Spinning the Web

This is the final part in my 11 part series on the history and impact of distance education. I have taken a British perspective on this, but of course, other views are available. In this final part, another great Briton makes his impact with a contribution to the World Wide Web.

‘Enquire Within Upon Everything’ was an obscure computer program designed 25 years ago by a young software consultant called Tim Berners-Lee. The program may have been obscure but it was also ground breaking as it encapsulated the ideas that would eventually enable Internet users to link directly from their personal computer to any information they required.

Tim Berners-Lee was born in London in 1955. In 1976 he graduated from Queen's College, Oxford University, before working at CERN, the European nuclear research facility in Switzerland. Whilst working as a computer software consultant, Berners-Lee began to consider the problem of how to communicate and access information via computer on the emerging world wide phenomenon that was known as the Internet. In 1989, Berners-Lee proposed a global hypertext project which he called the World Wide Web. Two years later, his ideas had crystallized on the Internet, and by 1993 the principles of his browser system Mosaic was being championed by the University of Illinois. A year later, in 1994, Berners-Lee joined M.I.T. where he headed up the fledgling W3 Consortium.

The World Wide Web is a truly unique and all pervasive innovation - without it the Internet would not be as successful as it evidently is. Browsers make accessing information ‘friendlier’, and pages more navigable. Berners-Lee has campaigned tirelessly to keep the World Wide Web open and free, and this is possibly one reason why it remains largely an un-policed, imaginatively fertile and unpredictable aspect of distance education. For many commentators, the Internet was inevitable - the World Wide Web simply made it easier for millions to use it.

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University of the second chance

This is part 10 of my series on the history and impact of distance education. On Friday in part 9 we looked at how satellite technology has impacted upon global communication and e-learning. Today's post is all about the Open University model of distance education.

Under the Labour government of Harold Wilson, the UK’s Ministry of Education decided upon the ambitious plan of establishing a university that would confer degrees entirely delivered at a distance. It was higher education for all, regardless of age, social or economic status. Wilson’s government advisors proposed the name ‘University of the Air’ to acknowledge the institution's predominant form of proposed delivery method – broadcast telvision and radio. It was not long, however, before the UK government realised that the correspondence tools first established in Victorian times were still very valuable. Eventually, in 1969 the Open University (OU) was born, opening its 'doors' to students two years later.

With the OU came a whole new set of benchmarks for quality in distance education. Yet the British Open University was not the first Open University. That honour probably belongs to the University of South Africa (UNISA) which was established a few years prior to the British OU. However, under the guidance of several luminaries from the world of distance education, including the late Charles Wedemeyer (University of Wisconsin), the OU flourished and established a model of best practice that many subsequent open universities emulated. Now known as 'mega universities', several open universities around the world that deliver degrees predominantly via distance education can now boast over 1 million students. Indira Gandhi University in India is the largest with a staggering 2.5 million students enrolled each year.

The OU’s current foray into electronic forms of learning such as web based learning and computer mediated communications is an extension of its tried and tested model of distance-blended learning. Many OU courses have face to face tutorial contact and week long summer schools built into their structure, but most of the learning process is still conducted away from the parent institution, based in Milton Keynes. Regular television and radio broadcasts are still used, as are a range of other methods including online delivery, mailouts, and the OU still maintains a close partnership with the government owned British Broadcasting Corporation with a regular schedule of programmes broadcast on radio and television.

On a personal note, as an OU graduate myself (BSc (Hons) Psychology 1995 - 1st Class) I would like to pay tribute to the OU and all that it does. It really is the University of the Second Chance. I blew it at school, and left with few academic qualifications. I simply wasn't interested in study at the time. My teacher told my parents 'Steve's a very sociable lad, but he'll never be an academic!' Well, the OU gave me my second chance when I needed it (and teachers don't know everything). When I met Sir John Daniel (then the OU Vice Chancellor) over a few drinks during a conference in Ankara back in 1998, we talked long about the history of the OU and how it had changed so many lives, including mine. Sitting with us were a number of other pioneers of distance education, namely Tony Bates and Michael Moore (no not that one), and I'm still in touch with them to this day. They had a lot of stories to tell about the early days of the mega-universities, but that's for another blog post....

Tomorrow: Part 11: Spinning the Web

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1945 and all that

This is part 9 in my series on the history and impact of distance education. Yesterday in Part 8 we saw how the television was conceived and invented. However, before the introduction of geosynchronous satellite technology, global telecommunication was problematic, and global distance education continued at the pace of the snail mail whilst radio and audioconferencing the mainstay distance communication media.

1945 is a momentous year in the history of the development of distance education technology. It was not only the year we saw the back of the Second World War. It was in this year that a young English scientist published a seemingly outlandish article in the magazine Wireless World.

The article, entitled Extra-Terrestrial Relays speculated that if three radio transmitters were placed at equidistant points at a precise altitude above the Earth's equator, they would be able to achieve global communication coverage. This is a facsimile of the original article. The author of the article was none other than the now celebrated science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke (author of 2001: A Space Odyssey and other stories), and the article was instrumental in opening the debate about the feasibility of global communication satellites. Just 12 years later, on October 4th 1957, the USSR succeeded in launching the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik, into orbit - and the Space Race began.

The most important aspect of Clarke's theory was the placement of the satellite at a precise orbit of 22,300 miles over the Equator. At this altitude, Clarke speculated, the satellite would have exactly the same velocity as the rotational speed of the Earth, and it would therefore appear to be stationary in the sky. This technique is now well established, enabling satellite users to dispense with expensive tracking devices. Communication satellites are placed into geosynchronous orbit, and this zone of optimum distance above the Equator is now referred to as the Clarke Belt. If you are in the Northern hemisphere, you will see that satellite dishes tend to point South toward the Equator. In the Southern hemisphere the opposite applies. In Equatorial regions, it's a common site to see satellite dishes pointing right up at the sky, and some have holes drilled in them to drain the rain water out! Queen Elizabeth II knighted Clarke for his services to science in 2000. Sir Arthur C. Clarke retired to the island of Sri Lanka where he died in 2008.

In 1965, Clarke's dream was realised when the first ever geosychronous communication satellite was positioned in orbit above the Atlantic Ocean by NASA. By 1969, three satellites had been linked to achieve the first fully global satellite coverage. For more on the uses of satellite technology in distance education visit here. Today, a lot of distance education provision is dependent upon geosynchronous communication satellites, and we take for granted the ability to talk to people on the other side of the world via telephone, video or other means. Watching live events from around the world on television is not something we think of as particularly special. We are so used to the idea that satellites are there, we give them no second thought. If they suddenly disappeared though, I think we would all know it.

On Monday: Part 10: University of the second chance

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Man of vision

This is part 8 in my series on the history and impact of distance education. In part 7 yesterday we traced the history of telecommunications and the contribution of the telephone. We continue today with what many of us do just about every evening - taking a look at the television.

Another Scot by the name of John Logie Baird also made a huge impact on telecommunication and indirectly, on modern distance education. Baird is celebrated as a man of great vision - television. In fact, Baird was the inventor of many new technologies, including fiber optics, a technology that looms almost as large as TV in the distance education hall of fame. Born in 1888 in Helensburgh, Scotland, a coastal town about 25 miles to the northwest of Glasgow, Baird was the fourth child of the local church minister. Even as a young boy he was known for his home experiments, one of which literally left him with his fingers burnt! Baird eventually left Helensburgh to seek work in the capital, London, and lived in the South of England for much of the remainder of his life. Much of the early research that defined his lifetime of innovation took place on the south coast in the small towns of Hastings and Folkestone.

Although the original term 'television' (literally 'to see from a distance') was coined by scientist Constantin Perskyi at a conference in Paris in 1900, it was Baird who is credited with the creation of the first operational device that could transmit pictures. Baird successfully tested the prototype of his mechanically scanned disk television in the laboratory in 1925 and it was later demonstrated in public in London in 1926.

However, it was not long before Baird's mechanical version was supplanted by electronic television, which laid the foundation for today's television broadcasts, interactive television and video conferencing technologies. Never the less, Baird's pioneering achievements, including his involvement in the first trans-Atlantic television transmission, were important scientific accomplishments. Baird's far reaching innovation is exactly that - an invention that enables us to reach far across distances to hear and see each other, and to learn together no matter where we are located. The computer and television together provide the basis upon which visual communication and global information access is achieved. There is just one more component needed to achieve global telecommunication though.... which we will discuss in tomorrow's post.

