Distance Learning

In its older configuration, distance education meant correspondence courses conducted with paper products (books, tests, programmed learning) via snail mail. With the advent of an explosion in technology, however, a vast array of modes of educational materials have made education at a distance not only popular but highly effective. Distance Education is also known as Distributed Education.

Definition Delivery Systems Characteristics for Using Technology in Distance Education Models of Distance Learning

• Separation of instructor and student by location, or time, or both, for the major portion of the instructional process

• Use of various types of media to carry course content

• Uses technology to make possible new approaches to the teaching/learning process

• Provision for communication between students and the instructor or among students in the same or different classes.1

• Synchronous delivery implies that the material is distributed while students and instructors are gathered, if not in the same location, at least at the same time. Interaction takes place in real time with simultaneous feedback.

• Asynchronous delivery implies that the material can be accessed by students at their own time and at their own convenience. This holds true for instructors as well. It is more flexible than synchronous delivery but some might say its process suffers from delayed feedback.

• In delivering educational material at a distance, a distinction must be made between media and technology. Media is defined as the particular means of representing knowledge: text, audio, television, computers.

• Technology is the means used to deliver the educational materials: radio waves, cassettes, CD-ROM, cable, satellite, fiber optics, microwaves.2

• Delivery and access: consider the means students have to access the material. Do all students have the appropriate technology-hardware and software? Are they using school machines or home machines?

• Control: consider the extent to which the learner has control of the medium of instruction- CD-ROMs and cassettes can be stopped and replayed whereas broadcast television cannot be controlled.

• Interaction: how much interaction is necessary to facilitate learning the lesson? One-way interaction includes radio broadcasts, television broadcasts, audio or videocassettes. Two-way interaction includes teleconferencing, chatting on connected computers, e-mail, electronic bulletin boards, electronic message boards. Will these be distractions or help students formulate ideas, consider others' concepts, and practice expressing their own ideas?

• Symbolic (audio-visual) characteristics of the medium: Salomon (1979) observed that the symbol system a medium embodies rather than its other characteristics may directly relate to cognition and learning. He defines three types of symbol systems: iconic, digital, and analog. Iconic systems use pictorial representation; digital systems convey meaning by language, musical notation, and mathematical symbols; analog systems consist of continuous elements such as voice quality, performed music, and dance. Television, as an example, uses all forms to convey a message. In some areas of instruction, one or the other form may be more useful.

• Social presence created by the medium: communications media vary in their degree of social presence, and these variations may be important in determining the way individuals interact. Can the medium you have chosen to use communicate facial expression (videoconferencing, streaming video), vocal cues (telephone, audio)? How important are these features in the lesson?

• Human-machine interface: are all learners and instructors familiar with the equipment interface? Do students and/or instructors need to be trained in using the computers or the software used in the lesson? 3

The following site from the Institute for Distance Education, University of Maryland, provides a series of models of Distance Learning in convenient table form. It identifies such topics as characteristics, faculty role/experience, and technologies supporting class sessions for models of a distributed classroom, independent learning, and an open learning class.

Footnotes:

1. http://www.uwex.edu/disted/definition.html
2. http://www.wested.org/tie/dlrn/distance.html
3. http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/~mcisaac/dechapter/search3.htm