Advancing Distance Learning

It is amazing what has occurred in the last five years in respect to the internet – its tools, usage, content, and access. With the continued forward rapid motion of the internet, this will help to advance distance learning and its acceptability; hence, the perception of distance learning will continue to grow in its acceptability factor.

The Instructional Technology Council shows that college distance courses popularity continues to grow rapidly with distance education growth at 11 percent from 2006 to 2007. With this kind of distance learning growth experience, and combined with hopefully, good individual experiences, the perception will grow exponentially and distance education will be more the norm than the exception.

Education is the foundation for learning and growing our individual knowledge and improving society. Therefore, it is important to ensure easy access to quality education. As Martin Luther King stated:

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically... Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.”

Therefore, in order to help build society’s intelligence and character, education needs to be readily accessible and distance learning can provide this accessibility.

In order to help with a positive perception of distance learning, as an ID, I need to continually seek ways to ensure the latest and most effective tools are being used in course designs. When consulting, I need to ensure my analysis includes a comprehensive and current view of current successful trends. The more the ID can make any course engaging and interactive, the more this will help to advance and support distance learning. Therefore, my work will be a contribution to advancing distance learning, as well as, sharing my personal distance learning experience with others both professionally and personally.

References:
GetEducated.com. LLC. (2010). http://www.geteducated.com/online-education-facts-and-statistics/latest-online-learning-news-and-research/341-community-college-online-education-courses-up-22-percent