I agree with Mr. Siemens that distance education is becoming an acceptable way to earn a degree. Distance education has been around a long time, but gone are the days when we send for our class work and have to mail in our completed assignment. We still have people who believe that online courses are no match for the traditional class rooms; they believe that you do not have to do as much work to earn the degrees. I have to disagree its actually more work and more time consuming. The acceptance of distance education has come from the acceptance of the internet, social networks, and online instant messaging. We know longer just have friends that we met in school or at work, we have friends from all over the world, due to the emergence of the internet. These tools have made it much easier for us to communicate not only personally but in business as well.
In Betty’s Blog on teacher lingo, her blog, Getting ahead with online courses, (http://teacherlingo.com/blogs/bettyb/archive/2009/04/18/getting-ahead-with-online-courses.aspx), she tells how online courses have made it easier for adults to go back to school to get a degree, while maintaining a job and a family. I totally agree that distance education has made it easier for us to go back to school and earn a degree while not totally interrupting our day to day lives.
In Mathcoach1’s blog, Secondary Education: OnLine Courses (http://teacherlingo.com/blogs/mathcoach1/archive/2008/02/11/secondary-education-online-courses.aspx), he talks about requiring high school students to take at least one on-line course before graduating, to give them the experience since so many students are now choosing online courses. I never really thought about this, but as educators we are supposed to prepare our students for the future. In this blog he said many students believe that online courses are easier than the traditional classroom setting. In some cases that may be true, but you have to be disciplined to take an online course because you are basically working independently. With online courses your do a whole more reading and research since you don’t have the instructor or classmates readily available to answer questions.
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Hi Shauna!
ReplyDeleteYou have brought up some valid points in your blog. The online or distant education definitely allows a more flexible schedule with school work so those with weird job hours or family obligations still have the opportunity to further their education. I also agree with you that the face-to-face classroom will never really go away. There will always be some students who will need to learn in that type of environment.
Sarah