COURSE REFLECTION

DISTANCE EDUCATION'S FUTURE

From 1953 - 1956 there was a television situation comedy (sitcom) called The Honeymooners The show centered around a married couple; Ralph Kramden, his wife Alice and their married friends and neighbors Ed and Trixie Norton. In one episode, Alice is upset because Ed brought Trixie a television and Ralph refused to purchase one for her. Ralph and Alice get into an intense argument wherein Alice demands to know why Ralph will not buy her a TV. Ralph replies, "Because I'm waiting for 3D TV" (Katsigeorgis, J., 1995). The audience burst into laughter. In the 1950's, when television was in its infancy, 3D TV was a preposterous notation.

As a young girl watching reruns of this show in the 1970s, I remember being doubled over with laughter the first time I saw this episode. The notion was silly. Fast-forward 60 years after this inane statement from Ralph Kramden and 40 years since my childhood and its here, 3D television. The same is true of the cell phones, computers, and other gadgets encountered on space age television shows. Episode after episode, children all over America watched people communicate with hand held devices resembling the current day iPhone and iPad. The high tech dream ware of one generation became commonplace tools for another!

Over the next 5 - 10 years, continued advances in face-to-face communication devices like Face-Time for the iPad2, webcams, and Skype will make the visual and auditory elements of distant learning better. In 10-20 years, it will be thoroughly ingrained in all aspects of learning and at every level of our educational system. Students will learn more in less time; contact with subject matter experts will be commonplace, and all instructors will have backgrounds and experience as instructional designers and course facilitators. While it will never replace the traditional classroom, we will look back and wonder what the fuss was about.

As an instructional designer, there are several things that can be done to improve the perception of distance learning and serve as a positive force.

1. Lead by example. In addition to teaching and facilitating online courses, the instructional designer must be committed to taking classes online. This action can serve as continued professional development, a method to acquire prospective from other instructors, and to maintain a student's prospective.




2. Become an advocate for distance learning now! Technologies also change the ways in which learning takes place (Partnership for 21st Century Learning). For grades 3 and up, find a way to add an online component. Educational experiences that are enabled by mobile devices and applications provide a multitude of un-tethered opportunities for students to be more engaged in learning and extend the learning process beyond the classroom (Project Tomorrow 2011 pp7).This can be as easy as moving short constructed response questions or picture prompt worksheets into an online format.




3. Develop courses that meet or exceed the highest professional standards. Require this of yourself and others in your circle of influence. In addition, speak up when poor quality and workmanship is evident.

Resources:
Katsigeorgis, J., (March 29, 1995). The Honeymooners. Retrieved on June 25, 2011 from http://www.honeymooners.net/
Article: Partnership for 21st Century Skills. The Intellectual and Policy Foundations of the 21st Century Skills Framework. Retrieved on June 16, 2011 from http://www.education.rec.ri.cmu.edu/roboticscurriculum/research/21st%20Centery%20Skills%20Framework.pdf
Project Tomorrow, 2011 (April 2011). The New 3 E's of Education: Enabled Engaged Empowered: How Today's Students are Leveraging Emerging Technologies for Learning. Retrieved April 27, 2011 from http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/pdfs/SU10_3EofEducation(Students).pdf%20%20