This has been an interesting course and has taught me a lot about different aspects of distance learning. This blog deals with the future of distance learning and how Instructional Designers can impact it.
Dr. Siemens talked about the reasons for
the growing acceptance of distance education and its future (Laureate Education, n.d.). One of the biggest reasons, he says, is
because of the increase in online communication around the world. People in many countries communicate with
friends by texting, so they are used to being online and talking with
others. This is just a short hop away
from online discussion in a class. Their
classmates may either be or become their friends, as many people “friend”
strangers on social media. Currently,
more and more people are accepting online education as a new norm so that
perception should grow as technology improves.
One of the problems with it now is that learners need good Wifi
connections to be able to take classes.
It isolates those without good Wifi (Naidu, 2014) . Yet people can communicate with others around
the world on smartphones without the use of Wifi. Within 5-10 years, I think this will be
normal for computer communications also.
You’ll be able to connect the computer/laptop to other laptops through
phone towers instead of Wifi. This will
open the doors to many more people and even allow them access to free education
sources, such as massive open online courses (MOOCs).
Virtual reality is still in its infancy
and is growing in popularity. I’d like
to think that it will be available and popular enough to be a normal part of
online training around the world, but I think it will not. The main reason for this is the same reason
online courses aren’t more popular around the world, the lack of availability
to countries that do not have good Wifi.
So what will online education look like in 10-20 years? I think it will be more popular than
classroom training. More and more Ivy
League universities are offering online courses and degree programs today (Naidu, 2014) . If more students start taking online courses,
colleges will spend more time and effort in developing and improving them. Traditional classroom instruction may become
a thing of the past.
Instructional designers (IDs) should be
proponents for improving how society views distance learning. One of the ways IDs can help is to design and
develop courses that meet the needs of the students. When they learn the material in an online
environment, are able to communicate and discuss the material with people from
all walks of life in far-away countries, and feel challenged but not overwhelmed,
they will spread the word about the experience.
Word of mouth advertising is the best kind because the people they
spread it to will tell others and so on.
The same holds true for negative experiences. The problem is that positive experiences tend
to spread far slower than negative experiences.
Working in a corporate environment affords
me more opportunity to have a positive impact on distance learning than many
who work in the school education field.
The reason for this is simple economics.
Schools are much slower to spend money on changing course development or
on technology because there are other more pressing concerns. Corporations look at the bottom line, ROI. They will spend money on course development
and technology if it looks like the ROI will be substantial enough. Have students take courses online at their
locations and save the money in travel, hotel and meals for them to travel to a
different location. The technicians’
time away from billable work remains the same.
References
Laureate Education,
(Producer). (n.d.). The future of distance learning [Motion
Picture].
Naidu, S. (2014). Looking back, looking forward: the
invention and reinvention of distance education. Distance Education,
263-270.
Hello Bobby,
ReplyDeleteI am now following your blog. Looking forward to reading your posts.
Hello Bobby,
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I found face-to-face communication to be better than the other modalities, because the facial expression cues helped me understand Jane better. As stated by Uplift Events (2017), “face to face communication helps with building trust and openness, and it enables you to sense and understand someone’s viewpoint and feelings; also, talk face to face to resolve disagreements or fix complex problems, and use clear, friendly and polite language”.
Which modality did you prefer?
Reference
Uplift Events (2017). How to Communicate Effectively with Your Colleagues. Retrieved from
https://www.upliftevents.com.au/blog/communicate-effectively-colleagues/