Module 1: The Next Generation of Distance Education

The three articles by Moller, Huett, Foshay, and Coleman (2008) discussed valid concerns about distance education. Distance education is flourishing and becoming the choice for continued education and training for organizations and non traditional students. One of the ways to ensure that distance education continues to flourish and does not simply become a fad to through the development of an evaluation tool. The articles discussed the need for an evaluation tool that will be consistently used. This evaluation tool would not only evaluate the content but the instructional design as well. It is important to evaluate the effectiveness of e-learning to validate its purpose. 

Another valid point discussed was the lack of trained professionals. Some institutions may have educators developing the online course. To come this concept makes sense because an educator should be well versed in pedagogy and the content being taught. However, all educators are not familiar with instructional design for an online environment. One way of dealing with this is to have the Subject Matter Expert (SME), which in this case is the educator, work closely with the Instructional Designer (ID). This collaboration will create an effective and engaging online learning environment.

Moller, Huett, Foshay, Coleman, and Simonson all agree that distance education has the potential to grow exponentially if the above concerns are addressed. With this foreseen growth, accreditation processes will also need to be refined to ensure academic honesty.

References 

Simonson, M. (2000). Making decisions: The use of electronic technology in online

classrooms. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 84,  29–34.

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, May/June). The evolution of distance

education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 1:Training and Development). TechTrends, 52 (3), 70–75. 

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, July/August). The evolution of distance

education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 2:Higher Education). TechTrends, 52 (4), 66–70.

Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W. & Coleman, C. (2008, September/October). The

The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the

potential of the web (Part 3:K12 ). TechTrends, 52 (5), 63–6 7.