Reflection

     “Expect the next decade to have more change than the last 50 years,” (Gates, n.d.). Technology is constantly changing and it’s changing the way we learn. Distance education has already had an impact worldwide (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, and Zvacek, p. 14). I anticipate it having even more of an impact for many years to come, perhaps even becoming the primary way we learn. What is the perception of learners today in regards to distance learning? What will it be in five to ten years, or ten to twenty? As an instructional designer , I already utilize distance learning daily in my occupation. I am therefore already a big advocate for this avenue of learning and witnessed its success first-hand. Not everyone feels this way, however. Some still shy away from this form of learning. Distance learning is ever-changing, but I intend on being a proponent for improving societal perceptions of it and a positive force in its continuous improvement.

I believe in the next five to ten years distance learning will begin to be integrated into most schools, universities and corporate training programs and will be widely accepted. The flexibility alone makes it an extremely attractive option. If designed correctly, it can be just as, if not more, effective. In time, individuals will start to see its effectiveness. In ten to twenty years I think it will be a standard way of delivering education for educational institutions and businesses and people will perceive it as the “norm” in learning. While it is difficult to predict what technologies will emerge by then, based on the rapid acceptance of distance learning right now, I think the upward trend will continue. While I don’t think traditional classrooms will be completely extinct, I think the blended learning option will be extremely common and the perception of distance learning a positive one.  

I am very excited about my chosen field of instructional design. I specialize in the distance learning arena for my occupation. Recently I offered what are called “Virtual Boot Camps” to our customers. It was a new experience for my learners and for me. Because it was new, I had a couple issues with the technology piece as I went through the training. I remained positive and managed to do some workarounds to get through the trainings. After the boot camps were over, one of my evaluations indicated that the learner was very impressed at how I handled the challenges of technology and remained positive. As an instructional designer, I feel it is my role to be an advocate for this type of learning, be prepared for the challenges it may bring, and embrace the changes that are inevitable. Doing these things will hopefully contribute to my learner’s gaining a positive perception of distance learning.

I intend to make it a priority to be a part of continually improving distance education. This means staying up-to-date in the latest research, trends, and technologies available. It means staying in tune with learner’s needs and perceptions. It means knowing that I will need to update my materials, adapt to the new developments and help my learners continually transition. Distance learning is evolving into a huge part of how people learn, but I believe it has only just begun.

I personally do not think I could have chosen a better field than instructional design because of the timing of the onset of distance learning. For many years I envied those that had chosen a field of specialization and were committed to growing in it. I have finally found that in instructional design and technology. My interest lies in the distance learning component. It is an ever-changing field that utilizes my creativity, planning, and analyzing skills. I am excited to see what happens in the next five to twenty years in distance education, and even more excited to be a part of it.

References

Gates, Bill (n.d.). JudyBrown.com qutoes. Learn from the past imagine the future. Retrieved
     August 18, 2012 from http://www.judybrown.com/quotes.html.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: 
     Foundations of distance education (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Best Practices for Converting to a Distance Learning Environment

Many companies are changing over from traditional classroom training to a blended delivery which includes online delivery. When doing so, there are some best practices that have been found.  Click the following link to Best Practices when Converting to a Distance Learning Environment for a guide that was created for a similiar scenario.

The Impact of Open Course

I did a review of an Open Course that is offered through Stanford University. It is called Technology and Entrepreneurship and can be found at http://e145.stanford.edu/.

 Does the course appear to be carefully pre-planned and designed for a distance learning environment? How so?

 This course is extremely organized and appeared to be pre-planned as evidenced by the outline of the course (i.e. gave a thorough overview with links to videos) and a succession of topics, ending with a summary. Study questions, recommended readings, and resources are listed throughout the course. My only criticism is the lack of interesting graphics. I found it to be very boring with the exception of the links to the videos. While the aesthetics were pleasing, there was very little interesting pictures or graphics otherwise.

Does the course follow the recommendations for online instruction as listed in your course textbook?

There are several recommendations that the textbook Teaching and Learning at a Distance: Foundations of Distance Education (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright and Zvacek, 2012) provides. This course seemed to follow many of those recommendations. For example, the instructor references why certain majors should study entrepreneurship (addressing the target audience). The instructor did a great job highlighting what content was going to be delivered, as well as the desired outcomes (p. 173). The course was very carefully designed as evidenced by the amount of time spent outlining what was going to be presented, and discussing what should be learned by taking the course. The medium chosen is accessible to any student that has access to the Internet and the instructor uses a lot of links to www.youtube.com. The instructor also did a good job of outlining why the content was relevant to the needs of the learners.

 Did the course designer implement course activities that maximize active learning for the students?

 The instructor was very consistent in having learners complete study questions that engaged the learners in the material that was being presented and forced them to work with their teammates to complete assignments.

Summary

Until now, I had never heard of “OpenCourse” . I was impressed by ability to access a well-designed course from a highly reputable university. While the objective of these courses is to gain knowledge about the topic being presented, it opened my eyes to the fact that I could see how instruction has been designed from these highly reputable universities. This will give me another avenue of learning how to design effective distance education.


Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a

      distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson.