|
As a person
who has worked in distance education for many years, I've taken the opportunity
to seek out information from colleagues, other institutions, web sites, and
educational journals to expand my distance education knowledge base and experience.
The explosion of these resources in the past two to three years has been amazing!
In an area that I used to spend hours scavenging for information, I can now find it
at my fingertips in a matter of minutes.
Suffice to say,
technology that allows us to access information more quickly and easily has helped
with this effort; however, access is only part of the story. There is a huge increase
in information about distance education, and it is spreading throughout business and
educational resources. The amount of publications, web sites, conferences, and
listservs associated with this topic is staggering. In addition, the topic of
distance education is becoming pervasive in other fields. As companies develop new
strategies for communicating among employees who are geographically dispersed,
evaluate new methods for training employees, and look for employee development
opportunities, distance education and its varying technologies are quickly becoming
the answer for a number of issues being faced by both business and education.
This is very
exciting news for people who are working in and learning through distance education.
I believe that we have begun to reach a critical mass of people who are being
touched by distance education. Millions of people worldwide are afforded the
opportunities of continuing their education through a variety of distance education
opportunities. But, as with the information I mentioned above, access is only the
first step. The next step for distance education needs to be helping students
succeed in distance education. This has been a focus for traditional, residential
education for quite some time. However, some of the specific strategies for helping
traditional students succeed in education actually become barriers to distance
learners. Breaking down those barriers and establishing other support mechanisms
will be crucial to the success of distance education in the future.
At UW-Platteville, we are continuously
analyzing, researching, and testing new methods, procedures, and processes in an
effort to get to that next level of distance education. As you will see throughout
this newsletter, we have a number of new initiatives and improvements to current
services that will expand our reach to students and the way in which we serve you.
All of our programs are growing and as that growth occurs, new student needs are
discovered. As we celebrate our 25th anniversary of working in distance education
at UW-Platteville, it is rewarding to see the increased visibility and activity
this is occurring. We look forward to continuing to serve the unique needs of
the distance learner and responding to the growth and the new needs that arise
from that growth! Who knows where we will be in another 25 years?
|
