Summary and Reflection !

Education is the attainment of knowledge that builds ones ability to function and
contribute as a citizen. Distance Education has a meaningful purpose in the wake of
contemporary education. Distance education offers variety that can heighten the rigor and
excitement of discovery learning. In order for this to occur, the teacher would need to be savvy
in knowing how to motivate students to see the big picture of the importance to this effective
approach to learning. Some principals of technology remain prominent theorists. Simonsons
distance education focus is on equal learning in order to meet the objective no matter the distance
a student may face. My beliefs surrounding distance education coincide with the Simonsons
statement that the experiences of the distant learner and the local learner should have equivalent
value even though these experiences might be quite different (Simonson et al). There are
numerous pedagogical approaches to delivering content, however, if the method is effectively
executed students will meet the learning objective thus be successful. I think the use of distance
education is most suitable for seventh through University aged students. I believe that students
can learn safety etiquette to responsibly immerse them in the participation of distance education
to full capacity with good training and time to practice the safety behaviors to be implemented.
It is a new phenomenon for the younger student to engage in distance education, but I have
witnessed the possibilities of distance education take root with rigor, excitement and success.
Knowles, another educational theorist on the other hand mainly focused on an andragogical
approach to distance education.
As institutions strive to meet the needs of their students in preparing them for 21
st

Century Education, it is imperative to include distance education. The four components of
distance education center around four principals that make distance education stronger in the
scope of a comprehensive program. The four components are: 1) the education is institutionally
Summary and Reflection #
based 2) there is a separation of the student and the teacher 3) students interact with
telecommunications and 4) there is a sharing of data, voice, and/or video (Simonson et al). It is
clear that an institutionally based program might include a traditional school setting, a college,
and more recently non-traditional school settings engage in distance education. The separation
of the student and the teacher allows students to take some ownership for their learning as they
engage in less directed learning rather than exploratory content development. The interaction
with telecommunications is key to expanding the mediums of which communication for the
purpose of learning can take place. Finally, the sharing of content information through the
various types of telecommunications mediums is the impetus of how distance learning occurs.
The development of distance education has been constantly growing for more than a
century in the United States. There were a series of developmental discoveries for distance
education that began in 1830 where study composition was carried our through the post. During
the range of 1840 through 1940, there was a range of correspondence options that included
international studies as well. This widened the scope of accessibility to education for more
individuals across the globe. The phonograph was first introduced in 1843 and refined by
Thomas Edison. It proved to serve an important purpose of communication using the embossing
point connected to an arm that would relay messages for others to capture. In 1950, credit
courses by way of the television broadcast expanded the possibility for people to access
information visually and auditory. Alan Turing with other computer gurus was engaged in
computer operations in the 1950s though the access was not widespread. However, the largest
expansion that impacted distance education evolved in 1960 with the Internet, which the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency, (DARPA) played an instrumental role in it is colossal
success. In 1992 to present day, there has been an explosion of Internet accessibility not secret
Summary and Reflection $
to the United States or other developed countries but is rather more global today than ever before
despite the constraints due to various reasons. I was fortunate to have a computer in 1992 and
remember it being the most fascinating machinery I had ever encountered. I learned quickly that
it was more complicated than the typewriter, word processor and other machinery that I had used
in the past. In learning about the capabilities as a novice computer user, I could weigh the
potential of having such a machine that expediently took care of operations that not long ago
utilize so much more.
Whilst there are vast differences in the various nations accessibility to provide distance
education, many continue to strive to introduce their citizens to as much technology as they can
obtain. Barriers is the most common detriment to some nations providing distance learning to
its citizen (Srichanyachon, 2014). Some of the nations realize that their citizens cannot be
globally competitive and their nation will continue to be disadvantaged without providing a way
and means for distance education. As nations think about other factors like the landscape of
rural parts of their country and potentially inhibiting cost to access distance education by the use
of technology, they continue to identify creative ways to introduce the use of asynchronous and
synchronous technology into the lives of its citizens. Additionally, due to population growth
and the lack of infinite resources motivate nations to consider the possibilities and adopt distance
education mediums to accommodate the citizens that lack the opportunity to pursue a full-
fledged university matriculating career. Distance education helps to fill the void of so many
citizens for their continued professional development. One of the occurrences that hinder
smooth access in some areas of some nations is the ability to access constant electricity for
computer accessibility for partaking in distance education. Another issue often could be the lack
of bandwidth. If the bandwidth is too minute, the distortion prevents the successful participation
Summary and Reflection %
in an international opportunity of learning through distance education. The only way that the
distance education can be effectively used is for all parties to have access to the 2.0 Web and
learn effective ways to operate and trouble shoot with the technology means being used.
Throughout the experience of enhancing my repertoire regarding distance learning, I
learned that there are many types of distance learning modes of communication. They primarily
fit into the category of technology connecting instructor to distance learners. The other method
is classroom technology that record, present, and display instructional information. The two
methods for leading distance education also further fall into the two categorical formats of
synchronous and asynchronous communication. The asynchronous format depicts two or more
groups of participants communicating at different times. Some examples of the asynchronous
format are software like: TeachTube, Podcast, VoiceThread and many more. This
communication is not likely in real time and often gets a response from a participant at a later
time. The synchronous format occurs in real time. Some examples of synchronous
communication are Webslide, ooVoo, Skype, Trello, Asana, and many more. This simply means
that there is direct communication back and forth while both parties are attentive. The best
feature of some of these examples is that whilst talking to the other participant in real time, one
can also witness face-to-face communication across the globe; work being focused upon and
surrounding in which they are working. I have used both of these formats in different
educational setting that include adults, students and colleagues. If one has enough bandwidth,
constant current and access to technology resources that includes the cost for operation, then all
of the methods are doable and can contribute to the success of project engagement.
It is an interesting phenomenon that I gathered is that many face-to-face education
approaches to teaching does not yield better results to learning than distance education learning
Summary and Reflection &
(Simonson et al). I think that this is a common assumption and I was thus enlightened by this
fact. The component that is imperative to remember is that the type of learning that engages in
distance education is often a person who works well alone. They are also so driven by success
of their personal development and therefore continue to strive for their best. I was also informed
that the higher the achiever as a student, the more successful they are likely to be as a distance
learner. These are assets that would help a learner make a decision about distance education if
they were aware of their learning style as compared to what the statistical data suggests about the
profile of a successful distance education student.
The instructional design for distance education is essential in having a successful
distance-learning program (Simonson et al). In order for the program to meet success, the
instructor must be planned with an instructional design process that the students can readily
follow. The instructors should have the students engaged as part of the planning which will
result in a successful distance education program. I have had the experience of being in a
distance education program that was not mapped out. This approach causes anxiety due to the
unknowns and expectations, and it also interferes with the students ability to change their
method for planning in order to produce their best work. Additionally, the instructor will be
better prepared if they access some of the course management products. The products include
course supplements, electronic course-packs, homework collection and grading, electronic grade
book, plagiarism detections. The inclusion of these distance education management assets
ensures that the instructor has tools in place to reduce the time and instead be more expedient in
providing student with feedback for their continued development. I think that it is also
imperative to teach students about the honor system. By informing them of the tools in place, it
will help some students understand the magnitude to know the answers to questions that might
Summary and Reflection '
jeopardize their distance learning work. I had a plagiarism tool in the past and most students did
not want to be affiliated with the notion of being labeled as a dishonest person as their peers
judge their actions. The operation of the tool was expedient wasting no time as a teacher to find.
As I continue to think about technology, I have pondered the following questions. I often
wonder, how much more will technology expand? This question makes me think about teaching
students to be innovators and keeping their thinking capacity at the forefront to be creative in
what they are learning. In this way, the students being prompted to think outside of the box
can contribute to upgrading the future of distance education. What is the maximum capacity that
can be held when thinking of Big Data that might influence global collaborative learners through
their distance education? This question drives my thinking to global projects set up a global
distance education instructors that desire to flatten the borders (Vicki & Davis) but lack the
capacity to comprehensively explore Big Data sets. Why might focusing on collaboration bring
about more successes than individual participation? In considering distance education,
collaboration is simply putting heads together using the old adage that two heads are better than
one. This collective effort can often lead to creative discoveries not obtained by observations.
Can universities require that potential distance learning students take some type of prerequisite
test before admission to a distance-learning course? I think one way to screen students to be
more successful in their distance learning experience is to ensure that enrollees possess basic
computer and technology assets. In this way, students will be admitted to the class knowing that
they are equipped to work with the technology effectively. Instead, students can forget the
struggles in their technology skills and rather focus on the content of their distance education
learning. The grade book is another tool that I have used in the past that is beneficial to students
and guardians in some cases. The pros of this tool is that everyone is included in the loop to
Summary and Reflection (
monitor their academic standing. By doing so, students feel informed, respected and ready to
respond to anomalies noted quickly. The cons of this tool is that students are seeking updates
very regularly so they may be self regulated by the work instead of the assets that the student has
gained. http://www.mygradebook.com/ However, not only does it keep up with grades, but it
also can record questions, reports, transcripts, in the database, and email capability. This tool is
help to free up one on one time between student and teacher, instill responsible behavior by the
distance learner.
Distance education has a very important and prominent place in global education.
Without the use of distance education, more of the global population would be without career
training and options regarding their livelihood. The idea of refining the best methods for each
nation particular dilemma will address the existing issues and then place the focus on how to
enhance their distance education program to increase the number of educated citizens in each
country instead of leaving so many without the possibility to dream of a future as a skilled
worker and or professional.
















Summary and Reflection )
Reference:
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S.E., Albright. M. J., Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and
Learning at a Distance: Foundations of Distance Education. Pearson.

Napaporn SRICHANYACHON1, n. (2014). THE BARRIERS AND NEEDS OF
ONLINE LEARNERS. Turkish Online Journal Of Distance Education (TOJDE),
15(3), 50-59.
OFULUE, C. (2011). SURVEY OF BARRIERS AFFECTING THE USE OF
INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES (ICTS) AMONG
DISTANCE LEARNERS: A Case Study of Nigeria. Turkish Online Journal Of
Distance Education (TOJDE), 12(3),142-154.
Muilenburg, L. Y., & Berge, Z. L. (2005). Student Barriers to Online Learning: A factor analytic
study. Distance Education, 26(1), 29-48.