Distance Learning
Vs. Traditional Classroom Learning
Defining Distance Education
Distance
learning, in its simplest form, is the concept of a student and instructor,
separated by time and distance, using technology to complete the instruction. Since
Tim Berners-Lee developed the World Wide Web in 1991, distance education has
rapidly evolved into a seemingly successful and practical means of attaining
higher education. Before distance education was created, there were not any
alternatives to receive a higher education other than to physically attend a
university. In the 1700’s and 1800’s the main problem was a lack of money due
to the cost of travel and scarcity of schools. Higher education was limited to
aristocrats and the wealthy.
Aims
and Goals of Distance Education
Many important
issues stem from the characteristics of distance learners, whose aims and goals
may be quite different from those of traditional students. Distance education
systems were originally developed at the post-secondary level, and are only
recently being used at the K-12 level. Adult learners have a wide variety of
reasons for pursuing learning at a distance: constraints of time, distance, and
finances, the opportunity to take courses or hear outside speakers who would
otherwise be unavailable, and the ability to come in contact with other
students from different social, cultural, economic, and experiential
backgrounds. As a result, they gain not only new knowledge but also new social
skills, including the ability to communicate and collaborate with widely
dispersed colleagues and peers whom they may never have seen.
Evolution
of Distance Education
The earliest
form of distance learning took place through correspondence courses in
Just
as important as the development of the World Wide Web was in 1991 to distance
learning, so was the television. The television would prove to be much more
functional and productive than the radio. In 1934, the State University of Iowa
became the first educational institution to broadcast courses via television. Television
provided the impulse and drive for the next generation in distance education
courses. In 1970, Dr. Bernard Luskin designed the “telecourse of the future”. Distribution
and licensing of Luskins telecourses were assigned to a new institution,
In
1984, the first online undergraduate courses were offered by the New Jersey
Institute of Technology. The now popular
Key
Players in Distance Education
In traditional education, teachers interact directly with
their students. They prepare their own support materials, lecture notes, and
tests, and are autonomous within their classroom. In contrast, distance
learning teachers are not in direct classroom contact with their students.
Communication is mediated not only by the technology, but also by a host of
team partners which may include editors, designers, producers, technicians,
media specialists, local tutors, aides, site facilitators, and service
providers. Since many people must collaborate to produce and disseminate
quality distance educational programming, the need to plan and coordinate staff
activity is essential. In particular, we must define the roles of five key groups
of people: the students, faculty, facilitators, support staff, and
administrators.
Students
Meeting the instructional needs
of students is the cornerstone of every effective distance education program,
and the test by which all efforts in the field are judged. Regardless of the
educational context, the primary role of the student is to learn. This is a
daunting task under the best of circumstances, 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 students are often separated from others sharing their backgrounds and
interests, have few if any opportunities to interact with teachers outside of
class, and must rely on technical linkages to bridge the gap separating class
participants.
Faculty
The success of any distance
education effort rests squarely on the shoulders of the faculty. In a
traditional classroom setting, the instructor's responsibility includes
assembling course content and developing an understanding of student needs.
Special challenges confront those teaching at a distance. These special
challenges include: Developing an understanding of the characteristics and
needs of distant students with little first-hand experience and limited, if
any, face to face contact; Adapt teaching styles while taking into
consideration the needs and expectations of multiple, often diverse, audiences;
Developing a working understanding of delivery technology, while remaining
focused on their teaching role; Functioning effectively as a skilled
facilitator as well as content provider.
The
Site Facilitator
The site facilitators’
responsibilities are to motivate and encourage the remote site students, keep
up their enthusiasm, and maintain discipline in the classroom. The facilitator
is also responsible for smooth running of equipment, helping students with
interaction, handing out, collecting, and grading papers, guiding collaborative
groups, answering questions when necessary, and assisting the distance learning
teacher when asked. The site facilitator also carries out the assessment
procedure defined by the teacher, via print, portfolios, on-line
communications, or FAX.
Support
Staff
These individuals are the silent
heroes of the distance education enterprise and ensure that the myriad details
required for program success are dealt with effectively. Most successful
distance education programs consolidate support service functions to include
student registration, materials duplication and distribution, textbook
ordering, securing of copyright clearances, facilities scheduling, processing
grade reports, and managing technical resources. Support personnel are truly
the glue that keeps the distance education effort together and on track.
Administrators
Although administrators are
typically influential in planning an institution's distance education program,
they often lose contact or relinquish control to technical managers once the
program is operational. Effective distance education administrators are consensus
builders, decision makers, and referees. They work closely with technical and
support service personnel, ensuring that technological resources are
effectively deployed to further the institution's academic mission. Most
importantly, they maintain an academic focus, realizing that meeting the
instructional needs of distant students is their ultimate responsibility.
Technological
Options
A wide range of technological
options are available to the distance educator. They fall into four major
categories:
Voice
Instructional audio tools include the
interactive technologies of telephone, audio conferencing, and short wave
radio. One way audio tools, passive, include tapes and radio.
Video
Instructional video tools include still images
such as slides, pre-produced moving images such as film and videotape, and real
time moving images combined with audio conferencing that is one-way or two-way
video with two-way audio.
Data
Computer applications for distance learning are
varied and include Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI), Computer Managed
Instruction (CMI), and Computer Mediated Education (CME). CAI uses the computer
as a self contained teaching machine to present individual lessons. CMI uses
the computer to organize instruction and track student records and progress.
The instruction itself need not be delivered through a computer, although CAI
is often combined with CMI. CME describes computer applications that facilitate
the delivery of instruction. Electronic mail, fax, real-time computer
conferencing, and World Wide Web applications are all examples.
Print
Print is a foundational element of distance education
programs and the basis from which all other delivery systems have evolved.
