Implications: Review of three articles

Distance education is important to the mobility of students, no matter the age.  As a teacher in the classroom, I look for ways to streamline processes like data collections, curriculum building, and classroom management.  The motivating factors for corporate eLearning are predominantly economic (Moller, Foshay, and Huett, 2008).

Three articles discuss barriers and eventually the need to design distance education to meet the needs of the next generation.  The ability to access courses, tasks, and communicate with professional in the field will continue to develop.  It is always better to stay ahead of curve, in manner of speaking, where distance education is concerned.  Educational technology and distance education pull together learning strategies.  Putting this tool in the hands of the teacher is easy, but it is the implementation the differs from school to school.  Online high schools are often state-centered initiatives established to expand course offerings and meet the needs of certain student populations (Huett, Moller, Foshay, & Coleman, 2008). 

Considering all of factors that compile to design an effective course, it really is no different from what a traditional classroom teacher does in his or her lesson planning.  There must fidelity from the instructor and rigorous outcomes for all learners.  Fidelity from the instructor can be best described as how the learning environment can be facilitated.

Making A Connection: Julie Cornin-Gilmore - Creating an Online Course That Captures a Students Attention

References:

Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Coleman, C. (2008, September/October). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 3: K12). TechTrends, 52(5). 63-67.

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, May/June). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 1: Training and development). TechTrends, 52(3), 70-75.

Simonson, M. (2000). Making decisions: The use of electronic technology in online classrooms. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 84, 29–34.

Cornin-Gilmore, J. (2010). Blog. Retrieved on September 26, 2012 from http://usdla-org.blogspot.com/2010/07/creating-online-course-that-captures.html.