Three New Things I Learned

I learned a great deal from reading this paper! The three things I learned that I thought were the most substantial were the following:

In the past, I somewhat viewed distance education as somewhat just as an addendum to “real education. On page 3 of this article, I was shocked to read, “Overwhelming research supporting that there is ‘no statistically significant difference’ between the effectiveness of distance and face to face instruction. It’s not that I do not believe it, I was just surprised to read that it has been proven! It dramatically changes how I view distance education.

On page 13, the statement was made “One aspect of this economic transformation was the emergence of knowledge as the single most important ‘commodity’ in the prosperity of nations”. Although I have heard about this before, I guess I was struck by this because I now find myself somewhat in the middle of all this. To me, it is just amazing to see this happening, to see things go from manufacturing things to being obsessed with information. Who would have ever thought this could happen!

Finally, on page 28, the paper refers to three cultures, “1. The premodern culture of the faculty 2. The modern culture of the administration 3. And the postmodern culture afforded to distance educators by the application of information technology to teaching and learning.” I had never really thought about this, but at least in my world, this is very true! Once again, this changes how I view distance education.

Personally, I think we are moving toward a world of ‘have’s’ and ‘have not’s’ , the difference being those who have computer skills and those who don’t. I think eventually there will be activities that people will not be able to participate in unless they are computer literate and own certain products. This would be the ultimate wish fulfillment of anyone involved in producing or marketing anything related to information management. Who would not want to produce a product that people could not “live without it!” I think some iPhone apps will eventually get to this place.