Module #2: Distance Education

TITLE: #2

The differences between a traditional/ conventional face to face education and distance education are: traditional classrooms offer advantages of allowing the student to see the professor face to face and ask pertinent questions concerning their classes. Another advantage is the ability of the students to meet with other students for study groups and friendship. Students who choose the traditional method of education believed that the face-to-face students enjoy the ability to learn with others and they love the ability to get to know their instructors. Students in the face-to-face courses are able to get together in study groups that help them achieve better in testing while distance education is the ability to take classes at any time of the day or night. Distance education reaches a broader student body than any traditional education courses. It often meets the needs of its students and saves students money too.

Benefits of distance learning are:

Ø      Study in the comfort of your own home. This is ideal if you find that you have no time to attend scheduled classes or that you detest sitting in a classroom.

Ø      Affordability. Long distance learning is generally very affordable. Plus you have the added benefit of being able to take as many courses at one time as you can afford.

Ø      Effectiveness. Long distance learning is a very effective tool in the day and age of technology. It gives you the ability to interact with updated and extensive information.

Ø      Earn your degree, certificate, or diploma on your own time at your own pace. You will be able to transfer any credits that you earn to another educational institution.

Ø      Interactive. You will find that you have to interact very closely with the course materials and the other students, whether you meet them or not You may find that you are more apt to ask questions in a non-classroom setting than in the classroom. This will increase the amount that you learn and benefit from the course.

Ø      Continue to work full or part time. Many times your employer may be willing to provide you with reimbursement.

Ø      Ease and simplicity. It is easy to apply online and order your course material, having it sent to your home.

Teachers provide access to the different types of learners because different types of learners have unique characteristics and varied strengths, weaknesses, and preferences. Educators hoping to get the most accurate picture of students’ capacities must carefully consider the materials and tools available to them. It is at the intersection of student characteristics and the tools they use that abilities are defined. By understanding characteristics and providing them with the right tools, teachers can enhance students’ abilities.

Four Types of Interaction in Distance Education

Ø      Learner-Content Interaction

– This is the first type of interaction in Distance Education. Learner-Content Interaction takes place between the student and the content, or the subject matter that is delivered to the students. The teachers help the students to build new knowledge by encountering new information and combining it with the body of knowledge already retained by the students.

Ø      Learner-Instructor

– This is the second type of interaction in Distance Education. The Learner-Instructor is transpires between students and instructor, the instructor help the students to understand unclear topics or lesson, is intended to help reinforce student understanding of the material or elucidate meaning. Learner-Instructor is more on using technology such as chat discussion or e-mail communications. This type of Interaction the instructor becomes more of a facilitator. Unlike the traditional classroom where the instructor takes the center stage as a lecturer, in distance education.

Ø      Learner-learner

– This is the third type of interaction in Distance Education. Learner-Learner interaction can be between one student and another or between several students its involves teamwork or collaborative learning involves students working together in groups to complete academic requirements. This form of learner-learner interaction is intended to promote understanding of the course content and stimulate critical learning. Learning-Learning interaction is sharing and exchanging knowledge and information with the students.

Ø      Learner-Technology/System

– This is the last type of interaction in Distance Education. Learner-Technology/System is more on “Learning by doing” concept, because the students’ experience with computers can affect their learning in distance education as well as improve their computer skills. Students may learn more thing inside and outside the school by using technology, the more you access with the technology the more you learn new thing.

“Interaction is the key component of this use of the technology to support a more social learning, negotiating meaning through interaction with peers over distance, and forming a sense of community using the technology.” - Amirian

Interaction is the key component of using technology because interaction is a kind of action that occurs as two or more objects have an effect upon one another. The idea of a two-way effect is essential in the concept of interaction, as opposed to a one-way casual effect. Using technology we interact with other people, we understand one idea using interaction.