Defining the Field (转)

Educators structuring the process of teaching and students taking responsibility for their learning define distance in education. The more teaching is structured, the more there is distance between a teacher and an educator. The more students take initiative for their learning, and control and influence their own education the less distance is introduced.
Distance in education is not determined by the geographic separation of educators and students. When students do not take interest in their learning and are not engaged in a meaningful dialog with educators there is tremendous distance between them, even if they are under the same roof. If teaching is structured to afford students responsible, creative and meaningful dialogue with educators distance decreases.
Educators in distance education provide the requisite structure for students to meet certain standards in learning excellence, and provide the necessary opportunity and means for students to engage themselves in learning to meet their individual needs.
The outcome of requisite structure by educators, and needed dialog by students determines the distance between the two. In general, novice students need more structure, and as they acquire skill, knowledge and expertise their need for dialog increases and the distance between educators, and students decreases no matter how far apart they are in physical geographic terms, or how close might be.
The communication transaction between educators and students varies depending on the background of students, their prior knowledge of a subject, and their motivation and readiness to engage in learning; as well as the nature of the subject matter, the complexity of the discipline, and the breadth and depth of the curriculum. Transactional distance depends on these variables. It changes not only during the course of a semester or an academic year, but in each session, and as each session progresses. Transactional distance varies all the time depending on what students need to do to learn, and what educators need to do to teach at each point in time.
When students and educators are geographically separated, technology is used to facilitate their communication. The use of technology such as radio, television, computer networks, or print material does not define transactional distance. Students and their educators decide on the appropriate transactional distance between them when they are separated 1000 miles or when they are in the classroom.
Traditional Definitions
Traditional definitions of distance education, however, include the idea of geographic separation of student and teacher.
Holmberg
Borje Holmberg (1989) one of the pioneers in the field said:
"The term distance education covers the various forms of study at all levels which are not under continuous, immediate supervision of tutors present with their students in lecture rooms or on the same premises, but which, nevertheless, benefit from the planning guidance and tuition of a tutorial organization."
The word tuition in this definition refers tutor 梐 British usage.
Keegan
Desmond Keegan (1990) defined distance education in terms of
Separation of teacher and learner
Use of Media
Provision of two-way communication,
Influence of an educational system, and
An industrial base operation
In his definition, the teacher and learner are separated in time or space, but must communicate with each other via a two-way medium, such as a telephone. In addition, the practice of distance education according to Keegan must involve an educational institution.
In other words, watching educational television, or surfing the web does not constitute distance education, unless such an educational institution would prescribe these activities in fulfillment of a requirement (Structure).
Futhermore, Keegan asserted distance education is complex enough to have an industrial base of operation. However, education has been a craft profession, with the teacher standing at the center of practice but most industrial operations require a division of labor.
In distance education, although the teacher is still central to the practice, there are others involved as well. Depending on the complexity of the practice, a course team could consist of a faculty, as well as, instructional designers, subject matter specialists, writers, videographers, graphic artists, computer programmers, animators, musicians, song writers, actors, and a host of others including media technicians.
Moore
Although Moore proposed the concept of transactional distance almost 30 years ago, in his book co-authored with Kearsley in 1996, he put forward a more traditional definition of the field as well.
"Distance education is planned learning that normally occurs in a different place from teaching and as a result it requires special techniques of course design, special instructional techniques, special methods of communication by electronic and other technology, as well as special techniques of course design, and other technology, as well as special organizational and administrative arrangements." (p. 2).
This definition puts more emphasis on the organization, and administration in distance education. Planned learning activities by an instructional agency are necessary to differentiate casual learning from distance education according to Moore.
Peters
Otto Peters, another pioneer in the field, took the concept of planning and organization to a higher level of importance in distance education and attributed an "industrial" characteristic to the field. Peters included the following attributes to highlight the economic characteristics of distance education:
division of labor as in course teams where several kinds of expertise are called for,
mass production and distribution of educational materials and information, and
sensitivity of the distance education enterprise to economies of scale.
New Media and New Concepts
The 1990抯 were an era of incredible growth in conceptualization of distance education, partially fueled by the introduction of new multimedia, and the Internet into education.
New forms of interaction powered by telecommunications and computer nexus brought new concepts to the field such as Computer Mediated Communication (CMC).
