Distance Education

I don’t have a very good perception of distance education because I feel like the students would be missing out on class time and interaction with other students. On the other hand I feel that it can be very beneficial for students who are not able to make it to class physically because of a disability or other obligations in their life.

Pros to distance education
-Is available for students who cannot make it to class due to disabilities.
-Helps students that do not work well in a classroom environment.
-Students can work at their own pace.
-Time commitment is much less.
-It can reach students who live in areas without schools

Cons to distance education
-Students miss out on classroom interaction.
-Communication gets a lot more complicated.
-Teachers may not be as available.
-Students miss out on making friends in the classroom.
-The students can get behind because they are working at their own pace.

To determine readiness of students to participate in distance delivery they would have to be well informed or their duties. They will need guidance on how to lead themselves through learning, and pacing the work. Also, students will need to set goals for what they want to accomplish each day or week. Goals will allow them to not get behind, and have an active role in their learning.

If I wanted to teach in a virtual school I would need to have a lot of training. I would need to make sure that I knew how to interact with students online, and be available. I will be their only resource for the class so I need to make sure that I am on top of the learning, getting to know each student, and understanding what kind of a learner they are. I also think that I would need to take more technology courses so I can have a better understanding of the system and the technology that I am working with. I think that it would be a fun opportunity to work with distance learning, but I don’t know if it would be as rewarding.