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The Exponential Growth of Distance Education (Module 1 of Principles of Distance Education)

In the program, "Distance Education: The Next Generation," Simonson (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008) defines distance education as formal education where the teacher, students, and resources are separated by time and/or geography, and technology is used to connect them.  With its exponential growth, he proposes that distance education will eventually be the norm in most educational settings.  In fact, he urges that the current challenge is to figure out how to adjust to such dramatic changes.

Moller, Huett, Foshay, and Coleman (2008) in my opinion pick up the conversation about distance learning where Simonson leaves off and delve a little deeper into the core issues surrounding this phenomenon.  In their three part article, "The Evolution of Distance Education: Implications for Instructional Design on the Potential of the Web, they explore the implications of distance education on all three sectors - corporate training, higher education, and K-12 education.

Distance learning is more common in both corporation and higher education than in the K-12 educational setting.  However, this sector is gaining more popularity at the high school level.   For Moller, Huett, Foshay, and Coleman, the rise of distance education in all three sectors require a better method in evaluating the effectiveness of these programs.  In the corporate arena, this poses a more difficult challenge where distance education for professional development trainings are used primarily to cut costs while also developing essential skills to increase work performance and productivity.  A negative attitude towards e-learning has evolved and many have questioned the quality of such programs.  Hence, the authors argue for the need of new learning models to address the transformative skills of creative thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity which are pertinent to survival in the 21st century.



References:

 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.

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

 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. 



Comments

  1. RobinDecember 13, 2013 at 9:45 AM

    Great post and very informative! I feel the negative response of others around me to distance education becoming less and less as the years go by. Where once I was told that I am not receiving a proper education by earning my degree in an online environment, I am now hearing just the opposite. I do like those that say that earning a degree online is easier than face to face. I would challenge them to try a few classes and then say this.

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  2. UnknownDecember 15, 2013 at 6:52 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. UnknownDecember 15, 2013 at 6:54 PM

    Brent. Do you think a lot has happened in all three arenas with respect to e-learning, since these articles were published (2008)?

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownDecember 15, 2013 at 9:14 PM

    With the mandates placed on public school students and the cost of private schools are causing the number of students that are participating in online high schools to rise at a rate that could not have been expected. In 2009, there were about 2 million students enrolled in some form of online high school with that number estimated to be at over 10.5 million by the start of school in 2014 (Nagel, 2009). I feel that if K-12 does not change the traditional classroom format, the trend will continue to were the numbers may become more equivalent.

    Reference
    http://thejournal.com/articles/2009/10/28/10.5-million-prek-12-students-will-attend-classes-online-by-2014.aspx

    ReplyDelete

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