Tomorrow: Part 9: 1945 and all that

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Ringing the changes

This is part 7 in my series on the history and impact of distance education. Yesterday in Part 6, we examined the impact computers have made on pedagogy. Another innovation as ubiquitous and influential as the computer was invented by a Briton prior to the Second World War. This invention also has a great deal of importance to the practice of distance education, as we understand it today.

We have a Scot to thank for one of the most taken for granted technologies in the modern world. Alexander Graham Bell was born on March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1875, along with his assistant Thomas A. Watson, Bell constructed instruments that transmitted speech. In 1876 Bell invented the forerunner of the modern telephone, a device which today forms the basis of many communications technologies from the cellular phone to the Internet.

Bell received his official patent to the telephone on March 7, 1876. Three days later he and Watson, located in different rooms, tested the new type of transmission device described in his patent. As they were setting up the experiment, Watson suddenly heard Bell's voice through the earpiece saying, "Mr. Watson, come here. I want you." Bell had had an accident with a battery, and had spilled acid over his clothes. He had inadvertently use the telephone to speak to Watson, but when he realised what he had achieved, the accident was soon forgotten!

The first telephone company, the Bell Telephone Company, was established in 1877 to exploit the potential of Bell's new invention. During his productive career, Alexander Graham Bell invented several other devices, although none were as useful as the telephone. He died on August 2, 1922, in Nova Scotia, Canada. Technology supported distance education owes a lot to this Scot inventor, who changed the concept of what it meant to communicate with others over great distances. Today we take for granted the fact that we can punch a number into a keypad, and somewhere in the world, a corresponding telephone will ring, connecting us to a person who we can hear in 'real time'. The social presence of the telephone (the perception that you are connected to the other person) is very high, and many prefer it to so-called richer media such as videoconferencing. We often forget that telecommunication methods are the backbone upon which the Internet and other global communication methods have been based. Tomorrow we will take a look at another technology. Can you guess what it is yet?

Tomorrow: Part 8: Man of vision

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Come the revolution...

This is part 6 of my series on the history and impact of distance education. In part 5, we saw how programmable computing was first proposed.

When Charles Babbage first conceived the 'Difference Engine' in Victorian England, he could have had no conception of the far-reaching effects of his invention. As we have already seen, Babbage's first attempt at creating a hand-cranked machine to mechanically manipulate arithmetic functions became the blue print for the earliest programmable computers.

Since the end of the 1980's the computer has entered into the world's collective consciousness as a ubiquitous electronic device that affects every aspect of our daily lives. They are everywhere - in offices, in homes, in our hands. Few could be in any doubt that the computer is now influencing the way we live, work, communicate and spend our leisure time. The computer is at the very heart of what some have called 'the information revolution' - if indeed, a revolution it is. When connected to the global telecommunications network such as the Internet and all its convergent features, the computer is a very powerful tool, providing distance learners with opportunities to access learning experiences they would otherwise have missed.

Babbage's invention is now all grown up, and offers us a multitude of destinations, enabling us to explore previously unseen worlds, which neither he nor any of his Victorian contemporaries could ever have conceived. Computers now enable us to work and communicate flexibly and enjoy unprecedented access to information. But freedom of this kind comes with a price tag for educators.

History has shown us that most revolutions have a dictatorship waiting in the wings. The 'computer revolution' also exudes an air of tyranny. The way computers are employed has for some time tended to dictate the way teachers conceptualise and develop courses, design learning materials, manage the virtual learning environment, assess learning and communicate with their students. We have all experienced 'death by PowerPoint' and we all are aware of the stranglehold that software companies such as Microsoft have on our computers. Perhaps I'm painting things a little too black here, but we need to be aware of all the implications.

David Jonassen and his colleagues (1999, p 219) were not slow in responding to the trends in e-learning, arguing that in order for students to learn effectively from new technology, it will first be necessary for their teachers to accept a new model of learning. This new model is premised upon educators rejecting the role of the model where the teacher is the 'knowledge provider' and instead, adopting of the role of the facilitator. Some teachers may not like this. Time militates against them, as does a fear of losing control for some. Others are rushing with open arms to embrace new technologies. Some are going too far, using technology simply because it's there and it's cool. I suspect a lot of teachers will be ambivalent, gazing on with a gimlet eye, because they know what we know - change is the one thing that is always certain in education.

