Wednesday, December 30, 2009

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 21st 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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2 comments:

  1. LonetreeJanuary 1, 2010 at 10:21 AM

    Kiana,

    Communication is the key to a good distance learning but as Palloff and Pratt state, trust must first be established. We need to be open and supportive to build trust.(2005) Without trust, no one talks?
    Also, Seimens(2008) states that we need a diverse knowledge bank or resources to learn. I can't imagine going to school with clones of my relatives!

    Wait, I did go to school with a lot of my relatives. Lucky, I moved away. You just never realize how few brain cells it takes to keep a body moving. Thank God, the holidays are over.

    Marcia

    Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online: Learning together in community. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Siemens, G. (2008). Learning communities. Vodocast. Laureate Education, Inc.

    ReplyDelete
  2. LonetreeJanuary 5, 2010 at 7:10 PM

    Kiana,

    How are you doing on the story book? I am waiting on someone to bring over their laptop so that I can do the video. He came back and has the flu!

    Marcia

    ReplyDelete

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