Defining Distance Learning

After a few years teaching in an elementary school setting with just a Bachelor’s Degree and not making enough money to survive, I knew eventually I would have to go back to school and get a Master’s Degree. When I began looking at where to get that degree, I looked at traditional universities where I would go to class in a brick and mortar classroom and spend 60 to 90 minutes a day perhaps up to twice a day 5 times a week in a face to face class. I also looked into the non-traditional universities who had you sitting in class from 8am to 5pm one weekend a month.  Both of these options were nauseating to me. Although the “younger” part of me wanted to go back to the days of college partying, I am past that point in my life and realize I need to get a Master’s degree to help me advance in the education field and financially.

When I came across Walden University, I was ecstatic about being able to complete all of my education from the comfort of my home and home computer.  I was sold.  Walden was going to give me the option to take advantage of distance education where I completed all of my lessons and classes from home.  I was also confident in Walden’s ability to offer an education opportunity that would benefit my career. 

I completed my first Walden Master’s in Education with an emphasis in Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment. However, due to budget cuts within state funding for education, Curriculum Resource Teachers and other positions in which this degree would come into play were now non-existent.

After talking with my brother who a SME for Boeing as well as some of his friends who are IDs they told me I could do the ID job.  Many of the IDs were former teachers. They explained to me what their job was and how it was done. I knew then, that yes I could do their job and I decided at that time to go back to Walden and pursue the ID degree. 

Now that I am working and learning from a virtual school environment, I am amazed at the perception that uneducated people have regarding distance education. Everyone assumes that because I work and learn from home, I do nothing except sit at my computer desk eating Bon-Bons.  What these people need to realize is that unlike other distance education efforts that have had a limited impact or fizzled out, online learning has the potential to become a large and permanent part of our education system (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, and Zvacek (2012).  With ongoing technological advances, virtual learning is here to stay.

So my revised definition of distance learning, I believe it is being able to access your courses and lessons, anytime, anywhere on the technology of your choosing.   It is an ongoing effort where you can put in 100% of your time and attention if you are taking classes through a university that have a specific due date and time, or you can tone down the amount of time and attention your distance education required based upon your own needs and wants. 

It is the belief of Moller, Huett, Foshay and Coleman (2008) that many of the education courses lack adequate instructional design for a sufficient learning environment. This is due to the fact that the faculty lacks the necessary training in instructional design or distance education itself. Training is an ongoing process. When designing classes and lessons, the instructor must take in to account the specific needs of the learners and the technology needed to facilitate learning.  Focusing on specific learner needs is something I do daily as an elementary teacher, so why not transfer that knowledge to the field of Instructional Design.

Repeated studies have shown that distance education is just as effective as face to face instructions (Simonson et al., 2012).  However, one of the key challenges for instructional designers and teachers is to help students feel comfortable with the online classroom.  (Siemens, 2010). One of the ways to encourage socialization in the classroom is through interactive discussion postings amongst classmates.  Having online interactions with another “person” makes the virtual world seem less lonely.

I believe there is a huge future in Instructional Design. I am hoping to be able to use my Curriculum Masters along with my ID degree to find the “perfect” job for me which allows me to combine both worlds. Perhaps it will be a job in creating future distance education courses.

 

References:

Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Coleman, C. (2008). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 3: K12). TechTrends, 52(5), 63–6 7.

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

Siemens, G. (2010). The Future of Distance Education. Presented for Laureate Education, Inc. Retrieved March 10, 2013, from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsptab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2095296_1%26url%3D