyone that traditional schools are failing to provide lifelong learning opportunities to learners (Moller, Foshay, and Huett, 2008). Even the developing countries that lack the technological and financial resources sense the need for distance learning (Simonson et al., 2009). The real future of distance education lies on the institutions’ ability to analyze the global market systems where the competitions lie to detect what works and what does not, the nations’ visions and the policy makers’ wisdom to release the appropriate and suitable technology that fuels effective and efficient education. Many factors will play an important role in the survival of the distance education. Such factors include, but they are not limited to the nation’s political aspirations in interacting in the global market, the ability of institutions to communicate effectively the benefits of distance education, the vision, and emancipation of institutionalized culture to respond to the needs and demands of the society. The understanding and application of the innovative and emerging technologies, the effective and efficient use of these vehicles for the highest common goal play an important role in sustaining the effectiveness, growth, and the survival of distance learning.

References

Allen, I.E. & Seaman, J. (2007). Online nation: Five years of growth in online learning. Retrieved from http://sloanconsortium.org/publications/survey/pdf/online_nation.pdf.

Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Coleman, C. (2008). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 3: K12). TechTrends, (52)5, 63-67.

Hung, M.L., Chou, C., & Chen, C. H. (2010). Learner readiness for online learning: Scale development and student perceptions. Computers & Education, (55)3, 1080-1090.

Keller, J. M. (1987). Development and use of the ARCS model of motivational design. Journal of Instructional Development, (10)3, 2-10.

Siemens, G. (2008). Learning and Knowing in Networks: Changing roles for Educators and Designers. Retrieved on 2/23/11 from http://www.tskills.it/userfiles/Siemens.pdf.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.