Digital technologies have been responsible for some of the most radical changes of the last few years in schools. Computers brought the world to the classroom. Now smart mobile versions are taking the classroom out into the world. Distance education is going through changes, just like traditional education - and a lot of the changes are being driven by the introduction of new technologies. The pace is relentless, and will not slow down. We know this: The sage on the stage is rapidly becoming the guide on the side - mainly due to the impact and influence of digital technologies. And it all started with the humble calculating machine.

Tomorrow: Part 7: Ringing the changes.

Reference: Jonassen, D. H., Peck, K. L. and Wilson, B. (1999) Learning with technology: A constructivist perspective. Upper Saddle River, NY: Prentice Hall.

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Catching a code

This is part 5 of my series on the history and impact of distance education. In part 4, we saw how Charles Babbage developed his ideas to create one of the first computers - the Difference Engine.

One of Charles Babbage’s associates was a member of Britian’s aristocracy. Ada Byron, also known as Lady Lovelace, was the daughter of the romantic poet Lord (George) Byron, and she seems to have had a great deal of time on her hands. Some accounts suggest that she wished to become 'an analyst and a metaphysician' and that from a young age she had developed a passion for science - an aspiration that women were generally discouraged from following in 19th Century Britain. She didn't seem fazed by these restrictions though - and tended to follow her own ideals.

Ada was still in her teens when she heard of Charles Babbage's idea of the Analytical Engine - an automatic calculating system - and the successor to his earlier invention, the Difference Engine. Babbage had conjectured that a calculating engine might not only predict but could act on that prediction. Ada was very impressed by these ideas and began to speculate about her own contribution to the development of the calculating machine. Correspondence between Lady Lovelace and Babbage was by all accounts filled with a heady mixture of fact and fantasy, as they both began to speculate on how such a calculating device might be used. Lady Lovelace eventually published an article in which she predicted that Babbage's machine might be used for scientific and domestic use. This visionary account of the machine’s potential was uncanny in its accuracy, predicting its potential to perform a multitude of tasks such as playing music, creating pictures and composing letters. It's a pity we don't have someone of her calibre in the meteorological office today, predicting our weather for us.

Lady Lovelace suggested to Babbage that a plan might be formulated to enable the Difference Engine to calculate Bernoulli numbers (look, just follow the link). This suggestion is now seen by many as the earliest example of computer programming. It wasn't exactly C++ but it worked. Lord Byron's daughter, in her collaboration with the genius Charles Babbage, gave the world the second part of the computer equation - the knowledge that it was possible not only to create a computing device, but to write instructions for it to follow so that it could produce a defined result. The modern computer is based upon this premise. In 1979, the U.S. Department of Defense named a computer program 'Ada' in honour of her pioneering ideas.

Tomorrow: Part 6: Come the revolution...

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Making a difference

This is Part 4 - a continuation in my series on the history and impact of distance education. Yesterday in Part 3, we saw how the correspondence course could be adapted to deliver a full degree. In Part 4 we start to examine the technology behind distance education.

Considering its relatively small size and population, (and this is my personal view) the United Kingdom has contributed disproportionately to the rise of technology supported distance education over the last two centuries (Wheeler, 2005). But I would say that wouldn't I? I'm a Brit after all. The computer, one of the most vital distance education tools of the last 30 years, is generally agreed to have been most influenced by British mathematician Charles Babbage in 1821. Yes, I know that other Europeans such as Blaise Pascal and Konrad Zuse pioneered their own versions of calculating machines, but Babbage's method of calculation through the Difference Engine - which later became a programmable machine - was the innovation that provided the template on which modern computing is based.

Charles Babbage was raised in a well-to-do English family, and was a child prodigy. Historical accounts suggest that he taught himself algebra when very young, and developed a great passion for all things numerical. So, before he could be numbered with the greats, he had to be great with numbers (Stop it - Ed.). We even have a building named in his honour here at the University of Plymouth, which of course houses our school of computing and the open access computing suites.

It was inevitable that he would eventually follow a career in mathematics and in 1811 he enrolled at Trinity College, Cambridge. He became a greatly respected scientist and was honoured for his work when he was invited to become a member of the Royal Society. The story goes that one day Babbage was sitting in his study, holding his head in his hands, as he pored over reams of statistics. A colleague came in, saw him and enquired, ‘What are you dreaming of Babbage?’ ‘I was thinking’ replied Babbage, ‘that many of these calculations could be performed mechanically!’ They must have thought him a nut job, but Babbage was serious. Soon he began to take an interest in the notion of building a 'calculating machine'.

