Element of Distance Education Diffusion

In his Video, Dr Simonson (2009) emphasizes that Distance education provides equivalent learning experiences to those learners in Face-to-Face instruction but at most he expresses the positive impact of collaborative learning and the importance of educators to create a mix of individual and community based environment.

Consequently to George Siemens (2009) testimony from his video, point out that Institutions of higher education will gradually adopt distance education technologies and there is a significant growth in online communication practices that provides access to online courses, more than 80% of instruction is delivered at a distance.

Based on the testimonies of George Siemens(2009) and Dr Simonson(2009) I do agree with both of their views regarding to the growing acceptance of the three elements; (a) Global diversity; (b) Communication; and (c) Collaborative interaction
However, I do embrace collaborative learning because it allows teaching to go beyond classroom learning, creates social construction of knowledge, promotes initiative as well as creativity, critical thinking skills, but most establish high level trust within the learning community.

Basically, collaborative learning is an umbrella for online learning and without the
proper online programs and tools can result in a very frustrating experience for
learners. There are lots of online tools that are available today to assist you with distance learning. The following are some websites that I would like to share with you:

http://oedb.org/library/features/80-oer-tools
http://oedb.org/library/beginning-online-learning/e-learning-reloaded:-top-50-web-2.0-tools-for-info-junkies,-researchers-&-students
http://www.business.com/directory/management/knowledge_management/collaboration/groupware_software/




Reference:
Anderson, T. (Ed.) (2008). The theory and practice of online learning. Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press.
Simonson, M. "Principles of Distance Education Video: Distance Education: The Next Generation." Walden University, 2009. Laureate Education, Inc. Retrieved October 1, 2009



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