post-modern distance education

I sat in on the second session of my EDTEC 650 class earlier this evening. A big part of this course, about 30%, will be working on a course project or research paper. The project or research paper must be relevant to the field of distance education.

This evening we had two guest presenters, one from the local campus television station and the other from the campus Instructional Technology Services, each of them pitching a project from their respective organizations. Dr. Saba also discussed several other projects he is interested in having us work on. One of these is designing a Learning Management System (LMS) for the future. This LMS would be much more learner centered, i.e. be designed considering the needs of the learner, than instructor centered. This would be a new paradigm for LMS systems. I am sure I will write more about this later.

Dr. Saba also discussed how much of the teaching done today is pre-modern, most university management and administration is modern, and distance education is post-modern. Much teaching is done similar to how a craft is done. For example a teacher is a solo worker. He or she does everything for the course he or she is teaching. The management and administration of the university is standardized, industrial. There is little or no room to cater to individual needs or interests. Distance education, on the other hand, allows for mass customization, a key to post-modernism.

I can almost hear some of you saying, “So what?” Because distance education allows for mass customization, it provides individuals opportunities to take only those courses that are directly relevant to them. Individuals can take courses when they want them from many different providers whether those providers are located nearby or across the globe. They can work on courses at their own pace, starting and finishing when they want to. They can also pick and choose from the best suppliers of those courses.

While distance education provides these and many other benefits, it also raises significant challenges. Although I do not want to overlook the challenges, I don’t have time to discuss them here and now. Check back in coming days for more on this topic.