You Say You Want An Revolution? (Irish Module 1)

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right





The lyrics to the Beatles song Revolution seem fitting when discussing the need to evolve distance education for the next generation.  I highlighted the phrase change the world and evolution in the song lyrics because in the situation of distance education there is going to beed to be change in the world in order for distance education to evolve for the next generation.

Simonson outlined in the video Distance Education: The Next Generation that the concept of distance education is not new.  The first form of distance education happend through correspondent courses, and then over time these courses migrated to the internet.  Sir Ken Robinson, a renowned thinker in education, inovation, and creativity stated during a TED Talk interview in response to the quality of distance education:

There’s been a tendency in universities to try and cash in on the interest in web-based learning. A lot of them have been dumping programs online: lecture notes, videos of talks, and so on. They’re of variable quality. Some of them are great, and some aren’t. In a way, TED is a great example of how distance learning can work well. TED doesn’t have a formal curriculum. But it has new ideas about getting ideas across in a powerful, condensed way, with high-quality visuals, and then syndicating that. TED has shown us a dramatic appetite for new ideas presented in an interesting way.  


Moller, Huett, Foshay, and Coleman outlined five impacts for instructional design: 1) quality, 2) needs assessment and measuring outcomes, 3) connecting training, performance support, and the management of knowledge, 4) improved instructional systems methods, and 5) looking again at learning models.  These five impact areas that Moller, Huett, Foshat, and Coleman outline are universal to a variety of distance education settings, they are applicable to the business, K-12 education, and college environments.  


In order for distance education to meet the five goals that Simonson outlined in the video Equivalency Theory.  these five goals are: 1) to provide equivalent education as face-to-face environments, 2) potential increased return on investment, 3) increased convenience for students, 4) increased motivation to learn, and 5) increased access.  


I agree with all of the suggestions of Robinson, Simonson, and Moller, Huett, Foshay, and Colman. Without improvements distance education will not be able to live up to its potential.  With all of the advances with technology within the last 10 years it is now possible for distance education to provide an equal or improved learning experience to face-to-face learning.  But, without the changes outlined then distance education will continue to be for most situations glorified correspondence studies existing in isolation.  


We clearly have all of the necessary technology tools, as well as the knowledge about how distance education needs to be improves it is time to stop singing about an evolution and actually start the evolution!


Enjoy ~SJ