Distance education is intimately related to interactions (Aderson, 2008). For Anderson (2008) these interactions are between the components of the educational experiences, which are the teacher, learners, content, context and external environments. In addition we need to consider the fact that face-to-face education cannot be transported to an online environment without adjusting many aspects of it to the new learning experience. For Simonson (2008) what distance education must achieve is equivalence with the face-to-face learning expectation.
In order to achieve this Simonson equivalence we need to considerer the value and importance of creating learning communities that effectively support its member’s interactions. Current technologies available through Web 2.0 networks present a huge variety of options to achieve these fundamental necessities in distance education. Learning platforms for content sharing and interactions such as Moodle, multimedia web hosts such as Youtube or communication software such as Skype are just a few of these resources.
References:
Anderson, T. (Ed.). (2008). The theory and practice of online learning (2nd ed.). Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press.
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zuvacek, S. (2008). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed., chapters 1 and 2).
Thursday, December 17, 2009
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I agree that distance education should evolve to the next level. I also agree that distance education and face-to-face learning should be equal in that they are appropriately designed and meet the needs of its learners. I see distance education as being an expansion of face-to-face, which has moved to the next level. The continual technological advancements will enable distance education to provide a better form of interaction between all involved.
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I truly like how Anderson included factors other than the teacher and learner as components to the educational experience. Often times it seems that people forget about the interconnectivity of the content, context, and environment. These components are very critical to the overall learning outcome, especially for distance education. I agree that distance education and face-to-face education is not identical, but they both are valuable. Just as online instructors must utililze multiple technologies to reach the different types of learners within the classroom, face-to-face instructors are able to capture another set of learners and/or lifestyles. Therefore, both environments continue to be an asset to the field of education. Regardless of the preferred environment, evolution is needed and learning communities enhance the learners' development.
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