My Definition of Distance Education

Distance education can be defined as a course of study being executed where the learner, the tutor and the school are all separated from each other both geographically and by time information is transmitted via internet service through the use of various channels such as Skype, webinar, discussion boards, chat log and videos just to name a few.

My Personal Experience with Distance Education

Distance education has been resisted by many people. There are individuals who believe that it is watered down education and is of substandard to the traditional face to face classroom. In a conversation held with an education officer, she remarked, "those distance education courses should not be trusted, I do not believe the program is as thorough as the traditional classes, I would prefer to hire an individual who has gone through the traditional face to face classroom." Such statement was a deterrent for me in enrolling in distance education courses.
My experience with distance education has shown significant progression over the years. In the early 1980s I was first introduced to distance education via correspondence through the air mail service.  In 1997 I began another distance course in education. The transmission of information was via fiber optics. However, classes were held on one day. All students in each country met in one location and listened to the teacher through the telecom.

Then in 1999 I was again enrolled in another distance learning program which indicated that there was  an advancement from the previous course. However, I felt alone and I had to empower myself to remain committed. Transmission was via the internet.. Discussions were not very interactive and the support system was very weak. The course consisted of reading textbooks and other materials, answering questions and writing essays.

Currently I am enrolled at Walden University. Distance education with Walden has changed my perception altogether. It is so engaging, dynamic and inspirational.One can clearly see how much distance education has evolved. It is indeed convenient, self paced yet demanding. Discussion board is active and motivational. There are many learning resources and so much work covered in a short space of time that I can attest by experience, in comparison to the face to face classroom more work is covered within this time frame. Distance education is certainly the way forward and is here to stay.

My Improved Definition

According to (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright & Zvacek 2012, p.32) distance education is defined as "institution based formal education where the learning group is separated and where interactive telecommunications systems are used to connect learners, resources and instructors." Clearly this definition indicates that there are four significant aspects. First there must be an institution, followed by tutors and students who are separated from each other either in place and by time. Then the presence of telecommunication system which is able to carry internet services and learning experiences / resources such as discussion boards, video, voice thread, wikis etc

History of Distance Education

Distance Education has made significant progress over the years. It seems to be the buzz word today. Simonson et al, p37 claim that "the concepts that form the basis of this type of education are more than a century old.”Although that form of education have experienced growth and change it is interesting to note that the tradition of the field continue to guide its future development. Furthermore, the authors believe that "the roots of distance education are at least 160 years old and began as correspondence study in 1833 in Sweden." Up till the late 1980s persons were very much engaged in correspondence courses such as trans-world tutorial classes and Pitman typing classes. This education gradually progressed into the electronic communication. Radios were constructed at educational institutions in the 1920s and then by 1930s television teaching programs were introduced. By the 1960s satellite technology was developed and instruction was delivered via the satellite.In the 1980s and early1990s fiber optic communication system was developed and this allowed for the growth of live two-way high quality audio and video systems in distance education. In the 1990s I was enrolled in the distance education from the University of the West Indies and this medium was used. Today computers are used extensively along with internet service to bring distance education around the world.

Future of distance Education

The future looks bright for distance education. More and more individuals are choosing distance education instead of the traditional classroom. Charles Wedemeyer in a prediction made in an article stated "...the extension student of the future will probably not 'attend' classes; rather, the opportunities and processes of learning will come to him. He will learn at home, at the office, on the job, in the factory, store, or salesroom, or on the farm" (Wedemeyer, 1965).He further stated that,"...the teacher will reach students not only in his own state or region but nationally as well, since the media and methods employed by him in teaching will remove barriers of space and time in learning" (Wedemeyer, 1965). This prophecy has been partially fulfilled. I envision that technology will develop so rapidly that individuals will not just work from home or the office but will be able to access classroom from small note book size computers that may be created. I believe that primary school and secondary school students will be able to access distance education from home and because of the violence, abuse and other related problems in schools parents will choose distance education over the traditional schools.

References

About Charles Wedemeyer. Retrieved March 7, 2012 from http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/wedemeyer/aboutcw.cfm

Simonson,M.,Smaldino,S.,Albright,.M.,&Zvacek,S.(2012) Teaching and learning at an distance: foundation of distance education.(5th ed.)Boston, MA: Pearson