Distance Education: A Reflection
An
important lesson that history has taught us is: learn from it. The past of
distance education shows that many people have looked down upon it with disdain
for various reasons. In the 1970s a British Conservative Minister of Parliament
called the Open University "blithering
nonsense” (Open University, n.d). Margaret Thatcher herself initially asked the
founders how they could justify “spending
so much money in order to satisfy the hobbies of housewives” (Open University,
n.d). Illinois Wesleyan’s correspondence course offered bachelor’s, master’s
and doctoral degrees but “concerns about the quality of the program prompted a
recommendation that it be terminated by 1906” (Simonson et al, 2012, p.38).
This stigma that distance education is for non-committed procrastinators and
that it is a less than a rigorous option, compared to a traditional education,
is something that needs to be addressed and changed. Although Siemen’s (n,d)
states that distance education “is really growing acceptance in
society as a whole”, there is still a long way to go.
The
Current State of Distance Learning
There are five trends
that impact instructional design:
1) Quality
2) Needs
assessment, ROI and measurement of outcomes
3) The influence
and fusion of training, performance support, and knowledge management
4) The need for
better instructional systems design (ISD) Methodologies
5) The revision
of learning models.
These five factors are
very important as they “will affect dramatically the evolution of ID as a field
– and the effect may be a more be transformative one” (Moller et al, 2008,
p.71). Each one of these is important
and could be discussed at length; I will discuss the ones that are a priority.
Quality
One
of the most important aspects of making distance education as a more acceptable
form of education is to ensure that the quality of the education and training
is carefully monitored. Many skeptics of distance education often use the low
quality and questionable rigor as their reason for their perception of distance
education. In distance education the curriculum must be as rigorous as a
traditional education and “have the same learning outcomes and equivalent
experiences” so that learning is just as effective (Simonson, 2012) When
education and training is produced that does not take this into account, the
result is low quality education and training and a distrust of distance education;
“poor quality hurts everyone in e-learning” (Moller et al, 2008, p.74). For instructional designers to create
effective learning they must have a good understanding of the different distant
learning theories and how each one can impact the course creation and the
learners. To select the appropriate theory, the designer must know the goal of
the course and understand the needs of the learner. For example an
instructional designer creating 10th grade blended learning English
class and an online graduate English class will use very different theories to
create each one as the needs of the learners will be very different. Moreover, the
learners should always be aware of what theories were used to create their
training or education so that “they can recognize the relative value of one
school of learning theory over another” which accustoms them to being able to
“discriminate between well designed and poorly designed e-learning” (Moller et
al, 2008, p.71).
The
Revision of Learning Models
Distance
education “allows for learning strategies that may not be possible in a
classroom or other traditional environments” (Moller et al, 2008, p.74). In the
past, distance learning has been seen as a “delivery medium” (Moller et al,
2012, 2008, p.74) with very often technology being used to “deliver” the
instruction. With the advent of new technologies and methods of communication,
instructional designers need to ensure that distance education changes “from
its current status as a delivery medium to a learning model” (Moller et al,
2012, p. 2008). Merely dumping face to face content onto the web will not
achieve this vision (Moller et al, 2008). The instructional designer needs to
first reexamine the “learning process” and then needs to reexamine “what
constitutes instruction” (Moller et al, 2008, p.74). In the traditional model
of learning, learners are “able only to interact with the content and/ or the
instructor, but not each other” (Moller et al, 2008, p.74). Critics may say
that people have been learning in this manner for thousands of years and the
method has produced some of history’s most prominent figures; why is there a
need for a change? The answer is the advent of technology.
“He who rejects change is the architect of decay.
The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.” – Harold
Wilson
The
advent of technology, and in recent years the giant strides human kind has made
in terms of communication, has made the “world flat” (Friedman, n.d).
Technology has been the biggest contributor to globalization and due to this we
are now able to communicate and contact people around the world instantly. It is this form of two way communication that
is transforming distance education from a “delivery medium to a learning model”
(Moller et al, 2008, p.74).While distance education still makes use of
traditional learning theories such as Behaviorism, Cognitivism and
Constructivism, it has created theories that are unique to this field. Distance
learning theories such as Wedemeyer, Moore, Peters, Holmberg, Perraton,
Simonson, Keegan and Peters’ all provide sound ways of creating distance
learning. Each one provides its unique perspective on the important factors in
distance learning. Each one, however, places importance on communication;
“significant learning often occurs as the result of learner to learner
communication. Logically meaningful learning is more likely to occur when
learners have access to a supportive community that encourages knowledge building
and social reinforcement (Moller, 1998)” (Moller et al, 2008, p.74). It is on
this basis that instructional designers need to create instruction. According
to Siemens (n.d) society has started to accept distance learning due to more
and more people communicating online. He predicts a triple helix model of
education where universities, Government and businesses interact to provide and
equip students for online learning (Siemens, 2012). He sees an increased global
contribution, use of multimedia games and simulations in the learning
environment; every one of these will allow learners to interact with the each
other and the content. This new type of learning model has its tenets in
Connectivism. While many dispute whether
it can be called a theory, it certainly provides a framework that supports the
development of distance education. The
principles of Connectivism include:
- Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions. Instructional designers need to ensure that learners are engaging in dialog and are able to see knowledge from multiple perspectives.
- Learning
is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.
