As I delve more and more into distance education(DE) its relative newness really becomes more intriguing, as we are able to literally "build the ship" as we sail. The potential to be a part of that building process is something that I had not seen as an opportunity, but as we read and research I see that many theories and ideas are proposed that often times i have proposed in my mind. Thus the opportunity to actually vet and challenge norms and propose ideas in DE is unique. Below are some of the ideas that have been evidence to work and some that have been shown to not. additionally there are articles that either support or refute some aspect of theory or practice in DE.
Opportunities
Opportunity to use technologies in education in ways that have not been utilized before
- use of social media tools for learning
- providing infrastructure for networking and collaboration across the world utilizing online tools
- Student-teacher interaction
- Prompt feedback
- Student support services
- Program evaluation and assessment
- Clear analysis of audience
- Documented technology plan to ensure quality
- Institutional support and institutional resources
- Course structure guidelines
- Active learning techniques
- Respect diverse ways of learning
- Faculty support services
- Strong rationale for distance learning
- Appropriate tools and media
- Reliability of technology
- Implementation of guidelines for course development and review of instructional materials
Some Potential Pitfalls in Distance Education
- Hidden costs,
- Quality of instruction
- Misuse of technology
- Attitudes of instructors
- Access to Technology
- Lack of Support Services
- Work Load
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