Distance Education Introduction

I attended a live broadcast of an educational television program this morning at the KPBS studio on SDSU campus. The program was produced by the International Training Center, http://www.itc-group.org/, as part of their 2005 Series – Managerial Excellence and Networked Collaboration for Global Competitiveness. Their programs are live, interactive videoconferences. They transmit them in both English and Spanish via satellite, microwave, and cable to parts of the United States and to several parts of Latin America.

This evening I decided to read some of the required reading for EDTEC 650. I read an article by Dr. Fred Saba, my professor for the course. The article is entitled Distance Education: An Introduction to the Discipline and the Practice. Dr. Saba starts off by introducing distance education as “a general concept that has its roots in general and adult education; embracing independent study, self-directed learning, as well as non-traditional and open education.” He goes on to list how its roots can be traced back to at least the 1600’s. He next discusses correspondence education, educational radio, and educational television before writing about the telecommunications revolution and the internet.

As I read the section about educational television I thought how appropriate it was that I attended the broadcast of an educational television program this morning. It is good to see how, even though the FCC granted the first educational television license in 1945, educational television is still being used effectively today. However, it is important to point out that the program I saw today would not be possible without many advances in telecommunications that Dr. Saba lists in his paper. So we see the old (educational television) blending with the new (telecommunications revolution) to present a current educational product.

While reading the section about educational television I had another idea about the old (educational television) and the new (the internet). Dr. Saba mentioned much research concerning educational television that has been done over the years. One of the early studies he discussed was Kumata’s research in the late 1950’s. Kumata (1960) determined that certain learner traits were primary factors in learning. Among these were audience motivation, subject matter preparation, interaction with the teacher, and audience attitudes towards television and the subject matter being presented. I thought how interesting that these are some of the same traits being studied today in reference to learning on the internet. This (learning on the internet or online learning) is one area I hope to learn much more about over the coming weeks and months.

Kumata . H. (1960). A decade of teaching by television. In Schramm, W. (Ed,). The impact of television: Selected studies form the research sponsored by the National Educational Television and Radio Center. Urbana, Ill. University of Illinois Press.