Background

What is distance education?
Distance education (http://www.edweek.org/) is instructional delivery of information where the student does not have to be in the same location as the instructor. It brings the student and the teacher together through audio, video, and computer technologies. The use of technology enables the teacher and the student to communicate with each other. The communication is not just from teacher to student but from student to teacher as well (Schlosser, C.A., & Anderson, M.L., 1994).

A modified history of distance education.
Distance education began in the mid to late 1800’s. The early stages of distance education based itself on providing more opportunities to individuals. During the mid to late 1800’s correspondence study courses were available to millions of adults (Gooch 1996:1). Working with a cheaper and more effective postal service, instructors sent out readings, study guides, and print information by mail to interested students. Students finished the assignments and earned credit for their work. The use of the post office made home study a legitimate option for those who either did not have access to materials or their work life was too much. Until television and radio became popular, correspondence study was the only means of distance education (Moore, M.G. & Thompson, M.M., with Quigley, A.B., Clark, G.C., & Goff, G.G,1990)..

Distance education during the 1950’s involved the radio and television industries. Distance education instructors thought it would be a great idea to use the modes of communication to benefit society (Moore, M.G. & Thompson, M.M., with Quigley, A.B., Clark, G.C., & Goff, G.G,1990). Distance educators started to have shows on both radio and television to educate more people. The problem was that the instructors were not interesting and did not attract a big audience. The idea faded away but resurfaced ten years later with better instructors (Cambre, M.A. 1991).

The 1960’s used the same philosophy of the 1950’s and expanded on it. There was more of a use of radio, television, and audio tapes during this time period. The communication modes were used along with study guides to achieve a learning environment. The study guides could be picked up at the library or ordered on the telephone. The advantage was that the use of study guides and communication technology provided educational opportunities to students who were isolated geographically (Moore, M.G. & Thompson, M.M., with Quigley, A.B., Clark, G.C., & Goff, G.G,1990).

The 1970’s used two different approaches to distance education. The first approach was to use a combination of the last ten years of distance education. The early 1970’s used study guides and the media but concentrated on taking the students out of the schools and into the home to learn. The problem was that television, radio, and audio tapes could not provide the students with the same learning environment that they needed (Cambre, M.A. 1991).

The solution occurred in the late 1970’s. The late 1970’s took the same idea of distance education and used all of those tapes to enrich curriculum not supplement it. Instead of children learning only from the television, they would learn in a classroom and then by the television. The goal was to complement classroom curriculum not take away from it (Schamber, L. 1988).

During the 1980’s and the 1990’s an increasing number of adults demanded refresher courses on certain material. Since they were working or found it inconvenient to travel back to college life, courses were offered at newly created sub campuses. (Gooch 1991:1). The sub campuses offered computers to individuals that connected the individuals into the college and the colleges resources (Barron, A., & Orwig, G. 1993).

Along with the increase in demand for educational courses, there was also a big increase in technology. Instead of supplementary courses offered through video and audio tapes, the late 1980’s and 1990’s saw satellite technology and the computer connecting people thousands of miles away.

Currently, the political and public interest for distance education is growing. The demand for distance education is quite high in areas where the student population is spread out. In response to the demand, each geographical area has developed its own form of distance education. Using local resources, many institutions offer independent study courses based on the print material that is available to the student (Jonassen, D.H. 1992).

Another way students use distance education is through the Internet and the World Wide Web. More and more institutions offer courses in different subjects to students. In return for completed course, work is a degree. While there is an ongoing debate over the credibility of distance education, the field is not slowing.

Distance education is developing in accordance with technology. The same theory has been applied since the late 1800’s. However, technology is providing the opportunity to students to experience distance education not only through video, email, or other asynchronous measures. Instead the 1990’s and beyond mark the time where distance education will use synchronous based programs, "real time", to provide students with educational experiences at a difference. Students can now sit at home or at a learning center and get the same classroom at the same time hundreds of miles away. The future is bright for distance education because technology innovation will only make distance education faster to use and more available to all who demand it (Jonassen, D.H. 1992).

Additional information:
James Gooch, http://www.uwex.edu/disted/home.html

Theory behind distance education.
Behind any educational movement lies theory. Theory describes viewpoints on why and how children learn. It looks beyond the medium of communication and tries to address concerns that affect our society. Distance education like other subject areas has more than one theoretical viewpoint.

At the basic level distance, education provides students with information. However, distance educational theory also revolves around how the student makes sense of that information and constructs a new idea from it. From this general idea, two conflicting viewpoints have arisen. The two view points are symbol processing and situated cognition (Bredo, E. 1994:22-24).
Symbol processing is the dominant view in the distance education field. Symbol processing refers to the teacher transmitting information to the student. One could compare information processing of a computer to symbol processing of a student. A computer performs basic operations based on programmed code or symbols. If a computer receives a function, the computer processes that function in reference to codes that the computer has stored in its memory. The computer takes the stored information, decodes the new information from that, and finally registers an answer (Seamans, M.C. 1990).

The student works in a similar fashion. The student takes an abstract idea given to him or her by the teacher. The student than takes that idea and decodes it with reference to other information that they know. The decoded information is provided with meaning from their passed knowledge and stored for further use.

The other theoretical viewpoint is situated cognition. Situated cognition refers to the learner actively constructing knowledge by interacting with the material learned. The student uses social and physical interaction to both define and solve the problem (Streibel, M.J. 1991:119-121). The situated cognition model moves away from traditional transmission of the symbol processing approach to more of a complex interaction and involvement (Savery, J.R., & Duffy, T.M. 1995:33-35).

The debate that is going on currently in the distance education field is which approach is better or more conducive to students learning. The key aspect is the teacher and the student interaction. Twenty years ago situated cognition would be impossible. However, with the current technology providing real time application for distance education, educators are pushing for the new approach. Educators argue that with technology becoming faster and cheaper it makes sense to pursue interaction between teacher and student in "real time". The real time application allows students to hear and perhaps see teachers. This would enable students and teachers to interact with each other through comments and questions about a particular subject (Simon, H.A. 1994:74-76).
The debate is still going on about which way distance education should go. However, in this group’s opinion the situated cognition approach should be pursued. Our reason is that with technology growing it does not make any sense to go in the other direction. The complaints so far about distance education is that it is not interactive enough. The environment that this creates is frustration, boredom, and contempt for distance education. Instead, if distance education follows the situated cognition approach than the opposite could occur. People might become inspired to interact with each other in "real time" applications.