Naugle Interesting Items

Three things I found interesting in the article:
• History of Distance Education
• Creation of PBS
• Transactional Distance

History of Distance Education
It was interesting to learn the history of distance education, being a part of this program I have been a member of a distance education program but I gave little thought to how distance education began. Learning that the federal government pulled its funding from correspondence education and limited it with regulations, made me wonder where would distance education be if that hadn’t happened? Would it have continued down the fraudulent path or would it have evolved to be more genuine and effiecent? When talking to people about my experience with distance education I will occasionally hear “it’s easier because it’s online”, “you’re not really going to school,” or “you’re just paying for your grades.” It makes me wonder are some of today’s distance education stereotypes rooted in what happened in the 1900’s?

Creation of PBS
I grew up watching PBS; Sesame Street was a show both my sister and I loved. I still have vivid memories of some of the songs, skits, and lessons I learned. I didn’t realize it was created for equal access to education for children (particularly those in inner cities). It is amazing to see the power an educational show can have, it is still a loved and highly watched program, and it those who are exposed to it are more likely to succeed in school. PBS was created in part because of the civil rights movement with a goal to bring education to America’s inner cities but has gone beyond the boundaries of inner cities and has help educate much of America.

Transactional Distance
This is the first time I’ve heard distance education has been described as a psychological and social phenomenon. I had the opportunity to travel from Central California to San Diego for graduation, my schedule only allowed me to be there for the ceremony but I soon realized I already knew these people. The COMET group found one another, and if you were an outsider looking in you’d never think we only knew each other virtually. Our instructors have guided us and help us created a learning environment in which we are independent learners who are encourage to communicate with instructors and each other.