[Sigiii-l] Plaza - Distance Education issue

[Nadia Caidi]

Another position statement (on the theme of Distance Education):

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The concept of distance education is not new but the increasing reliance 
on and interest in this notion is growing globally. Some of the issues 
that are creating local controversy are being raised specifically by 
teachers, professors and other educators. The main concern is that 
distance education will remove the venue for human interaction through 
discussion and social communication. Some argue that the education of 
students in general will suffer from the removal of both peer discussion 
and teacher-student interaction that would normally be found in a 
classroom setting. Others add that the possibility for errors within a 
student’s work will greatly increase without teacher supervision and 
guidance. In the long run educators fear that a lack of education in 
social communication may contribute to an increase in poor social skills 
in the workplace.
I do agree that discussion among students and teachers is important in 
helping some students to achieve better communication skills. However, 
the reality for some may be that they simply cannot access a “physical 
classroom”, particularly at the post-secondary level where institutions 
tend to be located in urban centers. Additionally, I believe that some 
people may gain a more fulfilling learning experience outside of the 
traditional classroom and that distance education may better suit their 
academic needs. In these ways, distance education could enrich learning 
for those that the traditional system may not accommodate. In order to 
better facilitate peer-to-peer communication it may be possible to 
incorporate social interaction within the realm of distance education. 
This could be achieved by using a web-camera and microphone to 
communicate both verbally and non-verbally with other students and 
teachers in a “virtual classroom.” Overall, I believe that distance 
education will prove advantageous to many students provided it 
complements rather than substitutes the traditional classroom approach 
to learning.