Perceptions of Distance Education

Distance education is the wave of the future, yet the current perception by many people is that it is not as valuable as education conducted in an actual university classroom. The responses I received from interviewing three other people about distance education was that it is good enough, but that classroom education is more effective. Two out of three of them had received an online master’s degree and still felt that it wasn’t as effective. Despite their attitudes, it is my belief that as more programs are offered in an online format, and as more universities begin to adopt these programs, this perception will improve. “If we look at past patterns in educational technology, we can expect exponential growth of distance education to continue” (Simonson, 2010). Because the technology is becoming more readily available and programs are becoming better, it seems as though the sky’s the limit when it comes to online learning.

In 5-10 years, we will see more and more universities adopting an online version of their programs. “The growing prominence of networked technologies for formal and informal learning suggests substantial pressures for education institutions to adapt their models to better suit the interests and digital literacy skills of a growing percentage of the learner population” (Siemens, 2008). As more non-traditional students enter the workforce, they will demand programs, which allow them to work around the demands of family and life in general. Online programs allow students to work when they have time without requiring them to show up to a traditional class. Also, more hybrid models will be adopted for programs that require hands-on training, such as nursing or speech therapy. More people will begin to perceive these models as valuable, but there will probably still be some prejudice towards them.

There should be a large shift in the perceptions of distance education in 10-20 years. It takes time for any new way of doing things to be accepted, and there will still be some people that will never accept distance learning, but the majority will acknowledge that it is valuable and most universities will have an online component of some sort. The true test will be in the acceptance of online education for K-12 students. In his video on higher education and K-12 distance education, Dr. Simonson states that higher education will start to adopt distance education but will not abandon traditional classrooms. He believes that a hybrid model will be used instead. Many high schools are already using online education for independent study, and many charter schools have adopted a hybrid model that gives the students some classroom time. Future classrooms will expand that even future and will incorporate the use of this into classrooms. This will allow individual teachers to spend more time with groups of students and will allow them to each work at their own ability level. The reason I feel that this will take 10-20 years is because of a lack of technology and money in many schools and because of the difficulty it takes to make large changes in public education.

As an instructional designer, it will be my job to change societal perceptions of distance education. One way I can do this is by designing quality online programs and incorporating them in a way that shows their value. I would start by creating an independent study program for the school district in which I teach. Our district loses many students to charter schools because we don’t have enough teachers to teach independent study. It is an hourly stipend position, and each teacher services 1-3 students. The creation of an online program would allow one teacher to service 30 students instead and would retain the students in our district. “Distance education is becoming a good way to acquire knowledge separate from the traditional method of attending the classroom” (Schmidt, 2001). Showing the district administrators that distance education is an excellent alternative to independent study would improve our enrollment and would help to change perceptions of the value of this type of learning.

In order to be a positive force for distance education, I must take every opportunity that I can to incorporate it into the learning of my students and my fellow teachers. I will sing its praises and present convincing evidence of its merits to any critics. George Siemens states, “Growing acceptance of distance education is fueled by the increase in online communication, practical experience with new tools, growing comfort with online discourse, and the ability to communicate with diverse and global groups” (Siemens, 2010). By designing courses in my district and giving people the opportunity to participate in this new technology, I will become a positive force. It only takes one person to make a difference, and as an instructional designer, I have been given the opportunity to do just that.

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

Siemens, G. (2010): The future of distance education [Video]. Laureate Education, Inc.

Siemens, G. (2008). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for educators
and designers. ITForum. Retrieved from
http://it.coe.uga.edu/itforum/Paper105/Siemens.pdf

Simonson, M. (2010): Distance Education [Video]. Laureate Education, Inc.

Simonson, M. (2010): Distance Education: Higher Education, K–12, and the Corporate
World [Video]. Laureate Education, Inc.