Distance Education

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assignment - Week 1

Sherry Rooks

EDUC – 6135 Distance Learning

Walden University

Instructor: Dr. Celeste Fenton

 

Prior Thought of Distance Education

The term Distance Learning is a term that is relative to one’s own personal definition, past experiences, present education or training, and their vision of the future with regard to distance learning. As for me, the term distance learning has been just that…learning at a distance.

My very first experience in distance learning was to take a few professional development courses many years ago. For these courses you could sign up and pay online, however, your materials were mailed to you. Once you had completed the course you then were required to mail back in your materials for grading. A more recent experience was with a well-known college, Oral Roberts University. In the year 2006 I took and completed several courses via their distance learning program. However, these courses were based on exactly the same format as my previous experience in distance learning. I was mailed the materials and was required to mail back to the college my assignments as I completed them. The only true difference was in the taking of my final exam. In each course a final exam was required and had to have a proxy to be given at the local college. Soon after that I enrolled at Ashford University’s online school. The classes at Ashford were much more of a true online course in that there were discussion postings that were required to be completed on a weekly basis. The purpose of these was to take the place of the classroom in a virtual manner. However my time at Ashford did not even begin to prepare me for my time here at Walden University.

At Walden my first experience with a class was the required course Walden Student Readiness Orientation. This course was designed specifically to ensure new students knew what to do prior to starting class. It has proven to be very effective in preparing me for my time here at Walden and has shown me that not all colleges are the same when it comes to distance education.

Definition of Distance Education

According to our text book, Teaching and Learning at a Distance, Distance Education is defined in chapter one as: “institution based formal education where the learning group is separated and where interactive telecommunications systems are used to connect learners, resources and instructors”.(Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, Zvacek) That definition is certainly a mouthful. In a more simplistic manner of saying things..The definition of Distance Education , also according to our text can be broken down into four categories: 1) Institutionally based 2) Separation of teacher and student 3) Interactive telecommunications and 4)The sharing of learning experiences by using data, video, and voice to share with. (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, Zvacek) Taking each of these items on a one by one basis we can get a deeper understanding of what distance education actually is. The first criterion is for the learning to be institutionally based. If it is not based on a  formal institution of learning, then it does not meet the needed criteria for Distance Education. The second criteria is for the separation of teacher and student to be in effect. This means that the teacher is in one geographical area and the student is in another. The separation of the teacher and student could be within the city at different locations or up to an even including being within different countries. The use of interactive communications systems has been drastically changed in recent years. Its original intent was to be the transfer of information over telephone wires. Now, it also encompasses the transmitting of information via computers as well as other modes with the new wireless revolution. The sharing of learning experiences is one of the most well-known aspects of distance learning at present. It is the use of sharing learning through numerous different means. Today, distance learning utilizes videos, web 2.0 tools, as well as data and voice tools to teach or learn with.

Personal Definition of Distance Education

My personal definition of Distance Education has changed considerably throughout this week. After reflecting over this past week, I believe what I have crafted in the following Mind Map shows what I perceive the definition of Distance Education to be:

            “Provided by formal institutions, it is learning and or training that is delivered in an asynchronous manner and is delivered by means of the internet without regard to the geographic or time constraints of those teaching or being taught”

 

 

 

 

References:

 Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.