Elements of Distance Education Diffusion

George Siemens discussed the growing acceptance of distance education in today’s corporate and educational spheres, including three possible elements of distance education that are creating more effective learning experiences and giving distance education an identity of its own distinct from F2F courses: (a) global diversity, (b) communication, and (c) collaborative interaction.

Do you agree or disagree with his view?

I agree with Siemens, and I love the elements of collaboration interaction/communication.  I have witness that these two components that are compatible and willing to get a great deal out of distance learning today.

How has this element evolved?

            George Siemens stated, “we often recognize that notion of distance isn’t as significant factor as we might have thought it was five years ago” (Laureate, Inc., 2008). Distance education is growing rapidly. More people are starting to realize that there are many ways to communicate.  Siemens creation of the Triple Helix model helped to bridge the gap of comfort so that learners are comfortable they will quickly find distance learning collaboration best way to communicate. Siemens (2008) states, “technology is always growing in quality and the results will show an increase in distance collaboration”.

What online tools are available today to facilitate these interactions among learners?

There are many online tools that are available today that will facilitate these interaction among learners.  Some of the online tools are iPhones, iPod’s, cellular phones, wiki, twitter, Facebook, and you tube.  

Reference:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). The future of distance education featuring Dr. Michael Simonson. United States: Walden University.

Distance Education

Distance education has provided diverse elements and dimensions. According to Dr. Simonson, there have been significant growths in distance education. Dr. Simonson also expresses that even with high growth rates he believes that distance education will not replace the traditional schools (Laureate, 2008).  I totally agree with this statement because distance learning is not for every learner. Some learner’s need more hands on and not visual accommodations.  Distance education will not be successful for students that need to interact with other students. 

Moller, Foshay, and Huett (2008) focus on training development, and higher education. Comparison to Simonson (2008) who defines distance education as the way education should accommodate in learning groups (teachers, students, and resources) are separated by geography and sometimes by time.  Simonson also discuss and believe in the Equivalency Theory. This theory states that distance education is not identical to face to face education; it is equivalent (Laureate, 2008). There can be some advantages to face-to-face education and distance education. These two objectives can be different ways of achieving the same learning outcome.  

Moller, Foshaym and Huett (2008) distance educational courses and the accreditation should be lead by an instructional design faculty. The faculty members should be someone interacting in the consultation and design of the course. The fear is “the train is leaving the station, but it’s not clear that instructional design, as a field, will be on board” (Moller, Foshay, & Huett, 2008). While Simonson (2000) denotes that the Equivalency Theory is the framework that distinguishes the difference between distance education and face-to-face traditional education. Simonson also states that the Equivalency Theory and face-to-face traditional education should have the same learning outcomes and provide equivalent learning experiences to meet those outcomes.

            After reading the articles and reviewing the webcast/video, I favor the Equivalency Theory. Although, all authors stated that distance education will become incorporated into most learning environments, Simonson’s theory appears to be the more compatible with the educational pedagogies. Thus, distance education and its dimensions will become essential to the 21^st century reform of K-12 education.

Reference

Moller, L., Forshay, W. R., & Huett, J. (2008). The Evolution of Distance Education: Implications for Instructional Design on the Potential of the Web. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning, 52(3), 70-75. doi:10.1007/s11528-008-0158-5

Moller, L., Foshay, W. R., & Huett, J. (2008). The Evolution of Distance Education: Implications for Instructional Design on the Potential of the Web. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning, 52(4), 66-70. doi:10.1007/s11528-008-0179-0

Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W. R., & Coleman, C. (2008). The Evolution of Distance Education: Implications for Instructional Design on the Potential of the Web. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning, 52(5), 63-67. doi:10.1007/s11528-008-0199-9

Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). Distance Education: The Next Generation. Principles of Distance Education. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). Equivalency Theory. Principles of Distance Education. Baltimore, MD: Author.