Distant Learning as a Viable Alternative to Traditional System of Learning - Essay Example

Insert Thesis ment Despite the many challenges that characterize distant learning, distant learning can still beimproved by fusing its elements with those of traditional learning. I. Introduction Since the 1990s, distant learning (DL) has gained an increasingly inevitable and inescapable mien. Technological advancements especially in Information Technology (IT), changing corporate behavior and globalization are some of the main factors that have pushed DL into stardom. Citing the pitfalls of DL as the reason for its disbandment is a way too easy out of problems, since all artificially contrived constructs are imperfect. This kind of standpoint also betrays being derelict of pragmatism and the failure to grasp the essence of DL. It is for these same reasons that educationalists posit that even in the face of a myriad of challenges that beset DL, DL can still be improved by fusing its elements with those of traditional learning. Statement of the problem This discussion is to facilitate a meaningful discourse on the nature, competitive progress and the fate of the distant or virtual learning system. Definition of Terms On one hand, the term distant learning refers to a system of learning whereby classes get conducted by correspondence, and lectures are broadcasted through the Internet, so that the student needs not to attend a literal school or college. In order to avoid a brush with redundancy, distant learning is to be abbreviated as DL, in this discussion. Thus, DL may be synonymously referred to as distance education. For this same cause, online education is not only a facet of DL, but may also be treated as an alternative term for DL, in this discussion. Another term that are used synonymously to DL include virtual learning, though the abbreviation DL is to be chiefly used. On the other hand, traditional learning refers to conventional and long-established customs in schools and colleges, having been deemed as appropriate by the society. Another term that may be synonymously used to refer to traditional education is back-to-back basics. Methodology The research method used is an integration of both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The discussion in this paper rests on the nature, competitive progress and future of distant learning. All this is done with an overall intention of sealing the pitfalls in DL as a way of bringing ameliorations to distant education. Significance of Study This study is important since it seeks to address the lacunae that accost the DL module and curriculum. It is important to note that the discussion vouches for the integration of elements of traditional and DL modules as the solution to distant education’s shortcomings. Thus, by seeking to execute this proposition, the paper will have triggered a meaningful movement towards educational reforms. On the other hand, educational reforms have serious implications, as they directly have a bearing on the competence of America’s professional and skilled labor. Body The reason for succoring DL instead of wholly banishing it for its inadequacies is premised on the very benefits of DL. Particularly, DL is more accessible to those who reside far away from a literal educational center. This means that the time and money used in travelling to the center and the limitations caused by geographical barriers are annulled in DL. DL also supports fast-and-self-paced learning. This means that learners are able to go through or browse literary materials that they have already gone through and to put in more effort and time in newer concepts. Students are also able to study learning materials at a personal intensity and speed. In the same wavelength, the student also enjoys flexibility to join discussions in the bulletin board at any preferred hour. Because of the DL module, the student is bequeathed with a greater opportunity for engaging the most recent academic materials available. Those with irregular work schedule and parties with limited mobility (such as the handicapped, the elderly, and the injured) can also further their education through distant education. Those faced with family responsibilities can also further their education through the DL system. It is against the backdrop of the reasons above that instead of calling for the disbandment of DL; it is more viable to root for the restructuring and improvement of DL. Thus, the manner in which DL can be improved are to be discussed forthwith. First, it is expedient that elementary and high school levels of learning are absolved from the rigors of DL. This is chiefly because; participants of these levels of education are too young to draw from the values of DL. Rebuttal Virtues such as responsibility and self-discipline are not universally distributed among adults. There are irresponsible children, just a there are reckless adults. Qualifier The inability of elementary and high school learners to draw values from DL is underpinned by the fact that most of elementary and high school learners are too young to tinker the use of the Internet and absence of supervision with self-discipline and self-control. Thus, DL may not help most of learners in high school and elementary levels. Reason/Ground DL gives its subscribers a carte blanche- a value that younger learners may not be able to handle well. Strictly, the carte blanche is seen in DL being bereft of constant supervision. This means that DL totally requires self-discipline to be successful. On the contrary, it is questionable that