Elements of Distance Education Diffusion

According to George Siemens (2009), distance education has evolved because the learner is now much more comfortable with communicating in an online environment. If the learner is comfortable, then he/she will naturally take to learning online. In order to attract this new type of learner, we can gear distance education to the people who naturally take to the online environment. The younger the learner, the more natural this environment is. If educators use distance learning from early on, by the time the learner gets to higher education he/she will be able to problem solve, work collaboratively, and create new knowledge using technology. Tools like skype video conferencing, chat rooms, email, social networking, and games/simulations are available to facilitate online learning.

Another advantage of distance education is that it allows diverse groups of people who may have never had the opportunity to interact to be able to work together in education and in the corporate world. In a F@F setting, if educators get together to problem solve, if they all come from similar situations, their viewpoints will be similar. With distance education, educators form cities, suburbs, public, and private institutions can work together to get a big picture of what changes are needed to educate the youth of today, and what is needed for 21^st century learning.

Most youngsters today are natural video gamers. The simulations and problem solving needed to play many of these games present teaching opportunities. If teachers could tap into this, students could apply knowledge to real life situations, instead of everything being on paper, and the student not being able to see the meaning or practicality.

Reference

Siemens, G. “The Future of Distance Education.” Walden University. 2009. Laureate Education, Inc.

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Evolution of Distance Education

I agree with the authors' point of view that distance education needs to evolved to the next level. In the video Simonson says that distance education is nearing the point of critical mass, where it no longer needs much promotion, but needs nurturing. In K-12 education, distance education is evolving in the forms of virtual or cyber schools, online credit recovery, and for use in areas of teacher shortage. In my experience in a large, urban school district online education is just beginning to be used as credit recovery in a limited amount of schools. Students in my district also have the option of cyber school if they do not succeed in a traditional school.

I agree with the article in that online education, especially in the K-12 setting needs to be developed so that it can be used effectively, and not become a "dumping ground" for credit recovery. From my personal observations, the cyber schools have not been effective for my students. They never complete the program and end up either dropping out or coming back to a traditional school. In contrast, my friend's daughter graduated from a nearby suburban high school where she took an online course in driver's education (the written part, of course). I think this is a great way to use online learning, as electives that may be too costly to run in a regular setting. I think we can with proper training and planning develop effective online learning in K-12 settings but these programs should not be implemented haphazardly.

Moller, L., Foshay, W. & Coleman, C., Huett, J.(September/October, 2008). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 3:K12). TechTrends, 52 (5), 63-67.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). Distance Education: The Next Generation featuring Dr. Michael Simonson. Principles of Distance Education. Baltimore: Author.

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