Where is Distance Learning Headed?

I am new to the distance learning “scene” and heard numerous possibilities for what is available now and in the future. In a multimedia presentation “Future of Distance Education,” George Siemens gives reasons that distance education will grow:

-Increase in online communication
-Practical experience with new tools
-Growing comfort with online discourse
-Ability to communicate with diverse and global groups.

With “social networking” on the rise and the U.S. Postal Service facing changes to practices, Postal Service’s Jordan Small has said “even if the economy recovers, the trend would not reverse as Americans increasingly turn to e-mail, online shopping and online bill payments”, online activity is accessible and strongly utilized (McConnell, 2009).

The problem arises than will education take on the concerns of the negative aspects of distance education or will it allow continual growth and wait to see what future technology will be? Schmidt & Gallegos covered in their article that one of the most important issues that was spoken of “interaction with instructor” and then it was “interaction with classmates” (Schmidt & Gallegos, 2001). Gambescia & Paolucci speak in their study that they “found a surprising lack of high visibility of online degree program offerings on university official websites, opting to use either a secondary link or have readers use a search feature” (Gambescia & Paolucci, 2009). These are just a few of the concerns that have been covered in articles of distance learning.

Although I cannot say with certainty what path will be chosen, I know that my plan is to always keep the problems of socialization, instructor interaction, and finding ways to help those who believe they are not motivated enough to participate in distance learning. To accomplish this, with any career that a person chooses, I would keep current with all aspects of the instructional design community and technological advances. Showing this commitment not only provides a more profitable learning experience for the learner, but a more profitable experience for me.

References

Gambescia, S., & Paolucci, R. (2009). Academic fidelity and integrity as attributes of university online degree program offerings. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 12(1). Retrieved from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring121/gambescia121.html

McConnell, D. (July 31, 2009). U.S. Postal Service weighs service cuts. Archived at CNN’s articles at http://articles.cnn.com/2009-07-31/us/postal.cuts_1_postal-service-first-class-mail-post-offices?_s=PM:US

Schmidt, E., & Gallegos, A. (2001). Distance learning: Issues and concerns of distance learners. Journal of Industrial Technology, 17(3). Retrieved from http://atmae.org/jit/Articles/schmidt041801.pdf

Distance Learning Week 5 Assignment

With my course project choice being to help the people in the mentorship program I proposed for Christian Youth, I thought it best to look at online Bible classes. Using a basic Google search I found numerous classes to take, but decided to focus on free ones that ended in ".org" instead of the others. It was a way to limit and I have always considered a little more trustworthy.

The Online Bible course I chose was Jordan Park which is a course offered by Jordan Park Church of Christ in Huntsville, Alabama (I have never been there and have no affiliation with the church.)

Before I start my critique of the course, I would like to say "Thank you" to the church for offering a service that is helpful to many people.

It was obvious that this was not an elaborate, highly-backed project. It was simple text, simple script, and simple tools, which for a basic learner can be very important. However, I am not a basic learner, and I am definitely not one who likes to just read text, especially online. There were no graphics, no images, no animation, just text. It was appreciated that the text was different depending on the importance, but it was still just text. I could tell that they were hoping to reach an audience through the Internet, but looking at our course text "Teaching and Learning at a Distance," I get the sense of "'Dumping' a Face-to-Face Course onto the Web." I could easily see this information as a sermon or a pamphlet or a Bible Tract.

The one redeeming factor of the course was the end quizzes. It gave you fill-in-the-blank, true/false, and multiple choice (with more than one possible answer). Now I am not a fan of quizzes, but the thing that helped was the fill-in-the-blank was not from text on the site. You had to find references in the Bible and fill-in-the-blank from the verses in the Bible.

I will admit that this is not the best online course, but it has potential.

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