Various print formats include textbooks, study guides, workbooks, course
syllabi, and case studies.
Is
Distance Education Effective?
Many educators
ask if distant students learn as much as students receiving traditional face to
face instruction. 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, it involves student to student
interaction, and when there is timely teacher to student feedback.
A sociology
professor at
In lieu of
lectures, the online class was assigned problems to work through in small
groups via e-mail or the electronic forums. The students also formed their own
study groups to compensate for their lack of face to face contact with a
professor. That collaboration, Dr. Schutte concluded, helped the students to
learn more effectively. Dr. Schutte set up the study to gauge the effectiveness
of online courses, which had been developed at many universities in recent
years. The motivation for conducting this study was to provide some hard,
experimental evidence that didn't seem to exist anywhere.
To participate
in the online class, students had to master Web surfing, e-mail, and electronic
chat programs. Some learned as much about the Internet as they did about statistics.
Several members of the class used the class electronic discussion list to
describe that they felt like they were continuously learning something new.
They also stated that they sensed that they were intellectually even with
everyone, versus feeling intimidated by the 'A' person sitting next them in a
traditional classroom. Dr. Schutte explained that to be a profound statement
because he had assumed that students kept quiet in class out of shyness or
because they were unsure of the material. The virtual classrooms eliminated
intimidation by other people because students are sitting by themselves in
front of a computer. The relative anonymity of Internet chat rooms also
provided the students with the freedom to ask questions and make comments that
they might not make when confronted with a real-life classroom full of their
peers.
For other
students, the freedom of the virtual classroom seemed to do more harm than
good. Due to the difficulty of the content of the class, some students needed
as much interaction as possible. The majority of these students did not leave enough
time for the independent study the course required and consequently fell
behind. The students believe the online course was a good idea, but advised
that students should be made aware of its heavy workload. Dr. Schutte now hopes
to find out whether the virtual students performed better because they spent
more time collaborating with their classmates or because of the online format
of their class. In future research, he plans to require the same group
exercises of students in both traditional and virtual classes.
Costs vs. Benefits
Brick and mortar classrooms
in colleges and universities will always have their place in the process of
education, but the virtual classroom, in its many forms, is the future of
education in every country with decent Internet access. The following are
benefits of a virtual classroom versus a traditional classroom:
Leverage:
Thousands
of students can learn from a single professor. Using mega-teleconferencing and
chat-based systems, potentially 100,000 students can be in the same class at
the same time, listening and learning via voice, watching the professor write
on the electronic white board, posing questions via chat or email and viewing
related materials during class time to facilitate learning. Plus, the backend
class management systems can support homework submission, immediate Web based
testing of the students' knowledge of facts, concepts and application and quick
links to chat rooms for after class student discussions on every aspect of the
professor's points that day.
Cost Savings:
Virtual
school programs administrative delivery costs are significantly less than brick
and mortar schools. Due to the fully automated, no-real-estate-needed, high capacity
virtual classroom, a university can eliminate 80% of their facility, faculty
and administration costs, overnight.
Quality:
Students
can learn from the best instructors and experts. Worldwide, the student is
becoming a smarter consumer and will continue to require only the best
instructors, not teaching assistants, and not name only professors who can't
teach. With the Internet and large virtual classrooms, this requirement for
quality can be met. Students will not mind the class size; they just want the best
instructors.
Accessibility:
Students
from hundreds of countries can be in the same virtual classroom. The world is
getting smaller when you can now have students from over 100 countries in the
same classroom. The social and economic benefits of this interchange are
enormous and will redefine education itself.
Convenience:
Students and
faculty alike can learn and teach from home or from the
Flexibility:
Students can
learn in the teaching format that best suits their learning style. Brick and mortar
classroom learning is highly inefficient and is only moderately effective. It
simply does not value the students' time or need. Virtual classrooms offer
instant solutions to problems, individual attention, immediate feedback and a
self-paced learning environment that every student deserves and will soon
demand.
Efficiency:
Students can
learn just in time, as they need it versus investing a straight five to seven years
in college. The real cost of education is far more than just the tuition
expense, it's the opportunity cost that is the highest of all. However, with
the development of virtual education and classrooms, training can occur just as
the student needs it, which also integrates learning as a lifelong process, not
five years and that's it one.
Competition/Free Market:
The best
teachers will reign supreme, not the school's reputation, such as Harvard or
Yale. Schools and universities face competition with each other, certainly, but
nothing in comparison to business. This is because of the excellent reputation,
limited availability and high demand for entrance into the prestigious
universities. I predict that the smartest, savviest and most able professors
will leave even prestigious universities such as Harvard when they can see a
way to teach 100,000 students electronically and skip the politics, publishing
pressure and constraints imposed by every brick and mortar institution. I
predict a brain drain as these experts set up their own virtual schools and
programs and build a name for themselves, not for their brick and mortar
institutions.
Professor's Income Increased:
Increase of
income for professors due to the increasing volume of students and fees from
downloading of texts and materials. The Professor as an entrepreneur and
electronic author is the emerging model for education today. Professors with a
solid reputation can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in
tuitions, program fees, consulting and book sales, and not just royalties. Given
the books can be downloaded electronically, who needs a publisher? What smart
professor wouldn't opt for this?
Administration Automated:
Web based
student registration and program administration lowers costs. This is vital.
Every aspect of a virtual school can be automated, systematized and made
electronic, offering instant service to students at any hour of the day or
night.
Conclusion
Within
a context of rapid technological change, increasing criticism of the public
education system, and today’s sagging economy, the American education system is
challenged with providing increased educational opportunities without increased
budgets. Many educational institutions are answering this challenge by
developing distance education programs. I welcome distance education with open
arms because it can provide adults with a second chance at a college education,
and reach those disadvantaged by limited time, distance, or physical
disability.