Prior to the beginning of
this course I had not given explicit thought to the term distance learning. I
defined it to myself in the simplest manner possible, learning at a distance. I
first became aware of distance learning in 1996, when a course at my college
was offered via closed-circuit television. The concept seemed somewhat novel,
but I could not see myself learning in that environment, but was fascinated by
the concept, nonetheless. Prior to being exposed to this form of distance
learning I had heard of correspondence courses that were facilitated through
the postal system, but never took much stock in them because the concept seemed
to leave an open door for cheating and dishonesty.
I enrolled in graduate
school in 2003 in order to earn an M.S. degree in education. The week before
classes were to begin, I was involved in a car accident that led to a back
injury and I was unable to begin my program of study. A little over a year
later, I was eager to re-enroll, but also impatient, as I felt that I should be
much further along in the program. An enrollment advisor pointed out that I had
the option of taking some of my courses online alongside my physical classroom
courses. Initially, I was hesitant to enroll in the online courses because, at
the time, most people looked at online courses as subpar. I decided to take one
just to see if it was an environment that I could both learn and excel in. The positive
experience that I had in that course led me to enroll in more online courses
and ultimately led to me choosing Walden’s completely online program later on.
Later on in life when I
became aware of instructional design I was exposed to the term eLearning.
Initially I assumed that it simply referred to online course such as this one.
Upon further education I learned that eLearning not only refers to online
courses, but to asynchronously deployed modules, video conference courses and
various other variations of computer-based courses. I was amazed that I made a
living in the field of education but was so clueless about the height to which
educational delivery methods had grown. Whereas distance learning was once
limited to static interactions such as using the mail system and later through
two-way video conferencing it is now dynamic and robust with the introduction
of tools such as Camtasia and Captivate. Tablets and netbooks have led to truly
mobile learning. I can take this class at home in my basement, on vacation in
Mexico or even on my cell phone while I am on break at work.
I would have to say that
my revised definition of distance learning would actually not include the word
distance. I would perhaps refer to it as remote learning. There are many
instances in which learners may participate in a deployed module while the
moderator is in the same building or even the room next door. With the advances
in technology, especially wireless and mobile, learning modules can be deployed
remotely at either remote or minimal distances. Now that distance learning is
widely accepted as a not only acceptable, but equal to face-to-face education, its
availability has grown exponentially.
I believe that the future
of distance learning lies in the tablet arena. The iPad has led to a complete
overhaul of the computer industry landscape. The iPad single-handedly forced
Microsoft to alter the concept of the PC in order to remain relevant. Almost
the iPad and Android tablets have achieved a level of saturations in a few
years in that laptops did not in over two decades, with their popularity still
growing. Adobe has added almost point and click functionality to their creative
programs that allow transference to mobile platforms. I believe that this will
lead to distance learning courses and modules being tailored with tablets in
mind. Like laptops unchained people from their home desktops (but they still
had to stop and remain stationary) tablet will allow people to turn on a Bluetooth
earpiece and learn as they walk from place to place, run on a treadmill or even
stand in line for a concert. I believe that tablets are the future of distance
learning.
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