Week 8 - Reflection

Distance learning perceptions are varied and change over time. In the next five, ten and even twenty years distance learning will surely change and evolve. Along with this will be a change and evolution in the perceptions of distance learning, mostly as compared to traditional learning.

As Instructional Designers it is our responsibility to create effective, meaningful and precise instruction that achieves the single most important goal of educating learners. The delivered education must however be thorough so that all learning outcomes are truly achieved. O'Malley & Harrison (1999) stated that student perceptions of the effectiveness of distance and on-line learning may be more important than reality. This perceived learning will contribute to distance learning professional's knowledge of distance learning instruction effectiveness (O'Malley & Harrison, 1999).

Our additional responsibility as Instructional Designers is to constantly evolve. Siemens (n.d.) states that society as a whole is more widely accepting distance education largely due to more and more of us communicating online. Those that thought face to face education was superior to distance education are now having personal and meaningful relationships online. This sets them up to easily see how those relationships can be built in an education setting. Siemens (n.d.) adds that society has begun to recognize that distance and geographic separation is not as significant a factor as it has been thought to be. This is based on the proliferation of new tools and technology such as video teleconferences, instant messages, e-mail, online Learning Management Systems (LMS), etc. Siemens (n.d.) goes on to state that society is growing more comfortable with these tools and accepting them in much greater numbers. Learners have also discovered that as they get to get together in learning groups with likeminded people using these new tools they are often doing so with a globally diverse group (Siemens, n.d.).

With these growing acceptances, one may wonder where distance education is heading as a whole. Siemens (n.d.) suggests that we will inevitably see improved technologies that deliver better and better voice and video quality and experts from around the world in these fields will become contributors to the new distance learning .There will also be an increase in the use of multimedia such as games and simulations (Siemens, n.d.). Mayer's Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (2001) fits right into this scenarios and distance learning is the perfect place to apply Mayer’s theory (Mayer, 2001).

As Instructional Designers we can do many things to improve societal perceptions of distance learning. We can start by embracing these new tools. As we produce more and more advanced designs, we should also be sure to apply valid learning theories, such as Mayer’s cognitive multimedia theory, as the basis for them. Additionally, Siemens (n.d.) states that the key challenge is to bridge the gap of comfort within learners so that they become comfortable learning at a distance. Siemens adds that of the students that he has questioned who have taken at least two online courses the majority of them tend to prefer distance learning to traditional learning (Siemens, n.d.). For Instructional Designers to be a positive force for continuous improvement in the field of distance education we must learn from the learners and use our designs to help significantly drive the future of distance education. We do this by creating instruction that not only meets the requirements I mentioned early on in this post, but by also making them attractive, interesting, contain the latest tools, and most of all “cool” (but not at the expense of quality).

In closing I feel that the future of distance learning is the future of all learning. Siemens (n.d.) described the future of Distance Learning as the triple helix model where universities, government and businesses form an interconnected strand of that conspires to equip students for online environment (Siemens, n.d.). I think that is a wise prediction but I also feel that distance learning will one day overtake traditional learning in its percentage share of the learning environment. While it may never completely replace traditional learning, traditional learning will never be without some aspect of distance learning ever again .I foresee all future education containing some component, such as a video conference, an Internet delivered video or collaboration, and any number for computer networked content delivery. As society becomes more and more “connected” and geographic boundaries disappear, learners limiting themselves to just local universities will become a thing of the past. The world is now the stage for education, not just your local state or community college.

References

Kearsly, G.(n.d.) Tips for training online instructors. Retrieved from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/OItips.htm

Mayer, R. E. (2001). Multimedia learning. New York: Cambridge University Press.

O'Malley, J., McCraw, H., (1999). Students perceptions of distance learning, online learning and the traditional classroom. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, II(IV), Retrieved from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/omalley24.html

Siemens, G. (n.d.). The Future of Distance Education. Retrieved from http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/Walden/EDUC/6135/08/downloads/WAL_EDUC6135_08_A_EN-CC.zip