Wk1 Blog Post Comments on Scott Legere’s Blog

You make a very interesting point when you refer to many people not taking online education seriously enough. Most of the time when I tell people that I am working to acquire my masters degree online, they are puzzled and say, “How does that work?”. I agree that there are many benefits that were historically not available to students as they are now in this technological age. I liked the phrase you used, “democratization of information” when referring to the amount of material that the Internet has made accessible to so many. I think one of the goals in the proper use of LMSs is help provide a focused beam of knowledge from all that is out there. Allowing students to receive many different perspectives as easily as browsing a single web page. I share your enthusiasm for the possibilities of distance education, and think of FSO as a great model for how it can be done effectively.

On Wednesday, August 4th Scott Legere wrote:

Honestly, I am not at all surprised that our readings this week trace the origins of distance learning back almost 300 years. More importantly, I think it is critical that supporters of distance learning programs reiterate this fact in light of the many recent criticisms which have been brought to bear on VLEs within the last several months.

I think the social nature of humanity is ingrained deep within our beings. For millennia, we have communicated with each other and passed down information through oral history, hieroglyphics, pictographs, stone tablets, and virtually every other medium discovered. Furthermore, communication and negotiation between peoples is vital to the stability of any civilized community.

Education is but one of the many frameworks through which we communicate. As such, it is only natural that our educational systems incorporate the very tools and resources which our society regularly uses. Whether this phenomenon is manifested in Caleb Phillips' mail order lessons, the University of Alberta's purchase of a IBM 1500 in 1968, or the launch of Jones International University, all of these examples bear a similar educational intent.

More to the point, it was encouraging for me to study the timelines of distance education development. Personally, I've been thrilled with our program here at Full Sail and I would whole heartedly encourage other colleagues considering an advanced degree to look at the EMDT program.

However, as many of us have previously discussed in various blog posts and course assignments throughout the year, there are still many in both the public and professional spheres who are skeptical about online education. Recently, as schools like the University of Pheonix and other for-profit institutions (which rely significantly online resources) have come under federal scrutiny, I've found myself having to defend our program more than ever. While "defend" is probably too harsh a word to accurately describe some of these conversations, it is a shame that all too often online education is trumpeted merely as a convenient and time-saving option for learning.

What I would like to reiterate to parents, teachers, and legislators alike is that for centuries, educators have been working to bring the best tools, resources, and minds together in order to provide for the learning of that era's students. For example, if I were to teach copyright course this fall, I believe it would be in my students' best interests to meet with and discuss intellectual property with Lawrence Lessig, one of the nation's preeminent scholars on the subject. Considering Mr. Lessig's obligations and responsibilities at Harvard Law School, it is very unlikely that this opportunity would come to pass. That said, I could add his book to my syllabus. Better still, we could try and set up a video conference with Mr. Lessig or stream one of his recent lectures.

In any of these scenarios, we are simply trying to pass on the knowledge of an expert to our learners. Personally, I think that VLEs such as Full Sail's portal have tremendous potential to supply educators and students with a wealth of information, communications infrastructure, and the mechanisms to store, catalog, and relay such information in a compelling manner.

Distance learning is not new. Motivated teachers have been leveraging such tools for centuries. However, since the early 1990s, the power of desktop computing and the democratization of information afforded by the development of the Internet has greatly expanded these platforms to near ubiquity. Furthermore, the greater adoption of these systems will only grow as Internet-based communication protocols represent one of the most comprehensive and efficient means to disseminate important content. The debate within our educational system moving forward should not be about the validity of distance education, but rather how such tools are designed, implemented, and maintained in order to best meet the challenging learning goals of our diverse population.

This program has made me a true believer in the potential of online distance education. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to study their evolution (even at a cursory level), as this experience will only further allow me to discuss these valuable tools with a broader and more holistic perspective.