Terminology Tuesday: Distance Education

Many Instructional Designers work in distance education (even if not directly linked to an institution), and I am one of those Instructional Designers. Within my full-time role, I assist in the development of online, hybrid, and blended courses. Within my quasi-full-time role, I develop e-learning for a variety of clients.

However, the term ‘distance education’ has taken a bit of a turn when it comes to its definition, so I thought it might be handy to discuss this. This week’s post was actually prompted by the move of our department to change their name to Online Learning, instead of Distance Education.

Distance Education

Depending on which generation you’re from, distance education could have very different meanings. Some folks may associate distance education with correspondence courses (aka snail mail coursework), broadcast courses (aka televised), or online courses. All of these associations are correct, as distance education broadly includes any educational format wherein the instructor and student are separated by geographic location and/or time.

At the institution I work at, they were a regional pioneer in distance education in the televised/broadcast format. We still have the ‘on air’ light in the department hallway! However, technology has facilitated a shift in delivery mode. We now offer distance education in online and multi-access (hybrid and blended) formats in order to cater to the needs of our students. While many programs are available entirely online, we’re always working to expand our current program and course offerings in an effort to enhance accessibility to a high-quality distance education experience.

With the emergence of Learning Management Systems (LMS’), synchronous technology (e.g. Skype, Blackboard Collaborate, Adobe Connect) and video and/or e-learning authoring technology, faculty members now have many options when it comes to developing their courses.

Distance education has become very popular over the last twenty years, and it’s certainly where education is moving simply because of how it addresses issues of accessibility and convenience. My graduate degree was completed entirely online (with the exception of one project that I painstakingly snail mailed in to a prof), and the experience I had prompted me to seek employment within higher education so I could become part of the distance education movement.

Do I think distance education will overshadow traditional education? No. There’s still a very large population of individuals who want the traditional experience perhaps due to preference or learning style, but it is great to have an option to study while not being tethered to a single location.

The only real con I would associate with distance education is that learners truly need to be self-motivated. Without that motivation, there is seldom someone else to hold the learner accountable, and it can be very easy to get off track. So when people ask me about distance education, I really cater it to the demographic. For example, it might not be the best option for first year students who have no prior experience with self-paced learning or no prior exposure to a college or university setting. At least not at the very beginning. If distance education is your only option as a first year student, that’s fine. Just know that you need to be organized and focused or things we’ll snowball out of control very fast.