LT 741: Introduction to Distance Education
Instructor: Lynette Molstad Gorder
Completed: Fall 2009
Course Description:
This course is an analysis of the history, philosophy, design,
and evolution of distance learning systems. Distance learning is
a worldwide concept and the course uses examples from many
countries to emphasize institutional, program and course design
methods and approaches. The course assumes a system perspective
in the analysis of distance education and the distance learner.
The various components of distance learning systems are
introduced and overviewed including: a) course development and
design; b) course production; c) course delivery; d) learner
support; e) evaluation of courses and the methods of cybernetic
control of both student performance and instructional
effectiveness; and f) research and evaluation of distance
learning systems.
Course Reflection:
My wife teaches HS English through distance education so that along with my experiences as a student in distance education courses provided me with some understanding of the complexities that are a part of offering a course over distance education. This course allowed me to gain a better understanding of exactly how many challenges there exactly are in offering a course over distance education. Since I teach at a school that is 1-to-1 at the HS level, I have been able to take some of the concepts learned in this course and apply them to my classroom. While I do not teach any classes that are entirely offered over distance education, I do have some classes that I would consider to be blended classes with features from both a traditional classroom and some from a distance course.
Projects Completed: