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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