Reflection on the Future of Distance Learning

The availability of learning resources made possible by modern telecommunication technologies has transformed the educational landscape in the past several years. One impact is the growing acceptance of distance education throughout the world. Online learning and teaching resources have made it possible to provide effective instruction to populations once limited by time, distance, and economics. Today, anyone with access to a computer can gather information on any topic of interest from almost any data base around the world. In addition to information acquisition, is the availability of free online social and academic networking resources such as Facebook and MySpace for communicating with others worldwide at any time, day or night.

Today’s communication technologies are more compact, lightweight, and powerful digital tools capable of storing vast amounts of information retrievable in seconds. These technologies are well known to the younger generations who, as Peter Drucker expressed, have become computer literate before they have learned to read and write. With this new reality comes an increasing challenge for the current education profession to incorporate these technologies into the classroom setting. The growing acceptance of distance learning throughout higher education may mean that we in the adult education community need to prepare for these demands.

In the next 5 to 10 years we may see the hardcopy textbook replaced with the E-book, interactive learning software that uses entertainment as a means of educating. This one change can have a domino effect on the education industry worldwide. For example, all students could be provided with hand-held computers containing electronic versions of any book ever published. In essence, students could carry an entire library of information available to them at any time. This would mean that school libraries would become obsolete thus putting entire education communities out of work. The transportation, paper, ink, and other industries would also be affected as the education institutions move toward a totally virtual environment.

In 10 to 20 years the entire education system will probably be restructured with virtual schools being the norm and brick and mortar institutions reserved for those able to afford them. Open courses may evolve into open programs, schools and universities offering low cost quality education online or even education at no cost. This would result in an educated populace worldwide and possibly an unprecedented “new age of enlightenment”.

With these changes in the horizon, we must prepare ourselves and others in the education professions. Teachers must be technically competent to communicate with their students as well as share online resources with them and one another. Experienced educators at all levels must be encouraged to accept, learn, adopt, and incorporate new and emerging technologies into their classrooms, conventional and distant. Instructional Designers can act as proponents of distance education technologies by accepting this as a social responsibility.

Being a positive force for continued improvement in distance education may start with each individual educator. Incorporating online technologies into the classroom will only motivate students to learn using these resources. Measuring the impact of online learning technologies on student success will provide the evidence-based information necessary for moving distance education in the right direction.