Elements of Distance Education Diffusion
George Siemens discusses and explains three elements that give distance education an identity of its own different from face to face courses, which include global diversity, communication and collaborative interaction. Although I believe that all three elements are equally important, the element of collaborative interaction has vastly evolved.
As Siemens mentions his belief on the growing acceptance of distance education is due to, “more of us are having experiences communicating online” (Siemens, 2009). The increase of communication online enables people to develop a sense of comfort and even discovery that meaningful relationships can develop using online medium (Siemens,2009). This comfort and development of meaningful relationships are due to collaborative interaction. The element of collaboration interaction online enables people to communicate with a diverse group of people all over the world. This collaborative interaction fosters appreciation and acceptance of different perspectives concerning various topics and issue. The use of collaborative interactions allows for people from different backgrounds, countries and professions a means to discuss and solve worldly problems that are too large to solve alone, through effective problem solving using interactive collaboration.
I agree with Siemens when he states, “the concept of interaction in an online environment has changed significantly” (Siemens, 2009). Various technologies such as blogs, Skype, email, discussion boards, instant messaging and wikispaces enable us to see that we do not have to be in the same location and time to have effective collaboration. Therefore, collaborative interaction no longer has to be geographically confined.
“So, as those communication technologies improve in quality, we’re going to start to see the educational model around it also ramp up significantly” (Siemens, 2009). With this increase in communication technologies, distance education and the process of education will change. Distance education will increase so will the integration of multimedia games and other new technologies that will be utilized in education.
Seimens, George. The Future of distance Education. Video posted to http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=3649019&Survey=1&47=2625189&ClientNodeID=984645&coursenav=1&bhcp=1
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You made some interesting points in your posting. I could not help but to think upon my experiences with distance learning. One of the things that I cherish is the colloboration. People from all walks of life and corners of the Earth are able to share the experiences and expectations with one another. Thus, creating a line of communication and a way of learning that invites diversity.
ReplyDeleteSince distance education's introduction, many innovations and technologies have be introduced to make education and communication more effective. I can only imagine where distance education will go in the near future. I find that when all of the communication is in one place, it is much more organized; however, with the newer communication technologies, such as blogs, Skype, and wikis, the communication options are becoming endless.
ReplyDeleteOne element of distance education that is so important is the quality of collaboration. Never would I have believed several years ago that I would be earning my degree completely online and working with other students across the nation. I believe that, while communication has evolved immensely, collaboration has also. I feel as though I have learned so much from getting with others online than I ever did from working in groups in a traditional classroom setting. Techonologies are evolving so quickly, I wonder if I can keep up....
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