He eventually succeeded in building a prototype of his Difference Engine but his work was stalled due to lack of interest and limited funding from the British government and little support from his peers. Sadly, he died a bitter and disappointed man, having invested much of his life and personal fortune into an ambitious and ground breaking engineering project that showed little positive results during his own lifetime. His legacy and influence on modern life however, is profound and Charles Babbage is today acknowledged as the 'Father of Computing'.

The computer has extended its influence exponentially in the past few decades, and has advanced unrecognisably beyond the original notion of being a mere ‘calculating machine.’ It is now a very sophisticated tool for the development, storage, retrieval, delivery and transformation of data - it has the potential to enrich and extend educational experiences, and can provide students with a truly time and space independent portal to education. We must remember though that good pedagogy does not just happen because technology is being used. Good pedagogy takes place when teachers use technology appropriately and creatively. That is what can make the difference. We also need to know this: Such sophisticated and far reaching functions would never have been possible without the ability to issue instructions, or ‘program’ the computer. In Part 5 we will begin to explore this.

Reference: Wheeler, S. (2005) British Distance Education: A Proud Tradition. In Y. Visser, L. Visser and M. Simonson (Eds.) Trends and Issues in Distance Education: An International Perspective. Greenwich, Connecticut, USA: Information Age Publishers.

On Monday: Part 5: Catching a code

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First degree burns

This is Part 3 - a continuation of my series on the history and impact of distance education. Yesterday in Part 2, we saw how correspondence courses were established in Britain and the USA.

Setting up short vocational courses seemed to be no problem. Academic programmes were an entirely prospect though. When Cambridge scholar Richard Green Moulton attempted to establish an entire degree via correspondence, he met with a wall of opposition. Moulton’s plan was to deliver a degree course managed along similar lines to the correspondence school techniques made so successful by Isaac Pitman. Pitman had used printed cards mailed out to students through the Penny Post service. Students sent their work back via mail where it was then graded. Students then received their grades along with the next installation of their studies in the next post.

Moulton’s colleagues at Cambridge University were sceptical and dismissive about these processes and blocked his progress. Unfortunately, his innovative ideas could go no further at Cambridge - they crashed and burned. It's probable that Moulton’s colleagues were concerned about issues such as quality assurance and the means through which assessment of learning would be achieved and authenticated. They may also have been appalled at the incredible logistics that would be involved. It is not known how Moulton planned to address such issues. I'm also wondering how many of these issues remain a concern today in our digital world?

Like most pioneers and trailblazers however, Moulton refused to lie down. He persevered, and realised that his future obviously resided elsewhere than in Cambridge, England. He subsequently immigrated to the United States where he took up a post on the faculty of the University of Chicago. Here he eventually realised his dream and in 1892 was able to establish the first degree programme delivered via correspondence course. I guess we owe Moulton a lot for his tenacity.

Tomorrow: Part 4: Making a difference

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Short hand, long distance

Here's the second in my series on the history of distance education. Yesterday's post examined some conceptual issues of 'distance'. Today we look at the roots of distance education.

Arguably the first distance education course was delivered in the first century, in Asia Minor. The writings of St Paul (known as epistles) were in effect a form of instruction delivered to remote groups of people (early Christian churches) distributed by courier across what is now Israel, Turkey, Greece and Italy (more here). Yet this was very much a didactic, one-way mode of knowledge transmission. There was no latitude for interaction, and therefore no dialogue occurred between student and teacher.

In an organised format, one of the earliest occurances of distance education emerged in Victorian England. When Isaac Pitman established the first organised correspondence course in England in 1840, he achieved it on the back of two technologies – the printing press and the newly arrived national Penny Postal service.

Pitman’s correspondence school taught shorthand to a distributed nationwide audience predominantly of office workers. Pitman’s use of the nationwide postal service advanced the work of previous correspondence courses giving educators the ability to engage in two-way communication with their students wherever they were located in the country. This was an asynchronous (time delayed) form of communication, and the process took time, but the Victorians were not afflicted by the impatience and clock watching habits we now see in contemporary society. Life was much more sedate. Within a few short years of commencing distance delivery, Pitman's correspondence school had enrolled over 100,000 students. Even by today's standards, this was a phenomenal number of students. In 1892, Pitman was knighted by Queen Victoria for his services to education and his visionary plan to 'educate one and all'.

