Distance Education

[Lori Holcomb]

Consider your experiences in traditional courses. What were the strengths? The weaknesses? Now think about your experience in taking an on-line course. Is learning different in an on-line course? If so, how? Do you think there are certain skills that students need in order to be successful in distance education? We will use Ning for this discussion.

[alison]

My first degree is in English, Literature and my minor in Women's Studies. All of these classes I took traditionally, face to face with my professors and peers. Being humanities in general, but even more so, literature or women's studies, these classes were filled with conversation. Each person's contribution added to the whole and the whole was never defined--always a continuous conversation. There were many strengths to these seminar type classes for me, a person who draws more from an interactive or guided discussion. I have to talk about a reading before I have entirely formed my opinion of it; often I change my mind after listening to classmates talk about what they got out of a reading. Having my classmates there as well as a professor to guide me to make sure I was picking up on the right points has always been very helpful and something I enjoyed a lot in my undergrad classes. Weaknesses, I suppose would be the intimidation factor that many people experience in a seminar classroom. If I hadn't done the reading or didn't understand it I spent a lot of the class in fear that I would be exposed. In larger classrooms this happened much more often, seminar type classes, which are usually smaller in number, I was less likely to feel intimidated in speaking out and sharing my opinion.

I have taken several classes online since then. For me, there are many weaknesses in online classes. Let me say that the first classes I took online were not for a grade, but for obtaining of skills. I may have offset the precedent by taking a class that was ungraded or unweighted, but I found myself entirely unmotivated to do the work. I never finished the course and never felt like I gained much from what I did do for it. Later, taking online classes that did count I had already set up in my mind that distance learning was not for me, and so, struggled a bit, but made it out okay. The strengths in online learning would for many be the self-discipline involved, indeed it is a great opportunity to improve that, but it has not worked for me yet. Other strengths of distance education would be the availability--it opens up classes to people every where, people staying at home, working, etc. I cannot count very many strengths of distance learning in relation to myself. Weaknesses in distance education for me are:1. Motivation; assignments become an item on a checklist rather than an assignment that I am engaged in, because I feel like that’s all the professor does--look for completion. 2. Reading; I have a very hard time reading extensively online and most of the time I don’t have a printer, or I have to pay to print--I’m very rarely going to do that. I sacrifice understanding/enjoyment of reading for saving paper. 50 pages is too much to read online and it’s too much to print out as a portion of only one assignment. 3. Interaction; maybe it’s a gender thing, perhaps simply a learning style, but I like interaction with people and it’s more difficult to come by in an online class. I also have a harder time forming any sort of relationship with my professor online. 4. Quality; I feel that because of these weaknesses, the quality of education is diminished.

I must acknowledge my biases however; I realize that all of these things I pointed out as weaknesses could very well be strengths for other learning types. Also, many of the courses I have taken online were more informational as opposed to literature or humanities classes--I naturally enjoy these less, so it could be that I’m just not as interested in the material. At least for traditional classes you have to come and interact, show what you’ve read--even if you don’t like it, there is more possibility that with conversation you will have a greater understanding of it. In online classes you state your opinion and it is less likely that anyone will question or remark upon it.

I believe that the set of skills required for distance education are markedly different than for traditional. Self-motivation and discipline are the key. If you are online, enjoy being online and are a self-driven person, online classes are going to work better. If you prefer some guidance in your learning, need an educational environment to learn, then traditional will perhaps work better. Both have great benefits and either can benefit anyone. If I were to continue to take online classes, my discipline and time management would likely improve; if I were more willing to print out readings I may get more out of them thus improve the quality and understanding of the subject. Comfort is another big factor for me--I’m just not as comfortable posting on a blog, or discussion board and I don’t find it as satisfying to read posts and comment as I do to have a conversation about an idea. I thought it was interesting that in the reading it mentioned that females felt intimidated in online posting. Perhaps there’s something to it.

As for the point of view from the teacher, I cannot be sure. My assumption is that online courses are designed to free up time, make classes more available, etc.; however, I’m not convinced that they don’t take up more time and create more work for a teacher--unless they are very comfortable with the website and are appreciators of technology themselves. Teachers face the challenge of learning to utilize a website, create activities for an online class. I’d say that once it’s all together and has been done a couple of times the class is pretty much set, but before that coming up with activities, setting a syllabi, making sure you cover your points would be difficult for a teacher who relies on the spontaneity of a classroom and the students in it.

I have previously engaged in a virtual meeting, only once, for another online class. It is mind-blowing honestly how well it works and how sophisticated the programs are for such things. The internet is already redefining business as well as education. It will only continue to do so. With the economy, many budgets have been cut. Flying across the country for a meeting may not be necessary; the internet is a cheap and effective way to conduct business meetings.

Distance education is already impacting the 21st century. Enrolled in a graduate program, 5 of my 12 credit hours are distance and the traditional ones have an online component. It proves to be very beneficial to universities to have classes online. They don’t have to pay teachers as much, students pay less, there is a considerably less overhead without classrooms to reserve, and utilities to pay for them. It also makes their classes more available to practically anyone in the world, enlarging their student/alumni base, perhaps drawing in more potential students.

I think that all of the components we are learning about each unit are going to be things that students will need to utilize in the future in their careers. Blogging and pod casting will be very beneficial to many students to report their research, develop a thesis, launch their business plan, sell their art, whatever. Technology will apply across the board. Opening yourself and your products to the global market are definitely going to give students/graduates an edge in the global market. It’s there. If you are too you will benefit from it.