elementary and high school students have the virtue of self-control to steer clear of distractions that come with the use of the Internet. One of the temptations that elementary and high school learners have to contend with is the allure of Facebook. Specifically, Facebook is exceedingly popular among students in high school. Noel-Levitz, NRCCUA, College Week Live and OmniUpdate released statistical findings in January 2012 to prove this popularity. The statistical findings were arrived at by observing 2,300 high school students. The findings stated that 95% of these students were extremely active in online social media (Noel-Levitz, 1). This finding does not only underscore the usability of Facebook but also the degree of possible addiction to Facebook among these users. This high dependence on Facebook may frustrate the goals of DL among younger learners. Conversely, it is also doubtful that high school and elementary learners have foundational knowledge needed to facilitate the induction of DL. The same groups of learners also have a relatively lower level of cognitive skills, compared to learners in tertiary level of learning. The import of this is that the absence of an actual tutor denies learners the chance to field an impromptu question-and-answer interaction. This may leave elementary and high school learners unable to comprehend new concepts being introduced to them, at one end. At the other end, students in tertiary level of learning should be amenable to success in DL, because of the higher degree of intellectual maturity, self-discipline and self-accountability. Whereas this self-discipline is underscored by the responsibility that this group bears, intellectual maturity is underscored by it meeting the prerequisites for college or university admission. Financial responsibility likewise fosters self-accountability of learners in tertiary level of education. In a different wavelength, Sanders waxes polemical that it is important that operations of colleges and universities are harmonized and enhanced. To this effect, community colleges offering DL courses must be confined to the issuance of trade and technical certifications. Learning institutions that provide DL modules must belong to a charter if they embark on the issuance of degrees. This is to ensure that no degree-issuing DL institution operates on its own (39). Rebuttal Locking out colleges from issuing degrees is akin to applying blanket condemnation. There are colleges such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) which surpass other universities in issuing more recognized degrees. Reason Due to high stakes of credibility issues, it is helpful that DL colleges restrict their operations to the issuance of diplomas and certificates. The crux of the matter is that traditional colleges do not confer degrees independently, and therefore, DL colleges must not be an exception. The involvement of the charter is also needful for the upholding of credibility of education. It is the charter that determines the cut-off points for admission and graduation. In traditional setting, community colleges do not offer B.A., B.S. or any other four-year degrees. It would be therefore absurd to accord DL community colleges the power to confer these degrees. Just as back-to-back colleges are confined to the first two years’ certification and training, DL community colleges must also follow suit. Just because DL may be relatively newer (having gained popularity in 1990), more fashionable and more helpful to the working class and those with limited mobility, does not warrant any denudation of educational standards and legitimacy (Hassan, 99). Third, DL learners must be exposed to research activities, diverse approaches and types of referencing. To this effect, research units may be introduced at the onset of the course, and then expanded as the course progresses through the years or semesters. With this progression, the degree of supervision by the lecturer ought to increase. Not only should research work be integrated to DL curriculum, but the same should also constitute part of DL students’ overall marks. Rebuttal Research undertakings are not necessarily central to all disciplines, careers and profession. Grounds/ Reasons Any learning program that is carried out within the tertiary level of learning has to factor research undertakings and knowledge as being integral to learning. Since researching totally involves the search for the truth, and the interpretation and presentation of the same, any student who goes through a DL module without having mastered researching skills can be said to have come out of the system half-baked. Asked if they considered theoretical learning outside knowledge of research skills as sufficient, 95.7% of university and college administration staff in the private sector answered in the negative. In the public sector, 97% thought it seriously inappropriate to have full-fledged tertiary education without research undertakings. Again, when the same polling was done among teaching staff, 99% thought it preposterous that college or university learning can be inducted without exposing learners to researching activities (National Bureau of Statistics, 52). Fourthly, there is a serious need to make both academic and non-academic prerequisites to both traditional and DL modules uniform. The cut off points that are being used in back-to-back modules must also be observed in DL. If ACT and SAT tests are being considered alongside academic performance in high school as prerequisites to admission into traditional colleges or universities