This early success prompted many others to attempt similar feats, and soon the organised correspondence course was burgeoning. In the US, Anna Eliot Ticknor set up the Society to Encourage Study at Home' which was predominantly aimed at women (for more on this story follow this link). Other similar organisations soon began to spring up. Geographical distance had been breached, and students were able to glean feedback on their progress from their instructors wherever they were. It was not so much the time spent waiting that was an issue for students in correspondence courses – rather it was the depth of richness of feedback they received that made all the difference between success and failure. Such two way interaction over distance via correspondence became the basis for much of what was to follow. Even today, in the advent of digital technology, ubiquitous communications and web based learning, the vast majority of distance education is still reliant on mailed out, paper based material and the humble correspondence course.

Tomorrow: Part 3: First degree burns

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The space between us all

In this new series I will discuss how distance education has developed and the influences it has had on our current education provision. Comments are most welcome. Here's the first installment:

A few years ago I heard a funny remark at an e-learning conference in Germany. Someone suggested that small area nations such as the United Kingdom have no need for distance education, because they have no ‘distance’. I laughed at the time and replied that if we followed this line of reasoning, there would be no need for any education either. More laughter. Of course the UK has distance education! I have already made the case for a significant British contribution to the development of distance education, both in terms of its conceptualisation, and also in terms of its innovation of technologies such as telephony (Alexander Graham Bell), television (John Logie Baird), correspondence courses (such as Sir Isaac Pitman's shorthand courses), the World Wide Web (Sir Tim-Berners-Lee) and of course the British Open University model (Wheeler, 2005).

Although light-hearted, the conversation at the German conference led me to re-examine the notion of ‘distance’ and in fact ultimately launched me into seven years of study culminating in a research degree in the field. A key question for distance educators to ask then, is – what is distance? Distance is almost always conceived of as being geographical in nature. In class I often ask my students ‘what is the distance between you and I?’ Their first answer is always an approximate measurement of feet, yards, or (if they live in continental Europe) in metres. I then ask them to reconsider their response. I ask them what other distances there are between us. After a little consternation and head scratching, the light comes on and they begin to respond in terms of other 'distances'.

There may be an age gap, or a gender gap. These distances are based on the premise that people of different age groups tend to see things in different ways, and have different values – which leads to a ‘distance’ being perceived between them – what was once called ‘the generation gap’. This may have been the basis for the controversial assumptions made by Marc Prensky's 'Digital Natives and Immigrants' theory. The gender gap may be a little more subtle, but the distance between males and females can be just as tangible. Ask anyone who is married. Then there is the intellectual distance experienced between students and their instructors. This perception often leads to a power differential between the two, and (some would say an appropriate) distancing. Other distances may also come into play including cultural and particularly language distances. These may lead to misunderstandings or misconceptions about the motives or intentions of people, and may create a psychological distance. I go on to tell the students that there are always ‘distances’ between each of us, no matter what the nature of the transaction.

In distance education, the geographical distance does not have as much influence as it once had, as interactive technologies are now quite sophisticated. Beatle George Harrison once wrote ‘We were thinking about the space between us all…and the people who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion...’ One of the most important distances to overcome is the perceived distance between each of us and those we attempt to communicate with. Michael Moore (no, not that one) once theorised that there is a distance between us and others which is one of a transactional nature. My theory is that depending on how a technology is used, it has the potential to either amplify or reduce such transactional distances (Wheeler, 2007). As educators we need to address many of these issues particularly if we are operating within a distance education context...but it also applies in face to face teaching and learning contexts.

Distance education is of course best conceived of as a method for delivering and supporting learning opportunities to students who can't be present on campus or in a classroom. It is an ideal strategy for the promotion of inclusive education, where those who cannot travel to a university or college for some reason can still participate in a community of learning. In an organised format, one of the first beginnings of distance education was in England in the Victorian era....

Tomorrow: Part 2: Short hand, long distance

References: Wheeler, S. (2005) British Distance Education: A Proud Tradition. In Y. Visser, L. Visser and M. Simonson (Eds.) Trends and Issues in Distance Education: An International Perspective. Greenwich, Connecticut, USA: Information Age Publishers.

Wheeler, S. (2007) The Influence of Communication Technologies and Approaches to Study on Transactional Distance in Blended Learning, [Abstract] ALT-J: Research in Learning Technology, 15 (2), 103-117.

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