Toynbee is famously credited with the statement “Those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.” Where does distance education begin and how do we define it? How has it changed over time?
As you examine the history of the field notice how the definition is almost always tied to some mediating technology. Here are two places to start:
- A Brief History by Dr. Marina McIsaac.
- History of Distance Education by Michael Jeffries which is followed by an interesting definition of DE.
from
August 27th, 2007 at 11:41 am
Pertaining to the “History’ article. I understand the need for correspondence study. But, I have to question the effectiveness of this study which took place in the early 1800’s. ‘Distance’ is relevant, we already talked about that, but when your only form of communication is slow and long how do you overcome this ‘distance’ obstacle? With delays in communication and possibly travel could this ‘correspondence study’ have been accurate. I realize this probably opened a lot of doors for people of lesser means but how frustrating that must have been.
My first experience with distance education was in 1990, i enrolled in a Teleconferencing class(I’m not sure if they still offer these). I had to watch PBS every Saturday morning and listen to the lectures of two really boring people, I can’t even remember now how we submitted our work. I HATED it.
So, for me at least distance education has come a long way with the use of developing technologies. We didn’t even have the Internet when I was in school. The Internet alone has erased the issue with the definition ’same time same place’ We can all meet at the same time but still in different places.
Another interesting note, the article mentions that economic and political power are linked directly to the access of information. So, how does Bin Laden keep doing what he is doing? HMMMMM
August 27th, 2007 at 11:49 am
The origins of technology based distance learning began in the early 1910s with the introduction of instructional film and Eddison proclaiming that it was going to change classrooms within the next decade. While the changes were not immediate, over time, they did change the way education is presented to the masses.
To define it, one could say that distance education is simply the act of conveying information from a instructor to students in the form of some instructinoal media. When we think of cutting edge technology, we think computers, but way back in the earlier part of the 20th century it was television. But, in both forms of media, the opportunity for learning to occur is there. The creator of the instructional film wants to convey some concept to its viewers through a demonstration of some sort. The viewer anxiouly watches, process the information, and hopefully comprehends the material. At least, that was the goal with this new technology.
Over time though, those instructional films paved the way for instructional television programming. Some good examples of instructional television would be the Public Broadcast Service that provide educational programming 24/7 and a science TV show called “Mr. Wizard.” The PBS network provides opportunities for classrooms to take virtual field trips almost anywhere in the world and learn about any topic. It is a resource that is still used today in classrooms. The TV show “Mr. Wizard” come on in the morning right before school started every weekday. So, while I was eating my breakfast I could watch him perform many, many different science experiments. Both of these examples demonstrate how distant learning can occur. While I can not interact directly with what is going on, I can still observe what is happening and comprehend the principles of each program.
Today, online programs exist that take distance education and turn it into a virtual where an instructor can teach, students can interact, and activities can be conducted via the Internet. It is simply amazing how the evolution of distance education came from humble beginnings as instructional film into what it is today.
August 27th, 2007 at 11:59 am
I’m sure it was very frustrating for the less fortunate in the early 1800s to slowly get their education but its all they could do. There are obstacles that always need to be overcomed to get what we desire. In taking this online course sometimes we have to overcome computer failure (I know I did) to meet deadlines. The same thing applies to the colonists. While they did not have to overcome computer failure, they did have to overcome the snail mail process to achiever their goals, along with disease and other factors. I guess my point is what are you willing to go through to get what you want.
Intriguing take on bin Laden. Maybe if we stopped his resources it would stop the leaks of information, but I’m not going to get political here…I’m zipping my lips.
August 27th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
According to the ‘History of Distance Education’ article distance education began with the introduction and use of films, videos and in the late 1930’s television as instructional medium. It didn’t take long for researchers to determine that students of distance education were as successful as their face-to-face counterparts. But, I believe that this measure of success is relevant to many factors, one being student discipline. Not only does it take a certain amount of discipline to go to class everyday, but it takes just as much if not more to ‘attend’ a class on your own time. So I don’t completely trust this measure of success. I can speak for myself when I took that teleconference course 17 years ago. It was all I could do to put myself in front of that TV on Saturday mornings to watch a boring lecture when no one knew if I was there or not. But, things have changed. Is it because I am older or because this distant translation is better?
I didn’t realize that the use of TV to enrich a lesson already being taught in the classroom was considered ‘distant education’. I assumed this definition only included learning soley by the transmission of a lesson distant from a formal classroom. Just a new concept for me…..
The article also mentions ‘dialectical relationships’. This, to me, is crucial to student success. In my opinion this is where simple TV transmission falls short. At least with Bb, and other Intenet capabilities students can interact almost immediately with the teacher and other students.
Another issue with the success of any distant education program is the willingness of the faculty to adapt their courses to be offered at a distance. I personally ran into this issue as well, there was a class I needed that wasn’t yet offered through distance learning because the instructor was unfamiliar with the technology. Luckily I was able to move on to other classes and took that class at a later date when it was being braodcast.
August 27th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
The thing that stuck out to me is how in the past, it seemed that not many people used the various methods of Distance Education–either through coorespondance, television, etc. I think that is different now that DE has moved to the Internet. By now, probably half the graduate classes I’ve had have been online.
August 28th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
It was very interesting to me to see that distance education went back as far as the 1800’s. I never really thought about the correspondence courses as being distance enducation, but it all makes sense. It seems that distance education has evolved throughout the years. As it evolves technology gets more advanced.
It was interesting to see that the different technologies like TV and radio provided distance education for learning. It was neat to read about the history of distance education.
August 30th, 2007 at 11:32 am
I have to admit, I was one of the ones that didn’t realize that distant learning had been around as long as it had been. I remember working as an administrative assistant at a community college in the late 1980’s and I was responsbile for helping to proctor “correspondence exams”. I really didn’t realize until I read the article about the “history of distant learning” that correspondence was an example of distant learning. This type of learning has been around for a long time; it lived under different names. I remember giving those correspondence exams and wondering how someone could be disciplined enough to take that type of class and keep up with the work. I felt that I would have a difficult time in that type of learning environment - now here I am, almost 20 years later, taking those same type of classes.
I think I have an easier time in this type of environment (using technology) because it breaks up the traditional reading (and if any one knows me, they know I HATE to read!) and test taking over material that has been read. I am not a strong reader and have even more trouble taking exams over material that has to be read! With technology, it provides so many extra tools that you can gear your learning environment more to accomodate your specific needs.