The Evolution of Distance Education: Implications for Instructional Design on the Potential of the Web

Abstract

In this issue, we offer our readers the first of a three-part series on distance education.The growth of online distance learning (elearning) is explosive in almost all sectors, and in many developed and developing countries. We believe that the dominant approach now realizes very little, if any, of e-learning's transformational potential, nor can we be assured that high instructional quality is recognized and valued.The challenge for ID professionals is not only to evolve the field, but also to assure that the products of sound professional design practice lead the e-learning enterprise.In these three articles, we will describe the major e-learning trends that we have observed in the training, higher education, and K-12 education sectors. We will then examine how each sector is affecting (or ought to affect) the ID field. We offer our arguments as opinions. Our hope is that the thoughts presented here will be the beginning of many dialogues on the future of ID and e-learning-not the last word.neering their business processes to exploit information and communications technology. Today, it would almost be unthinkable to perform many strategic business functions any other way. This represents transformational, not just incremental, change.Enterprise managers now demand transformative change of the training function. The most direct rationale for this change is based on reductions in training delivery costs. Information technology infrastructure is a "sunk cost;" ergo, the training function does not have to cost-justify it. "Letting the electrons do the traveling" offsets the costs of travel to the training center, the overhead of the classroom, and much of the loss of trainee productivity. Furthermore, elearning is instantly available, providing timely and on-demand learning access impossible in a traditional training center. Finally, e-learning is scalable: Once developed, tens of thousands of employees or customers can use it immediately. When the training supports a change management or technology dissemination initiative, this capability can be crucial. These benefits far outweigh the relatively high up-front cost of training development using e-learning.Unfortunately, in many corporate e-learning implementations, effectiveness is either naively assumed or not particularly valued. Evaluation of any kind beyond the "smile sheet" is not planned, and, often, there is no provision for the measurement of learning outcomes or utilization.

Assessing Quality And Effectiveness In Fully Online Distance Education

“…" Scarafiotti, (2004, p. 42) She makes the case that online courses are not always the cost efficient option in comparison to traditional face-to-face class-based tuition. Numerous authors have provided evidence to contend that online education is not a cheap option (Njenga & Fourie, 2010;Guri-Rosenblit, 2005;Moller, Foshay & Huett, 2008;Childs, Blenkinso, Hall, & Walton, 2005).…”

“…Developing a quality online education package including training staff and supporting staff infrastructure for enrolling students online, investing in appropriate information and communications technologies and developing new institutional strategies to accommodate online learners add further to the costs of fully online distributed education. Emerging issues continue to be related to training provision, salary, workload, intellectual property rights, promotion and tenure and how these are all impacted upon by online education (Moller et al, 2008).…”

Comparing Effectiveness of E-learning Training and Traditional Training in Industrial Safety and Health

“…The most commonly used methodology for evaluating corporate training programs is the Learning Levels model by Dr. Donald Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick's classic model for measuring traditional learning is applicable for e-learning as well (Kramer, 2007;Moller et al, 2008;Ruiz et al, 2006;Strother, 2002).…”