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Reasons for Teaching at a Distance
Effectiveness of Distance Education
Key Players in Distance Education
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Curriculum Module
"Getting Started with Distance Education"
Introduction
At its most basic level, distance education takes place when instructor and learner(s) are separated by physical distance. Because of this distance, various technologies (i.e., voice, video, data, and print), often in concert with face-to-face communication, are used to bridge the instructional gap. These types of programs can reach those who, because of work schedules, physical disabilities, or other obstacles, cannot attend regular classes. Distance education technology also assists users in keeping up with advances in the workplace as well as furthering their professional development and personal growth.
Reasons for Teaching at a Distance
Many instructors feel the opportunities offered by distance education outweigh the extra work preparing for these courses requires. In fact, instructors often comment that the focused preparation required by distance teaching improves their overall teaching and effectiveness with their students. Distance education classes afford the opportunity to bring new types of material and topics to learners that would be more difficult to include in traditional face-to-face instruction. Instructors can supplement their courses by incorporating other people and their skills into the program, including outside experts knowledgable about topics covered in the course as well as teaching assistants or monitors who can respond to studentsí questions via email or telephone.
Distance education courses give instructors the opportunity to:
- Reach a wider audience
- Meet the needs of students who are unable to attend on-site classes
- Involve speakers and share curriculum resources
- Link students from different social, cultural, economic, and experiential backgrounds
- Improve learning by incorporating materials and experiences from different backgrounds
Effectiveness of Distance Education
Research comparing distance education to traditional face-to-face instruction indicates that teaching and studying at a distance can be as effective as traditional instruction when the method and technologies used are appropriate to the instructional tasks, there is learner-to-learner interaction, and when there is timely teacher-to-learner feedback. Effective distance education programs begin with careful planning and a focused understanding of course requirements and learnersí needs. Successful distance education programs rely on the consistent and integrated efforts of learners, faculty, facilitators, support staff, and administrators. Appropriate technology can only be selected once these elements are understood in detail.
Delivering Distance Education
A wide range of technological options, i.e., voice, video, internet and print, are available to the distance educator.
Voice - Instructional audio tools include the interactive technologies of telephone, audio conferencing, and short-wave radio.
Passive (i.e., one-way) audio tools include tapes and radio.
Video - Instructional video tools include still images such as slides, pre-produced moving images (e.g., film, videotape), and live video conferencing combined with one-way or two-way audio conferencing.
Internet - the largest, most powerful computer network in the world, encompasses more than 2 million computers with Internet addresses that are used by millions of people in more than fifty countries. As more and more colleges, universities, schools, companies, and private citizens connect to the Internet either through affiliations with regional not-for-profit networks or by subscribing to information services provided by for-profit companies, more possibilities are opened for distance educators to reach students including:
- Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) - uses the computer as a self-contained teaching machine to present individual lessons
- Computer-managed instruction (CMI) - uses the computer to organize instruction and track learners records and progress. The instruction itself need not be delivered via a computer, although CAI is often combined with CMI.
-Computer-mediated education (CME) - describes computer applications that facilitate the delivery of instruction. Examples include electronic mail, fax, real-time computer conferencing, and World-Wide Web applications. Print Various print formats are available including: textbooks, study guides, workbooks, course syllabi, and case studies.
Key Players in Distance Education
The following briefly
describes the roles of key players in distance education courses and the
challenges they face.
Students -
Regardless of the educational context, the primary role of the learner
is to learn. This is a task requiring motivation, planning, and an ability
to analyze and apply the instructional content being taught. When instruction
is delivered at a distance, additional challenges result because learners
are often separated from others sharing their backgrounds and interests,
and have few opportunities to interact with instructors outside of class.
Instructors - The
success of any distance education effort depends on the instructor. As
in a traditional classroom setting, the instructor's responsibility includes
assembling course content and developing an understanding of learners’
needs; however, in distance learning, additional challenges confront the
instructor. For example, the instructor must:
- Develop an understanding of the characteristics and needs of distant learners with little first-hand experience and limited, if any, face-to-face contact.
- Adapt teaching styles taking into consideration the needs and expectations of multiple, often diverse, audiences.
- Develop a working understanding of delivery technology, while remaining focused on their teaching role.
Support staff - The instructor often finds it beneficial to rely on a site facilitator to act as a bridge between the learners and the instructor. To be effective, a facilitator must understand the learners being served and the instructor's expectations. Most importantly, the facilitator must follow the directive established by the instructor. Support staff may also set up equipment, collect assignments, and proctor tests. In addition, most successful distance education programs use support staff to support service functions including student registration, materials duplication and distribution, textbook ordering, securing copyright clearances, scheduling facilities, processing grade reports, managing technical resources, etc.
Summary
More and more distance
education is making affordable educational opportunities available to
audiences previously under-served. Advances in technology bring the classroom
to students so that anyone with access to a computer, the internet, a
VCR, a tape-player or any of the other methods used, can gain knowledge
on almost any topic. As technology advances, so will opportunities for
distance education. If you have been thinking about implementing distance
education courses, the time to do so is now.
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