Distance Education

1. Distance Education Farhad Saba, Ph. D. Professor Educational Technology fsaba@mail.sdsu.edu http://distance-educator.com

2. How New, How Old! • 1880’s Chautauqua, NY • Correspondence Education • Educational Radio (1920-1940) • Educational Television (1940-present) • Cable (1970-present) • Satellite (1980-present) • Internet (1990-present) Distance Education

3. Definitions • Geographic separation of the learner and the teacher • Large lecture halls? Distance Education

4. Transactional Distance • Quality of communication • Student-Instructor • Student-student Distance Education

5. Why Distance Education? • Increasing cost • Increasing time-to-degree • Increasing debt Distance Education

6. Modern Era • Standardization • One size fits all system of education • Performing uniformed tasks Distance Education

7. Post-Modern • Individualization • Personal differences • Differential personalized learning • Critical thinking • Problem solving Distance Education

8. Who Are Our Students? • Largest generation (36% of total population). • 31% are minorities; more diverse than the adult population. • Have come of age along with the Internet. • Information has been universally available to them. • Community is a digital place of common interest, not just a shared physical space. Distance Education

9. Education Beliefs • 96% say doing well in school is important in their lives. • 88% of students report that attending college is critical or very important to future success. • 76% of students would like to learn more about the world. • 28% of high school students use a foreign news source to learn about current events. Distance Education

10. Internet Use by Age Distance Education

11. Even Young Children • 72% of all first graders used a home computer during the summer on a weekly basis. • Over 85% of young children with home computers used them for educational purposes. • By 1999, 97% of kindergartners had access to a computer at school or home. • 35% of children ages 2-5 use the Internet. Distance Education

12. Online Teens • 71% of online teens say they relied mostly on Internet sources for the last big project they did for school. • 48% say their use of the Internet improves their relationship with friends. • 94% of online teens report using the Internet for school-related research. • 74% of online teens use instant messaging. • 24% of online teens have created their own Web pages. Distance Education

13. Virtual Schools • 40,000 to 50,000 Students in 1999-2000 (Clark 2000) • Virtual High School (VHS) (http://vhs.concord.or) • Florida Virtual School (FLVS) (http://www.flvs.net/) • Electronic classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) (http://www.ecotohio.org/) Distance Education

14. Corporate Universities • Expenditure on Web-based training was estimated to be $5.5 billion in 2002. (Berge, 2001). • The Thomson Corporation provides innovative online learning to as many as 86,000 GM salaried employees through General Motors University • Ford has 20,000 online students in one of its programs Distance Education

15. Government (1) • U. S. Armed Services • TRADOC • The U. S. Navy Video TeleTraining (VTT) • The Air Force Institute for Advanced Distributed Learning (AFIADL) • Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) • SCORM (http://adlnet.org) • The Defense Activity for Non-Tradition Education Support (DANTES) Distance Education

16. Government (2) • eGovernment initiative (eTraining) • Gov Online Learning Center (http://www.golearn.gov) • Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) • The Emergency Education NETwork (EENET) • FBI Virtual Academy • Departments of Education, Labor and Agriculture Distance Education

17. Government (3) • State Human Resource Development Programs • Law Enforcement • Municipal, water and power agencies Distance Education

18. Growth of Distance Education 100 90 79 80 72 70 62 58 60 50 44 40 33 30 22 20 12 10 0 All Institutions Private 4-year Public 2-year Public 4-year Fall 1995 1997-98 Source: U. S. Department of Education Distance Education

19. Total Number of Students • 1995 754,000 • 1997-98 1.6 Million • 2001 3 Million • Current Estimate6 Million (U. S. Department of Education) Distance Education

20. “Baby Boom Echo” Growth in General Student Population • 1997-2007 21% • 2007-2011 17% Distance Education

21. Faculty Involvement 35 30 25 20 Innovators Early Adopters Early Majority Late Majority Laggards 15 10 5 16% 34% 13.5% 34 % 2.5% 0 Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation model Distance Education

22. Faculty Involvement 35 30 25 20 Innovators Early Adopters Early Majority Late Majority Laggards 15 10 5 16% 34% 13.5% 34 % 2.5% 0 Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation model Distance Education

23. Investment in Technology • National • The Internet • Super Computers • Internte2 • Local • Fiber and Phone Lines • Servers • PCs Distance Education

24. Level of Investment • Millions • Billions • Trillions Distance Education

25. Industrial Age Standard Goods and Services On size fits all Distance Education

26. Post-Industrial Society Distance Education

27. Post-Industrial Society • Critical thinking • Decision making • Problem solving Distance Education

28. Differences • 150 Miles/hr • 2000 passenger/run • Safe & Comfortable • 50 Miles/hr • 200 passenger/run • Unsafe & Uncomfortable Distance Education

29. Feedback Loops: Positive Knowledge Learning Distance Education

30. Feedback Loops: Negative Room Temperature Heater Distance Education

31. Transactional Distance Independence structure Distance Education

32. Distance in education… • …depends on individual differences Distance Education

33. Individual differences • Prior-Learning • Differential progress • Course Structure • Mini Courses • Micro courses • Learning Objects Distance Education

34. Structural Issues • Flexible organization (Time to establish a new course) • Flexible Process (Time to degree) Distance Education