George Siemens discussed three possible elements of distance education that create effective learning experiences and separate distance learning from F2F experiences. These include global diversity, communication, and collaborative interaction. I have selected global diversity as the topic for this reflection post.
In the video "The Future of Distance Education", (Laureate Education, Inc. 2008) George Siemens stated that the key challenge of distance education was to bridge the gap of comfort so that as learners get comfortable with distance education, it becomes almost a preferable learning medium. Distance education provides learners with diverse and global groups. Online tools that are available today to facilitate interactions among learners include email, facebook, Skype, YouTube, blogging, Wikis, to name a few.
I Googled to search for other educators blogs about global diversity and was surprised to find two Walden University students' blogs that were posted last year. The first blog http://wondergemprinciplesofdistanceed.blogspot.com/2010/04/global-diversity-in-distance-education_01.html
described a lack of globalization in distance learning and the author stated that although most universities open their doors to international students, their curriculum is mostly geared for American students. The author felt that we were a long ways from creating a "world university" and bridging the gaps in education. Another blog that I found was http://blogs.lib.ncsu.edu/educ8842/entry/elements_of_distance_education_diffusion
and this author noted that most technologies are designed and deployed in developed countries, and this is information is limited in countries that are developing. According to this author, our potential to bridge the gaps in language, education, and culture will be possible through distance learning but that developing countries would lag behind.
References:
Carter, M. (2010, April 4). Re: Elements of Distance Education Diffusion [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://blogs.lib.ncsu.edu/educ8842/entry/elements_of_distance_education_diffusion
Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). The Future of Distance Education. Baltimore: Author.
Wondergem, K. (2010, April 1). Re: Global Diversity in Distance Education [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://wondergemprinciplesofdistanceed.blogspot.com/2010/04/global-diversity-in-distance-education_01.html
Hello Neena:
ReplyDeleteI do agree globalization is highly rewarded with the online distance educational process. I have interacted with so many different people that have shared their cultural and ethnicity traditions through Walden and some in my own classroom, since I teach cultural diversity, it has been a wonderful experience all around. I finally got to meet many people F2F during my first residency in December and now I feel I have painted a full picture of putting a name to a face. Great post, I enjoyed reading these other comments as well. Have a great week.
Good post, Neena:) I think that distance education does have the potential to bridge the gap between cultures across the globe. Online students have the opportunity to learn from others with diverse cultural backgrounds that traditional brick-and-mortar students often do not have. We need to make sure that our students have the tools necessary to not only make the most of the global diversity they come into contact with online in an intellectual manner, but also in terms of being accepting of cultures other than their own.
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