Introduction

I now know that contrary to my initial beliefs and somewhat limited way of thinking, distance education has been around for a very long time. Holmberg (2005, p. 13) brought out a very interesting idea on how, during New Testament times, disciples used the form of letters to teach their followers about Jesus Christ’s teachings. I found this to be quite intriguing. What a novel perspective for the evolution of distance education.

Although it is still early in the course, I now have a different point of view for the concept of what distance education really entails. It is not simply teachers training students that are physically separated from one another. There is so much more involved with the characteristics of distance education. For example, according to Moore & Kearsley (2005, p. 2) in order for learning to be truly considered distance education, it must be planned. To me this means that there must be a goal, objective and some method for evaluating whether the goal has been met. Another aspect of distance education is that there must also be some manner in which information is relayed between instructor and students. This is the point at which the word media starts to confuse me. The word media as I had understood it seems to mean something slightly different when referring to distance education. Whenever I heard the word media in the past, I thought of news reporters, CD, and some variation of technology. Based on what I have read, I think that media in terms of distance education is more of a technique by which communication is accomplished. According to Moore & Kearsley (2005, p. 6) distance education’s media involves some form of technology. Technology in the context of distance education is a word that I struggled with since when I visualize technology I think of automation. After reading the material however, I realize that term technology could not be limited to just automation, since there was really very little automation involved in the written word as was used back during the early 1700s when the first form of distance education was recognized (Holmberg, 2005, p.13). When I now think of the term technology as it relates to distance education, I substitute it with the word method. Some method (or several methods) must be used as a means of facilitating communication between students and teachers. This is a great lead in to my next topic which will be continued on my next posting.

Holmberg, B. (2005). The evolution, principles and practices of distance education. Oldenburg: BIS-Verlag der.

Moore, M. & Kearsley, G. (2005). Distance education: A systems view. Belmont, CA : Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.