Distance Education
Distance Learning captures my attention not only because our College was one of the first institutes in New Zealand to conduct distance learning, by recording lectures to VCR Cassette tape and mailing them to students since 1989, but also due of the disruption emerging technology has introduced to distance education.
While our College led the way with pre-recorded Lectures via VCR Tapes, then later DVD disk, the adoption of technology for distance education has largely lagged behind due the the digital literacy of the founding members of the College.
Despite this, a few years ago the College moved onto Moodle an online learning system, reducing postage/courier costs, dvd disk copying costs, allowing instant access for students to lectures and lecturers to completed assignments.
Global and Local Trends
However Global and Local Trends have impacted this change-over in ways the College was not prepared for.
Internet Connectivity, within New Zealand is still not at 100%. Many students living in rural communities of the far north and lower south islands, still rely on slow, intermittent internet connectivity, making eLearning a challenge for the worst affected.
By moving to an online platform for eLearning the College has both restricted those students without internet or with poor connectivity, at the same time increasing the potential pool of students to anyone with Internet Connectivity within the wider world.
By moving to an online platform for eLearning the College has both restricted those students without internet or with poor connectivity, at the same time increasing the potential pool of students to anyone with Internet Connectivity within the wider world.
This is mentioned as a concern in Global trends where the rate of technological change may eventually impact developing countries, such would be the case for online learning systems not being much use in countries where internet connectivity is not widespread. In such cases the benefits of such as system would not be realised and may hinder the developing countries rates of educational adoption.
Local Issues
However in NZ and Internationally the rate of eLeanring uptake is increasing to such an extent that government policies and frameworks fail in currency.
Recently NZQA released a paper for discussion detailing changes to the Learning Hours of Qualifications. Currently this is defined as Directed Learning and Self-Directed Learning, however the current proposal defines a full qualification as Directed Hours only, where an institute must justify reasons why hours are delivered differently and track exact engagement hours if that is the case.
This obviously is a response to the increase of online learning where defining exactly what is classed as directed vs self-directed is a grey area.
This raises questions such as, is a student watching a recording of a full 3 hour in-class lecture, directed learning? Is there any difference between that student watching via distance/asynchronously than actually being in the classroom? Would the learning not be the same?
Recently NZQA released a paper for discussion detailing changes to the Learning Hours of Qualifications. Currently this is defined as Directed Learning and Self-Directed Learning, however the current proposal defines a full qualification as Directed Hours only, where an institute must justify reasons why hours are delivered differently and track exact engagement hours if that is the case.
This obviously is a response to the increase of online learning where defining exactly what is classed as directed vs self-directed is a grey area.
This raises questions such as, is a student watching a recording of a full 3 hour in-class lecture, directed learning? Is there any difference between that student watching via distance/asynchronously than actually being in the classroom? Would the learning not be the same?
Conclusion
As we move down the road of increasing reliance on digital tools and technologies for education, governments and their agencies must also move along, if not ahead of the technology - ensuring the full benefits are not eroded by policies, frameworks and funding models made for a traditional environment.
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