Harasim (1990) emphasized "the social nature of the learning environment" in online education as its distinguishing feature. She stated "Traditional distance education models emphasize the independence of learner (Moore 1986) and the privatization of learning (Keegan 1986)." In contrast, "online education" is a group activity, and involves the process of social interaction, which is present in some "face-to-face" education.
Harasim went on to say "Historically, the social, affective, and cognitive benefits of peer interaction and collaboration have been available only in face-to-face learning. The introduction of online education opens unprecedented opportunities for educational interactivity." (p. 42).
Furthermore, Harasim, stated five characteristics for online education:
Many to many communication
Place independence
Time independence (that is time-flexible not atemporal)
Text-based communication, and
Computer mediated interaction.
The importance of Harasim抯 work is in her inclusion of
active learning through peer communication, and
social process of knowledge building into the overall theory and definition of distance education.
Active participation in learning, and extending one抯 intellectual power through mediated communication goes beyond the use of media technologies as "cognitive delivery systems."
In this model, knowledge is socially constructed by the participants in a shared virtual environment provided by networked computers.
Distributed Learning
Educators using the capabilities of the Internet within the confines of a university or corporate campus coined the phrase distributed learning.
Intranets are private computer networks, based on the data communication standards of the public Internet. Their use is usually limited to the employees, suppliers, and clients of a corporation, or a similar entity. Bennett (1996).
Intranets are set up to take advantage of Internet technologies, such as the world wide web, but keep the use of the information stored on the computers connected via such networks to a limited group of people who may be in different locations.
Similar to the Internet, these private networks can also be used for instruction, and training. Hence, the term "distributed education" that refers to the use of Intranets for proprietary teaching, learning, and training.
Distributed Expertise
What is "distributed expertise"? The term distributed expertise refers to the use of mediated communication for education and training by experts within an organization who, may be in a different location than their students, trainees, or colleagues. For example, large global establishments, multi-campus university systems, and other similar organizations, such as the U.S. Armed Services, have experts who specialize in a particular knowledge domain. Many of these experts have unique competencies, making them valuable for the entire enterprise.
Another use of the term "distributed expertise" has emerged in two new fields: "knowledge management," and "human performance support."
To varying degrees, both of these new disciplines use distributed expertise within corporate entities, or institutions of higher education, to increase the performance of individuals, and groups, as well as to take better advantage of the data, and information collected by these entities and institutions to further personal, and organizational objectives.
Distributed Cognition
Networked communication requires social interaction, and when it leads to learning new concepts, skills, and competencies it extends one抯 personal cognitive domain into the realm of "distributed", or "situated" cognition.
Comparing personal and social learning, Gavriel Salomon (1993), who has made several significant contributions to the field of learning via media said, "once human behavior is examined in real-life problem solving situations and in other encounters with the social and technological surrounds, a different phenomenon emerges: People appear to think in conjunction or partnership with others and with the help of culturally provided tool and implement."
Kirshner and Whitson (1997) used the term "situated cognition" to demonstrate the social and cultural construction of learning. They, in the preface to their book, said "What situated cognition theory promises as a next step is a model for dealing with knowledge and learning as fundamentally social and cultural, rather than as artifacts of an individual抯 journey through an impersonal and objective world." For example, collaborative learning in classrooms, or online is a new learning model based on the theory of distributed and situated cognition.
eLearning
Primarily used in business, "eLearning" is the newest term entering the vocabulary of distance education. It denotes learning by electronic means, including the computer and telecommunications
References
Bennett, G. (1996). Introducing Intranets: A decision maker抯 guide to launching an Intranet. Indianapolis, IN: Que.
Holmberg, B (1989) Theory and practice of distance education. Routledge. London.
Keegan D (1990) Open learning: concepts and costs, successes and failures. In Atkinson R and McBeath C (eds) Open learning and new technology. Perth: ASET/Murdoch University, 230-243.
Kirshner, D., & Whitson, J. A. (1997). (Eds.). Situated cognition: Social, semiotic, and psychological perspectives. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Moore, M G., & Kearsley, G. (1996). Distance education: A systems view. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Peters, O. (1998). Learning and teaching in distance education: Analysis and interpretations from an international perspective. London, UK: Kogan Page.
Salomon, G. (1993). (Ed.). Distributed cognition: Psychological and educational consideration. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.