Distance Education (DE) Definition
What is distance education (DE)? This is an important question every professional in the field of Instructional Design and Technology should be able to answer.
My personal definition of Distance Education (Also called Distance Learning) is one that is delivered, tracked, graded and accessed through LMS (Learning Management Systems) or other technologies by both the student and the teacher in order to teach and learn. One of the first definitions which outlined the foundations of distance education, was coined by Charles Wedemeyer in 1971, who described independent study as:
“Various forms of teaching-learning arrangements in which teachers and learners carry out their essential tasks and responsibilities apart from one another […] developing in all learners the capacity to carry on self-directed learning, the ultimate maturity required of the educated person” (as cited in Diehl 2013, p 39).
Distance Education at first included correspondence education for adult learners where the format was usually read, quiz, read, quiz. Teleconferences, radio and television were later used as a way to deliver distance education but there was no real interaction among learners and limited learner-instructor interaction and there was no construction of knowledge (Shearer, 2015, pp. 79- 82).
Keegan (1996) in his Foundations of Distance Education he defined the field having the following 5 key attributes: 1) quasi-permanent separation of a teacher and learner throughout the length of the teaching process; 2) quasi-permanent separation of a learner from a learning group throughout the length of the learning process; 3) participation in a bureaucratized form of educational provision; 4) utilization of mechanical or electronic means communication to carry the content of the course; and 5) provision of means for two-way communication so that the learner can benefit from or initiate dialogue. (as cited in Shearer, 2015, pp. 80).
In 1994, Sir Geoffrey Holland, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Exeter, stated that "by the year 2020 every education and training program leading to a qualification or a credit towards one will be available in three modes: full time, part time, and through distance learning." (Wild, 1994, as cited in Spodick, 1995, para. 1). Now in 2015 when I am writing this we can easily see this happening. It is only five more years until 2020 and distance learning via online systems, are becoming popular and more easily available to everybody with an internet connection on their phones, i-pads and laptops. Distance Education today is no longer something to imagine for the future. It is a way to learn today.
My personal definition has similarities with the one given by the experts but there are differences too. Most of the experts defined Distance Education (DL) before technologies and software applications such as i-phones, i-pads, YouTube, Facebook, Blogs, Clouds, Web 2.0, Complex Virtual Reality Games (Simis) and others had been invented. Their definitions were futuristic in nature and they could only imagine our technological world today. What they did see was that teacher and learner would be separated (location and time) and that students would have to develop independent study or self-directed learning skills. My definition assumes that Learning Management Systems (LMS) are used for Distance Education. However, just like the experts in the 90s I am probably unable to define DE better because of my inability to imagine future software, applications and technologies that will be created in the next 15 years. Never the less, I do think that Distance Education will continue to be managed, tracked and accessed by both learners and instructors in future platforms not yet known to us today.
References
Diehl, W.V. (2013). Charles A. Wedemeyer: Visionary Pioneer of Distance Education. In M.G. Moore (Ed.), Handbook of Distance Education (pp.38-48). New York, NY: Routledge.
Shearer, R. L. (2015). From the margins to the mainstream: The shift in distance education over the past thirty years. In D. W. Shannon & R. Wiltenburg (Eds.), Centennial conversations: Essential essays in professional, continuing, and online education (pp. 79-86). Washington, DC: UPCEA.
Wild, A. (1994) Visions of 2020. Personnel Management, 26 (13), 39-44.
Spodick, Edward, F. (1995). The Evolution of Distance Learning. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library. Retrieved from http://sqzm14.ust.hk/distance/distance-1.html
What is distance education (DE)? This is an important question every professional in the field of Instructional Design and Technology should be able to answer.
My personal definition of Distance Education (Also called Distance Learning) is one that is delivered, tracked, graded and accessed through LMS (Learning Management Systems) or other technologies by both the student and the teacher in order to teach and learn. One of the first definitions which outlined the foundations of distance education, was coined by Charles Wedemeyer in 1971, who described independent study as:
“Various forms of teaching-learning arrangements in which teachers and learners carry out their essential tasks and responsibilities apart from one another […] developing in all learners the capacity to carry on self-directed learning, the ultimate maturity required of the educated person” (as cited in Diehl 2013, p 39).
Distance Education at first included correspondence education for adult learners where the format was usually read, quiz, read, quiz. Teleconferences, radio and television were later used as a way to deliver distance education but there was no real interaction among learners and limited learner-instructor interaction and there was no construction of knowledge (Shearer, 2015, pp. 79- 82).
Keegan (1996) in his Foundations of Distance Education he defined the field having the following 5 key attributes: 1) quasi-permanent separation of a teacher and learner throughout the length of the teaching process; 2) quasi-permanent separation of a learner from a learning group throughout the length of the learning process; 3) participation in a bureaucratized form of educational provision; 4) utilization of mechanical or electronic means communication to carry the content of the course; and 5) provision of means for two-way communication so that the learner can benefit from or initiate dialogue. (as cited in Shearer, 2015, pp. 80).
In 1994, Sir Geoffrey Holland, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Exeter, stated that "by the year 2020 every education and training program leading to a qualification or a credit towards one will be available in three modes: full time, part time, and through distance learning." (Wild, 1994, as cited in Spodick, 1995, para. 1). Now in 2015 when I am writing this we can easily see this happening. It is only five more years until 2020 and distance learning via online systems, are becoming popular and more easily available to everybody with an internet connection on their phones, i-pads and laptops. Distance Education today is no longer something to imagine for the future. It is a way to learn today.
My personal definition has similarities with the one given by the experts but there are differences too. Most of the experts defined Distance Education (DL) before technologies and software applications such as i-phones, i-pads, YouTube, Facebook, Blogs, Clouds, Web 2.0, Complex Virtual Reality Games (Simis) and others had been invented. Their definitions were futuristic in nature and they could only imagine our technological world today. What they did see was that teacher and learner would be separated (location and time) and that students would have to develop independent study or self-directed learning skills. My definition assumes that Learning Management Systems (LMS) are used for Distance Education. However, just like the experts in the 90s I am probably unable to define DE better because of my inability to imagine future software, applications and technologies that will be created in the next 15 years. Never the less, I do think that Distance Education will continue to be managed, tracked and accessed by both learners and instructors in future platforms not yet known to us today.
References
Diehl, W.V. (2013). Charles A. Wedemeyer: Visionary Pioneer of Distance Education. In M.G. Moore (Ed.), Handbook of Distance Education (pp.38-48). New York, NY: Routledge.
Shearer, R. L. (2015). From the margins to the mainstream: The shift in distance education over the past thirty years. In D. W. Shannon & R. Wiltenburg (Eds.), Centennial conversations: Essential essays in professional, continuing, and online education (pp. 79-86). Washington, DC: UPCEA.
Wild, A. (1994) Visions of 2020. Personnel Management, 26 (13), 39-44.
Spodick, Edward, F. (1995). The Evolution of Distance Learning. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library. Retrieved from http://sqzm14.ust.hk/distance/distance-1.html
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