foundations of distance education

FOUNDATIONS OF DISTANCE

EDUCATIONCAROLYN JENKINS-HAIGLER

CHEMISTRY AT A DISTANCE? A TRUE

STORY• Chemistry is a hands-on, laboratory-based course

that many consider one of the most rigorous in the average high school curriculum• Chemistry is a course students dread having to take• In most small communities there is only one

Chemistry teacher

DISTANCE EDUCATION TODAY AND TOMORROW• It has became a main topic in education• Concept of distance education is exciting• It is the mainstream form of education• 15% (460,000) Students of the Midwestern states

are enrolled in at least one online class

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DISTANCE EDUCATION IN

CASE YOU WONDER• Training in effective instructional

strategies is critical for teachers of distant learners

• Distance education courses should be carefully designed and developed before instruction begins.

• Visualization of ideas and concepts is critical when designing instruction to be delivered to distant learners

• Adequate support systems may be in place to provide the distance learner with access to resources and services

• Interaction between the instructor and students and among students may be possible and encouraged

• Assessment should be designed to relate to the specific learning outcomes of the instructional experiences.

WHAT IS DISTANCE EDUCATION?

Distance education or distance learning is a mode of delivering education and instruction, often on an individual basis, to students who are physically present in a traditional setting such as a classroom. Distance learning provides “access to learning when the source of information and the learners are separated by time and distance, or both.

FACTS ABOUT DISTANCE EDUCATION

• Eminent historian Frederick Jackson Turner ran the correspondence program of the University of Wisconsin in the late 1800s.

• Telemedicine refers to medicine at distance, and telelaw refers to law at a distance

• Research on the effectiveness of distance education clearly shows that students who learn at distance do not learn any worse, or any better, than traditional students.

• The United States Distance Learning Association is a professional organization of those involved in distance education

• Satellites used for distance education orbit about 23,000 miles about the equator

MEDIA IN EDUCATION

TELEMEDICINETele- means ‘at a distance,” so in its simplest form, telemedicine is defined as medicine at a distance• Separation or distance between individuals and/or

resources• Use of communications technologies• Interaction between individuals and/or resources• Medical or health care

SUMMARY

• Fundamental characteristic of distance education is the separation of the student and the teacher

• Educators are using technology to increase access of the distance learner to the local classroom

• Distance education is a dramatic idea• It is designed to be a successful and mainstream approach• It is being used in telecommunications technologies in an exciting

emerging field

Carolyn Jenkins-Haigler