Instructional designers can help learners create blogs and wikis that
learners consult and learn from.
- Learning
may reside in non-human appliances. Instructional designers can create
multimedia programs that employ this principle, where students are able to
control the pace of their learning.
- Capacity
to know more is more critical than what is currently known
- Nurturing
and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
- Ability
to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.
- Currency
(accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist
learning activities.
- Decision-making
is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of
incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While
there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations
in the information climate affecting the decision.
(Siemens, n.d)
As technology develops
so should the learning models. In this way the instructional designers can
ensure that the training and education is effective and meets the needs of the
learner.
The Role of Technology
The best tool that instructional designers have is
technology. Technology allows instructional to go beyond the confinements of a
brick and mortar classroom; it allows people in different countries to connect
and learn from each other; it allows learner independence and independent study
systems (Wedemeyer ,1981 as cited
by Simonson et al, 2012, p.44). Distance
learning should:
1)
Be capable of operation anyplace
2)
Place greater responsibility of learning
on the student
3)
Offer students and adults wider choices
(more opportunities) in course, formats, and methodologies
4)
Preserve and enhance opportunities for
adaptation to individual differences
5)
Permit students to start, stop, and
learn at their own pace
6)
The normal process of teaching and
learning are carried out in writing or through some other medium
7)
Teaching is individualized
8)
Learning takes place through the
student’s activity
9)
The learner takes responsibility for the
pace of his or her own progress
(Wedemeyer ,1981 as cited by Simonson et al,
2012, p.44)
Technology
plays a very important role and so the instructional designer must consider how
technology will be used in making learning more successful. Wedemeyer (1981)
suggests the instructional designer should “mix media and methods so that each subject or unit within a
subject is taught in the best way known” (Wedemeyer as cited by Simonson et al,
2012, p.44).
The
Instructional Designer as an agent of Social Change
“I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what
no person should witness. Gas chambers built by learned engineers. Children
poisoned by educated physicians. Infants killed by trained nurses. Women and
babies shot and burned by high school and college graduates. So I am suspicious
of education.
My request is: help your students become more human. Your
efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, or educated
Eichmanns. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are important only if they serve to
make our children more human” (Ginott, as cited by Coloroso, 2007)
This week I attended a conference on bullying at Houston’s
Holocaust museum and found it to be a humbling experience. As instructional
designer’s what we create in terms of education and training will influence
many people and so to a large extent we are responsible for the type of people
we create from them. We have an ethical responsibility to ensure that our
created courses are not misused to cause harm to humanity in anyway. Ibstpi,
(n,d) in its codes of ethics for instructional designers, states three very
important standards under ‘Responsibility to society:’
[instructional designer’s should]
- Support humane, socially
responsible goals and projects for the organization.
- Ensure that training products
and procedures reflect moral and ethical positions on societal issues.
- Consider the consequences of
proposed solutions upon individuals, organizations, and the society as a
whole.
One of the most important goals of any instructional designer’s
project should be finding ways to ensure that the learners do not become
victims or perpetrators of cyber bullying or terrorism. With new technology
come new problems and new responsibilities and this falls within the
jurisdiction of both the instructional designer and facilitator. The designer
should ensure that an opportunity to misuse technology and learning does not
arise, and if it does the facilitator is trained in identifying it and also
knows the protocols for dealing with it. There are many misconceptions about cyber
bullying including that it only happens with young children. This is a myth, as
cyber bullying happens to adults and can affect all aspects of life (Itson,
n.d). The statistics for cyber bullying are alarming and not to be taken
lightly. One of the important tasks of the instructional designer is to ensure
that the learners become good digital citizens (Common Sense, n.d) that they
learn how to behave in an online environment and how to stay safe.
Coloroso (2007) in her book “Extraordinary Evil: a short walk to
Genocide’ states how bullying, can lead to hate crimes and then genocide. Her
point is that journey between these is very short. As instructional designers,
it is our duty to ensure that the learners that pass through our education
system and training courses do not learn skills that can in anyway hurt
humanity. In our effort to create effective learning we must not forget the
goal of education which to create better human beings, to create productive
citizens of our countries, of global economies and ultimately of humanity.
The Future of Distance Education
Since technology is constantly
improving and the field of instructional design is gaining interests from
businesses and educational institution, learning is going to be more
distributed than ever (Siemens, 2012). There will more global interactions and
it will not be unusual for businesses to have offices around the world and
educational institutions to have campuses in different countries (Siemens,
2012). Distance learning will be used to address global issues and diverse
teams will look for solutions through this format. In K-12 there will also be an increase; it is
predicted “by 2019, 50 percent of all high school courses will be delivered
online” (Horn & Staker, n.d). In order to meet the demands of these quick
changes, businesses and educational institutions will have to ensure that
instructional designer are employed (Moller et al, 2008) to ensure that the
learning that is created is based in distance learning theory and utilizes
technology to its full potential.
A Personal Reflection
I have come to appreciate the role a
good instructional designer can have in creating effective learning. I have
developed an understanding of the skills an instructional designer requires to
meet the needs of the learner. I have practiced creating an orientation course
and have gained insight into the research process that governs every decision.
I hope to use this knowledge to improve my role in the classroom as a teacher
and future make changes to methods used in our district.
References
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B. (2007). Extraordinary evil: a short walk to genocide. New York:
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