According to the two articles by Moller, Foshay, and Huett (2008a, 2008b), and the one with Coleman (2008) in addition, distance education has two significant issues: the lack of a theoretical base and the lack of trained professionals in the field. Moller, Foshay, and Huett (2008a) note the new prevalence of distance education stemming from a variety of factors, including cost-effectiveness and need. Though its inclusion in corporate training has become ubiquitous, distance education is poorly designed and often lacks evaluation (2008a). Moller, Foshay, and Huett (2008b) note the same issues at the university level. University professors are asked to create online courses, but lack a theoretical understanding of education in the digital environment. Huett, Moller, Foshay, and Coleman (2008) indicate the same issues appear in K-12 education, though, additional problems are also identified. The authors also discuss additional issues related to the student, including isolation and developmental factors (2008). Huett, Moller, Foshay, and Coleman (2008) also note the lack of substantive research on the effectiveness of online education for K-12 students, and the trend to apply research conducted at the university level to the specialized population of K-12 students. Though distance education is becoming more and more prevalent, there are fundamental differences between distance and face-to-face education; according to Simonson (n.d.) and equivalency theory, these differences inherent to the environment and should exist. Courses need to be designed to take advantage of the online environment, while valuing the inherent differences between it and face-to-face education.
I completely agree with the assessment that distance education needs to evolve to meet the needs of learner participants. With its recent growth, many more students are participating in distance education programs. These online programs must meet the needs of learners, as opposed to being merely cost-effective, or filling a need for the illusion of training/education. Though online education can be approached via traditional theoretical models of education, a new model, which both recognizes the inherent differences between distance education and face-to-face education, and takes advantage of the benefits of online education, would provide a better foundation for designers of online courses. A firm understanding of effective online education is also critical. Educator training programs focusing on developing effective online courses are necessary for the medium, else we will continue to upload our resources for face-to-face courses in hopes they marginally meet the diverse needs of online learners.
References:
Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W. & Coleman, C. (2008, September/October). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 3: K12). TechTrends, 52(5), 63–67. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (n.d.). Equivalency theory [Video program]. Available from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=6200912&Survey=1&47=4786670&ClientNodeID=984645&coursenav=1&bhcp=1
Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008a). 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. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.
Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008b). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 2: Higher Education). TechTrends, 52(4), 66–70. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.
Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W. & Coleman, C. (2008, September/October). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 3: K12). TechTrends, 52(5), 63–67. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.
Apologies to my group members for my late post. I read the assignment regarding the paper due this week, but did not notice the blog post assignment until yesterday. This is one of the disadvantages of the module format; it is easy to miss an assignment as the module format lacks the same structure of the weekly model.
ReplyDeleteMarvin,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement about effective online training is essential in order for educators to successfully integrate technoogy into distance learning. Why do you think teachers are hestiate about integrating technology devices into classroom curriculums? Do you think teachers need incentives, such as salary increases, to encourage them to attend necessary trainings? Shannon
@Shannon
ReplyDeleteMy belief is that the hurdle for technology adoption is teacher self-efficacy. Because teachers do not feel comfortable with the technology, it is more difficult to adopt. Many of us (teachers) have not experienced learning in digital environments, which makes implementation difficult; we simply do not know what it looks like and how it works.
Money as an incentive is not the answer; training is the best way to overcome this hurdle. Psychology teaches us that extrinsic rewards will only diminish the returns over time. Effective training will help teachers adopt. In my years of teaching and working with teachers I have found that it is important to teach the teachers in the method you want them to replicate. If you want them to adopt a technology model, they need to be instructed in that fashion to see how it works. I also feel that for training to be most effective, teachers need to leave with something they can use immediately. The greater the gap after training, the less likely the instructional techniques will be used.