After reading the three articles by Moller, Huett, Foshay and Coleman, and listening to the Simonson video programs, compare and contrast the reasons these authors believe there is a need to evolve distance education to the next generation. Do you agree with their positions? Why or why not?
I agree with the positions of all five of these authors in one way or another. For example our education system needs to evolve. Our students are no longer traditional students and the traditional school does not work for everyone. With the inclusion of No Child Left Behind we need more options for our students. In the article titled The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web the following quote was available: Ideally, by offering online courses, a small school can provide rich and varied options normally available only at larger schools (Pape, 2005). Moller, Huett, Foshay, Coleman and Simonson all agreed that our learners are more advanced than they used to be in the past. They also believe that distance education has to evolve.
Simonson believes that distance education has been widely accepted by society and this is great because this is one of the major barriers that usually stand in the way of innovations. He also believes that there must be a blending of the traditional learning environment and distance learning for students to be successful. I agree more with this idea because there are lots of benefits to having both settings. In the traditional classroom there is more face to face interaction and when it comes to distance education there is convince and the aspect of lower cost that must come into the equation. Cost has become a major factor in lots of decisions in education in the recent years because of the recession. Distance learning can help fix overcrowded classrooms and provide twenty first century skills that all of our students will need.
Sadie Rodgers
Resources
Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, May/June). 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. Use the Academic Search Premier database, and search using the article's Accession Number: 33281719.
Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, May/June). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 2: Higher education). TechTrends, 52(4), 66-70. Use the Academic Search Premier database, and search using the article's Accession Number: 33991516.
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.
