Introduction to my blog...a little late.

So as we come to the end of CUIN 7356/7376 (*sniff!*) I realized I had written but never posted my thoughts on "Distance Education" and what it meant to me. So here were my ideas.

When first faced with the idea of trying to define the term "distance education", I thought only of what many of us had recently done in the medical center program: have online interactions with our professor and classmates, with an occasional face-to-face meeting. I associated that type of learning to situations similar to my own - adult learners for whom traditional, scheduled classes would prove difficult secondary to work obligations.  As I began to research the topic for this class, I came to learn that the idea is much more pervasive that I had ever thought. Many of my surgery residents had spent their first two years of medical school not ever attending class, but instead watching the "streaming video" of each lecture available online. When asked what they did instead of going to class, the answers were usually sleeping or working out. Not exactly the "adult learner" population I had envisioned. In researching the different resources online, I was amazed at the multiple uses of distance education today, from elementary school and onward. I found slight differences in the terms used, whether they included electronic-only learning, a combination of electronic and face-to-face learning, or different types of electronic media. I believe the wide range of descriptions and terms for "distance learning" result from the extremely extensive uses and technologies available.

As for my personal ideas, I certainly never thought I would be starting a blog. It still amuses anyone with whom I discuss my classwork, until I tell them everything that I get to learn about and the response is usually, "Wow, that's so cool." I look forward to experiencing even more of what is available in technology for education. I think as it become even more widespread, educators are going to be expected to be able to keep up with the trends and be able to expand upon what is available. With this course I think I will be getting a step in the best direction for learning about applying distance education and Web 2.0 capabilities.