Distance Education as a system

Today I purchased and started reading the other book I must read for EDTEC 650, Distance Education: A Systems View by Michael Moore and Greg Kearsley (2005). It is an introductory text to the field of Distance Education. Today I read the preface and chapter one – Basic Concepts. As the name of the book implies, Moore and Kearsley take a systems view of distance education; this is introduced in the first chapter.

They list what they term “four levels of distance education.” These are Single Mode Institutions, Dual Mode Institutions, Individual Teachers, and Virtual Universities and Consortia (pp. 4-5). Single mode institutions are those that only engage in distance education. Dual mode institutions are those that have added distance education to their traditional on campus course offerings. Individual teachers is self explanatory; virtual universities and consortia are groups of two or more institutions that have banded together to provide distance education.

To describe a system they use as an example the human body and tell how the human body is a system made up of various individual parts. They go on to state that either neglecting one part or paying undue attention to one part can have negative affects on the other parts. So it is with distance education. A distance education system consists of many individual parts. Some of these listed by Moore and Kearsley are: Management, Content Sources, Interaction, Delivery, and Learning Environment (p. 14). If we either neglect or emphasize one particular part it will have deleterious affects on the system as a whole.

Each of the parts of a distance education system is itself made up of several individual parts. For example the delivery part includes both the media used and the technology. Many institutions have spent much money on technology and now consider themselves to have a distance education program. If they neglect all the other parts of the distance education system though, their program as a whole will be woefully inadequate. A comprehensive distance education program includes much more than just technology. For me and others like me who are very much interested in technology, this is information of which we must remain aware.

Moore, M. G. & Kearsley, G. (2005). Distance education: a systems view (2nd Ed.). Belmont, CA: Thompson Wadsworth.