Challenges to Distance Education

A year ago or so, I agreed to be interviewed by a group of graduate students in a distance education leadership course.  They submitted a set of questions and then followed up with a teleconference.  The recent situation at Western Governor’s University concerning how distance education should be evaluated and regulated reminded me of some of this discussion.  Here are some of my thoughts at the time.  I think I would say the same things today.

Q:  What do you believe are the current challenges facing distance education and which of these challenges do you believe needs to be addressed first?

A: The major challenge for distance education is that it must lead higher education (and thus all of education) into the 21^st century.   Distance education institutions must make education as accessible and user-friendly as the rest of our virtual (online) experience, such things as banking and shopping, for instance.

However, there are significant obstacles to accomplishing this goal.  First, the regulatory environment is a mess.  States cannot agree on how to regulate online education across state lines.  This boils down to consumer protection issues and, of course, revenue sharing.  At the federal level, the Department of Education is at a loss to develop a meaningful template for evaluating distance education within the framework of higher education in general. Our system of accreditation is ill equipped to deal with issues of quality in the physical classroom, and even less so in the virtual classroom.

The issue of technology must also be addressed.  The state of technology as it exists in higher education is abysmal when compared to the rest of society.  As I alluded to above, we can conduct our banking transactions while moving seamlessly from online to bricks-and-mortal environments.  The same is true for shopping at Target or Saks.  Higher education is not even close to making this happen.

So what needs to happen first?  For institutions, integration of technology is primary.  IT departments and faculty (especially faculty) have to embrace a collaborative approach to redesigning a classroom experience that is neither virtual nor physical, but a true blend. At the regulatory level, states and the feds need to level the playing field for distance education institutions and apply regulations equally across all classroom environments in all types of institutions.

Q:  In light of the increasing popularity of online learning, especially at traditional institutions, what do you think distance education institutions need to do to remain competitive?

A:  Distance Education institutions need to do a gut check and think ahead.  First, they need to recognize that they are NOT in the distance education business.  They are in the EDUCATION business.  The future of education will not be an either/or situation.   The learning environment will be a model that incorporates some elements of what exists today, both physically and virtually.  Successful institutions will be those that figure out what needs to be kept, what needs to be discarded, and, very importantly, what new things need to be done.

Q:  To remain competitive, many distance education institutions are turning to competency-based learning. What are your thoughts/feelings on this approach and in what ways do believe it is well suited, or not, for distance education?

A:  Competency-based learning is great opportunity for distance education (and all education for that matter).  Online education gives students the chance to progress at their own rate on a just-in-time basis.  If you look at other aspects of communication and information in society, this is the way things work.  We have access to information on-demand, and we can use that information at our own pace.  There is no need to pretend that information is exchanged only in discreet bits and in specific places.  The world doesn’t work that way anymore, and education needs to catch up.

Q:  What advice can you provide on pursuing careers in distance education?

A:  This is free advice, so you get what you pay for.  I think, as I said above, that education will look very different in the future.  I suspect that it may come from revolution rather than evolution.  By that I mean that someone out of necessity is going to develop the next generation of education.  Look through the lens of “form follows function.”  Ask what the function of education in today’s society is.  Then figure out how to reach that goal, that is, what institutions of learning must look like to meet the needs of students and society.