Wednesday, June 27, 2012

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.

6 comments:

  1. Online tools and distance learning as made "going back to school" a much more successful and pleasant experience for nontraditional students like myself that has to juggle a career and family while furthering my education.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Online tools and distance learning has made things easier for me too!

      Delete
  2. Communication technology has forever changed the way we relate to each other. Collaborative opportunity is more accessible, but is it quality? I was often told as a youth, and agree as an adult, that there is a difference between hearing and listening. There is an intangible asset in face to face communication where we ascertain nuance through inflection and tone. The technology cannot quite get us there yet, but will likely get there in a few years. In the meantime, will we get all we need out of the medium?

    Jeff Sparling

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really hope we are able to get all we need out of the medium.

      Delete
  3. All of us here attending this university have been working with distance education. Do you like this format or do you believe that it would be more successful if it were a hybrid model?

    ReplyDelete