Blog Reflection Week Eleven (Chapters Nine and Ten)

3. What is distance education? What types of support are critical to the success of distance education? Why?

When information and knowledge are communicated through technology venues across time and location, it is known as distance education. The key here is “distance,” meaning that the teacher and the student are separated by some space (whether time or location), and technology is used to “bridge the gap” as the text phrased it. In its early years, distance education referred to correspondence courses that were completed at home then mailed to the educational organization for grading. Little or no contact or communication occurred between the teacher and student or between the students. Distance education has since then evolved with each technological advancement (radio, television, telephones, personal computers, and Internet), and now this once learner-isolated system nearly mimics traditional classroom interaction.

Although distance education is more prevalent in professional and higher educational organizations, the concept is seeping to state and local schools as well. High school students are now able to select from a wider variety of courses by participating in distance education.

Distance education opens a vast door of academic possibilities, but such a system would be unsuccessful without certain considerations. Since students of distance education courses work at different times and locations, teachers must anticipate any and every problem that might arise so that she can design her instruction appropriately. Thus, a carefully designed instructional model is necessary for success.

Another consideration to ensure successful distance education is to prepare the students. The nature of distance education trusts that the learner is self-motivated to work independently of a physically present teacher. It also assumes that the student is well versed (or at least familiar with) the delivery and communication methods used by the teacher. If the students are not familiar with the distance education environment, it becomes necessary for the teacher to train the student in the technologies with which they will be expected to work.

A third consideration to ensure successful distance education is to anticipate anything and everything that might become an obstacle to the teaching and learning process. Anyone who has worked at length with technology can vouch that sometimes things do not go as planned. Therefore, it becomes necessary for the teacher to have a back-up plan.

Another thing to consider with distance education is how to provide proper feedback. Feedback refers to confirmation that a task is completed satisfactory and also to correction and constructive criticism. Because teachers are separated from their students, providing feedback can be a challenging feat.

The final consideration to ensure a successful distance education environment is to carefully construct the evaluation process. This is because the evaluation process in a traditional classroom is much different from that of a distance education environment.

Once these supports have been considered, the distance education model can be successful, and the teaching and learning process can thrive.