EDTEC 561 : Advanced Web-Based Multimedia Development

by Matt Moore (Summer 2005)

Reflection: Distance Education

Moore: Distance Education

The Gunawardena and McIsaac article on distance education gives a brief overview of the history of distance education, key theorists and their theories, the physical technologies involved with distance education, model approaches, and current concerns and trends in the research of distance education. I found this a very useful chapter to get a quick overview of distance education, and I think this chapter is a beneficial launching point for those (such as myself) who do not know much about distance education. It is also a great chapter for explaining how the importance of understanding good educational principles is important to the field of educational technology.

In particular, I was fascinated by the description of the factors of success of distance education. The critical factors that I gathered from the chapter were learner feedback, learner interaction, clear language, social presence, learner control, and constant evaluation of program. These are not only important factors for distance education but education in general. This chapter further supports what teachers do and the fact that teachers with educational experience can provide meaningful solutions to on-line education. In fact, the article discusses the fact that it is becoming more difficult in some classrooms to tell the difference between distant education and the modern classroom.

The Gunawardena and McIsaac article also refers to very interesting theoretical concepts such as the differences between intimacy and immediacy, the three types of learner interactions, and the concept of transactional distance which is defined in terms of a pedagogical and not a geographical phenomenon. Distant education does not need to occur through correspondence and geographical separation although that is the most common form of distance education.

Gunawardena, C. N., & McIsaac, M. S. (2003). Distance Education. In D. Jonassen (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology (pp. 355-395). Bloomington, Indiana: The Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT).