Distance learning allows people to engage in learning, either individually or with a community of learners, outside of the traditional classroom setting regardless of geographic location. Because distance learning allows for both synchronous and asynchronous interactions, it provides learners with a great deal of flexibility. My personal definition of distance learning, prior to reading this week’s resources, was online learning that allows students the freedom and flexibility to access course materials and earn course credits. After reading this week’s resources, I can see that distance learning has evolved over centuries and continues to do so.
Although prior to reading this week’s resources I had considered the “distance” in “distance education” to refer to distance geographically or in terms of time, I had not considered that distance can also refer to “possibly even intellectual distance” (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright and Zvacek, 2012, p.9). In addition, I had not considered distance education as a disruptive technology, which can “come to dominate an existing market by either filling a role in a new market that the older technology could not fill or by successively moving up-market through performance improvements until finally displacing the market incumbents” (Simonson, 2010, p.74). I can certainly see where this is the case.
Distance learning has leveled the playing field and opened up opportunities for all types of learners. Online degree programs have made it possible for older learners, those with family and professional obligations, to pursue post-secondary and higher education when the demands of daily life would make it difficult, if not impossible, to pursue traditional education. Virtual schools have also provided an alternative to traditional schooling for K-12 students as well. These are students who may choose online learning because illness may keep them from attending school full time, or because they are also pursuing athletic or artistic careers, or simply because they prefer the freedom and flexibility that online courses provide in comparison to traditional brick and mortar schools. In addition, distance learning also allows people in remote rural areas or those across the globe to access education and the opportunities that education provide.
As advances in information and communications technology continue to be made, distance education will continue to grow. Results from a Sloan Consortium survey shows “that over 90% of public universities offer online courses… and about 85% of public universities consider online education critical to their long-term academic strategies…” (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright and Zvacek, 2012, p.16). In addition, as digital natives, those who have been immersed in technology throughout their lives, continue to pursue schooling, they will likely seek out educational products that fit their lives and needs. As Dede (2005), posits, “increasingly, people want educational products and services tailored to their individual needs rather than one-size-fits-all courses of fixed length, content and pedagogy (p.8). All of these factors will continue to push distance learning into the mainstream and contribute to its evolution.
References:
Dede, C. (2005). Planning for neomillennial learning styles. Educause Quarterly, 28(1), 7–12.
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a
distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.