systems, then the same observation should be applicable to DL standards. The Grade Point Average (GPA) must also be applicable to local and international students, traditional and DL modules. Rebuttal College and universities should be accorded the autonomy to become self-determinate, since different institutions of learning have unique aims to dispense, for the betterment of the society. Grounds/ reasons Maintaining uniformity when setting up the prerequisites for university or college intakes for traditional and DL modules goes a long way in solidifying fair competition, meritocracy and competence. Since courses in tertiary levels of learning need standardization and are competitive, there is need to have fixed cluster points. Cluster points refer to the number of points required for admission into a specific discipline. Not only will unfair be encouraged, but competence will have been shelved away, in the event that uniformity is not well maintained in setting up the prerequisites needed for admission into a course. The import of this is that if prerequisites for DL and traditional models are not standardized, then there will be variance in the degree of competence among professionals produced by DL and traditional modules. The failure to assimilate elements of traditional classrooms (student-lecturer interaction, research activities and group discussions) into DL will further widen this competence gap between these two groups. It is against this backdrop that 77% of organizations in America have been found to prefer professionals from traditional classrooms to their DL-produced counterparts (McNeil, 34). Again, to diffuse the weaknesses of DL, it is also important that measures are put in place to excise some disciplines such as medicine and engineering from DL. Rebuttal Institutions of higher learning should be provided with the power to determine their cut-off points since every institution has its own goals. After all, no learning institution will lower its educational standards due to the need to remain accredited, in conformity with educational standards and publicly well reputed. Reasons/ grounds Particularly, medicine and other health-related fields directly touch on human life and health; and as such, must not be learned away from the instructors’ practical input and tutelage. At the same time, other disciplines such as engineering are too technical to be relegated to DL which tends to favor the dissemination of theoretical knowledge more than practical knowledge. Guri-Rozenblit posits that it is also helpful if elements of DL are fused with those of back-to-back basics, if reasonable ameliorations are to be made in DL. Some of these elements include: student-lecturer consultations, practical work and presentations and discussion groups (77). Ground/ reasons Incorporating the elements of traditional learning into DL may be easier if properly executed. First of all, forming virtual study groups is made easier and more tenable through the existence of faculty and departmental inputs. Just as Cheng-yen postulates, faculties and departments can in turn use provisions of IT development such as Facebook, Twitter, online library accounts, MySpace and videoconferencing web 2.0. Participation in these kinds of debates should in turn be included as part of overall marks during end-of-semester exams, in order to entrench the culture of intellectual discussions among DL partakers. Conversely, time tables can be drawn for every unit (course), so that time for lecturer-student and student-student engagements is consistency observed. DL can also cater for physical meeting among learners so as to nurture a personal touch among the participants, right from the onset to the course, to its conclusion (65). Conclusion The proposals that have been presented do not only show that DL can be improved for the better, but also proceed to show that DL can be adopted as a viable alternative to traditional system of learning. The same proposals also go a long way to undercut the calls for the disbandment of DL as an inadequate arrangement. Just because a construct has its own shortcomings must not be construed to mean an inherent weakness. DL is not an exception in this case. All technological and theoretical advancements that have been made initially were characterized by a myriad of pitfalls which were later worked on. Distant education can be worked on to serve as a perfect parallel to traditional classrooms. Works Cited Cheng-Yen, Wang. “Educational Implications of Blogs for Enriching Adult Collaborative Distance Learning.” International Journal of Continuing Education & Lifelong Learning, 2.2 (2010), 59-71. Print. Guri-Rozenblit, Sarah. “The Potential Contribution of Distance Teaching Universities to Improving Learning and Teaching Practices in Conventional Universities.” Higher Education, 19.1 (2000), 73-80. Print. Hassan, Moshood. “Manpower Development for Workers in Tertiary Institutions: Distance Learning Approach.” International Education Studies, 4.2 (2011), 89-101. Print. McNeil, Mike. “Corporate Idiosyncrasies.” How Learning Modules and Human Relations Relate, 12.4 (2011), 34. Print. National Bureau of Statistics. “Public Perception towards Education and Research.” National Bureau of Statistics, 45.12 (2010), 52. Print. Noel-Levitz. “Mobile Social Media Use among College-Bound High School Students.” Noel-Vitz, January, 2012. Web. 20 July 2012. Sanders, Lisa. “Improving Distance Education Program Quality through the Implementation of a Center for Excellence.” Distance Learning, 8.1 (2011), 37-42. Print. Read More