The evolution of distance education has brought it influence and power, especially in the United States, for the first time ever. With a history of integrating appropriate technologies and effective teaching strategies, these courses, institutions and consortia are a step ahead of the game that traditional institutions are losing. The issue goes beyond creating a better mousetrap, it is "show me the money."
We must, as an institution and as educators, realize that education is no longer an elitist group of academics whose purpose is to philosophize and create art. We are now to continue these efforts and support production and invention of profit producing end products (the 21st century learner).
The Economics
As harsh as it may sound, the simple laws of supply and demand are now becoming paramount to education. It is less an exclusive club and more a commodity. Initially, traditional institutions excused distance education as a lesser degree or worthless endeavor. The research has proved otherwise and the masses have spoken: "We want an education" and "We want educated employees and friends and are willing to pay for it."
Extensive research on the value and effectiveness of distance education vs. traditional classroom experiences has shown no differences. (Moore, pg. 62) A well developed, well presented, well received lesson is learned regardless of location. So to meet the demand for educational opportunity and achievement, we must ask different questions.
As we move beyond the classroom vs. distance education debate, we must carefully scrutinize the appropriateness of technology both for distance education and traditional education. As Moore and Kearsley suggest, we must extensively research the impact of student characteristics, design of effective curriculum, and teaching strategies to identify the most effective distance education environments. (Moore, pg.65)
From an economic stand-point, reviewing even the current educational technology research seems to result in one question - "And so?". The majority of publications in all technology areas tends to be product specific, a literature review, or personal experience. This isn't paying the bills; we need numbers. We need hard-core scientific research. Are attrition rates decreasing? Are enrollments rising? Are more people working? Are we producing more with less?
We need answers that translate into power and money. Let's face it, at some level, "information is money" and "money makes the school go 'round." Granted, we aren't building machines; and peoples' feelings and state-of-mind have a lot to do with productivity. So, why not figure out how we can use technology to make everybody happy? Why not use the research that we have already done in traditional classrooms concerning these issues and test their usefulness in distance education environments?
The Research
Technology has provided a naturally interactive educational environment in distance education. This supports the traditional research that students learn more in traditional classrooms that provide an interactive experience, more student control, and performance based outcomes. But we haven't tried to prove that within distance education environments, which inherently use technology, we can provide these opportunities cheaper and more effectively.
There are a few projects working towards these objectives and they are mostly establishing parallel data. For instance, there isn't a significant difference in gender communication when conversations take place online. The initial findings of Sharmila Pixy Ferris of William Patterson College, show that men still dominate topic choice and women are more apologetic and less prone to swearing even in online environments. And so, "no one knows your a dog", unless you give yourself away. Can we teach everyone to practice more productive communication in an environment where immediate identification of gender or skin color is impossible? Could this lead to more productive, valuable, and profitable exploration of ideas?
Research concerning student control in traditional classrooms, has shown that the availability of information is a significant factor. Technology, especially the Internet, can provide an abundance of information to students. But will it? And at what cost? Although we have not supported or financed the online publication of major research results, there have been several recent efforts to make more libraries and museums available online. According to Jamie McKenzie, "The Post Modem School in the New Information Landscape", as published in From Now On: The Educational Technology Journal, "The decision to share can be seen as a phenomenal breakthrough in the development of the Net..." Hopefully, it will show a phenomenal breakthrough in distance education. Unfortunately, the issues over royalties, copyright, FTSE and who owns the tuition still control the availability of research results.
Even when the research information is readily available to students and educators, we will need to seriously adjust the approach we use for providing information.
The Teaching Strategy
The kid in the candy store doesn't necessarily purchase what is of most value. What kinds of technologies really support a better educational experience? How and in what context should they be presented? And how do we teach teachers to teach students to make better decisions? This goes back to the very traditional (but never really provided) lesson of "Consider the Source."
Criteria for evaluating sources are readily available, as they are outlined here by the University of Albany, http://www.albany.edu/library/internet/evaluate.html, which includes: "Consider the Source
Conclusion
As distance education and traditional education transform to meet the demands of societies, they will be expected to produce a profitable end product. This can only be achieved by building on the success of experienced distance education practices and scientifically researching the influences of technology with student characteristics, effective course design and appropriate teaching strategies. This research is necessary to maintain a product that will generate money, as well as educated citizens.
Online
Ferris, Sharmila P. (1996, October) Women On-Line: Cultural and Relational Aspects of Women's Communication in On-Line Discussion Groups. Interpersonal Computing and Technology: An Electronic Journal for the 21st Century v.4 n.3-4, 29-40. Retrieved from the World Wide Web: http://www.helsinki.fi/science/optek/1996/n3/ferris.txt
McKenzie, Jamie. (1996, October) The Post Modem School in the New Information Landscape. From Now On: The Educational Technology Journal v.6 n. 2. Retrieved from the World Wide Web: http://www.fromnowon.org
Sherry, L. (1997, October) Linking Technology with Promising Practices to Improve Teaching and Learning. STAR Center Newsletter. Retrieved from the World Wide Web: http://www.cudenver.edu/public/education/sherry/pubs/star_oct.html