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.