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=**Learning about Distance Education** =

Defining Distance Education/Learning
Today, with Distance Learning and Distance Education becoming more prevalent in all areas, the meanings of the two phrases have become almost synonymous and are generally used interchangeably. But many authors have used the same terms to mean different things. We have been told that it is very important to understand the meaning of 'distance education" (Phipps & Merisotis, 1999). Though this WIKI will deal mainly with asynchronous distance education it might be a good thing to define the terms of distance education/learning.

The best place to begin, I believe, is with a definition of learning. The working definition of learning that will be used in this wiki is "Learning is improved capabilities in knowledge and/or behavior as a result of mediated experiences that are constrained by interactions with the situation" (King, Young, Drivere-Richmond, & Schrader, 2001). Learning may occur by design, or it might occur by chance. King, et.al, (2001) further divided learning into thee categories: 1) instruction: objectives-driven learning: 2) exploration: without objectives; and 3) serendipity: unintended learning or what Pausch (2008) might call a "head fake." The first category is the one that most readily comes to mind when we discuss learning in formal settings. This is the instructional, or educational, model. The defining characteristic of this subcategory is the student and instructor interaction and most texts or articles deal with learning about learning in such situations. This is the most formal of the three categories of learning, and the one that we will deal with in this WIKI. But, from the above definition and subsequent delineation of learning categories, we see that education is a subset of learning, learning is the overarching term/concept.

Further, in-person education is defined as a situation in which the instructor and the student share the same time and geographic space. That is, the student and instructor are constrained by time and geographic location (Barker & Dickson, 1996). Distance learning, on the other hand, is where the student is separated from the what is being learned by time and/or distance. Distance learning is improved capabilities in knowledge and/or behaviors as a result of mediated experiences that are constrained by time and/or distance such that the learner does not share the same situation with what is being learned (King, et al., 2001). It is but a short leap to a definition of distance education. "Distance education is formalized instructional learning where the time/geographic constrains learning by not affording in-person contact between student and instructor". Distance education can be synchronous where the student and instructor are present at the same time but not in the same geographic location, or it can be asynchronous, where the student and instructor are separated by both time and geographic area. An example of synchronity would be video teleconferencing and an example of asynchronity would be email.

One important thing to note here is that sychronous interaction allow "real-time" interaction, whereas asynchronous interactions are not carried out in "real time."

These differences between in-place education and distance education have led to much discussion and debate on many of the subtopics within education itself. Is one better than the other? Why? Who is best at teaching at a distance? What qualities make a good distance education student? Why? An many more questions much to numerous to mention. The purpose of this WIKI, therefore, is to uncover some of the issues and discuss them.

REFERENCES

Barker, B. O., & Dickson, M. W. (1996). Distance learning technologies in K-12 schools: Past, present, and future practice. //Techtrends, 41//(6), 19-22.

King, F. B., Young, M. F., Richmond, K. L., & Schrader, P. G. (2001, October). Defining distance learning and distance education. //Educational Technology Review 9//(1).

Pausch, R. (2008). //The last lecture.// New York: Hyperion.

Phipps, R., & Merisotis, J.P. (1999, April). //What's the Difference? A review of contemporary research on the effectiveness of distance learning in higher education.// Washington, DC: The Institute for Higher Education Policy.