Distance is an interesting concept. Our understanding of the concept is one that changes based on our frame of reference. So what does that mean? Well, it means that over thr course of years or shifts in our understanding the way that we see distance can change. When paired with the term education or learning a monumental shift occured in the last twenty years with the amazing increases in computing power and the ability of the masses to access technologies. In fact though, distance learning has been around for the whole of human history and possibly before. So how is it that we have forgetten just how long distance education has been around?
I think that part of the issue is that we have a tendency to redefine old words in order to make it seem new and cutting edge. We also have a tendancy to forget that previous civilizations were also advanced and intelligent and to forget our history when that history allows for the ubiquitous adoption of ideas. Nowadays most people would not consider a pencil or a piece of paper technology. Distance education though began with the invention of writing. To be able to educate from a distance requires nothing more than being able to capture ideas and transmit them beyond the moment and location that one occupies. In this sense, distance education has been around since the beginning of history, which is simply the record of what has happened at a specific place and time. Writing is so ubiquitous that many people have convinced themselves that it has always existed.
Now, over the past two hundred years there has been a variety of more organized approaches to distance learning. From written correspondance courses to the invention of broadcasting mediums to televised classes to online interactive courses, new delivery mediums have opened up new learning opportunities and expanded the audiences for distance learning. So with a multitude of potential definitions and applications, what does the term distance learning mean to me?
Before starting my current course, distance learning was a field of study for my father at Nova Southeastern University. We often discussed the idea that distance education was simply education removed from the confines of a traditional schoolhouse and traditional schedule. As I was getting my teaching credential I took classes from Brigham Young University and Lousiana State University through correspondance based distance learning classes. Then, I earned my MS Ed. through Walden University with interactive web based classes. After learning a fair amount in that program I began to design my own distance learning experiences as I began planning blended classes for my high school students. I have also read a fair amount and engaged in video conferencing and podcasting as well as subscribing to some amazing physics lectures from Berkeley's Physics for Future Presidents vodcasts (an amazing intro to physics that was presented by an amazing lecturer, Professor Muller).
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| Mindmap on distance learning |
So distance learning for me is any educational experience that allows one to learn at a time or location different from one's instructor and/or peers. Because my experience with distance learning has been manyfold, my definition for distance learning has not changed. The definition that I have always held incorporates many of the ideas presented by Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, and Zvacek (2009). There have been shifts in the way that different instructional design elements have begun to be incorporated so that the instructional designer has more responsibility than in previous iterations of the field (Moller, Foshay, & Huett, 2008). This leads me to believe that instructional design is becoming a more fluid field with one person taking on more responsibility than in the past. What makes this possible is technology.
That leads into thoughts about where instructional design is headed. According to the Horizon Report (New Media Consortium, 2011) mobile devices and gaming are going to be huge technologies for society in the coming years. I believe that these technologies will have an enormous impact on the field of instructional design and distance learning. When even supreme court justices are on the forefront of using games for learning (Friedman, 2011), you just know it is going to make a huge impact on the field. Mobile learning is going to be just as big with mobile devices allowing for anywhere anytime access to information but also allowing them to interact with apps and allowing the learner to literally augment the world they see with additional information on the go. Both of these will change the way that instruction is deigned, produced, and consumed by the masses. With the price of powerful mobile devices going down and the power and access going up this is where the majority of distance learning opportunities will be in the next ten years in my opinion.
We are finally living in an age when an individual will have the freedom and access to find information that will make every moment a learning opportunity.
References:
Friedman, Danielle. (2011). "O’Connor’s Video Game Revolution." Newsweek . Newsweek, n.d. Web. 3 July 2011. <www.newsweek.com/2011/07/02/sandra-day-o-connor-on-her-american-civics-video-game.html>.
Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 1: Training and development). TechTrends, 52(3), 70–75.
The New Media Consortium. (2011). The Horizon Report. Retrieved July 03, 2011 from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/HR2011.pdf
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.)
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