Steve Kerby
OMDE 601
March 3, 2003
THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN DISTANCE EDUCATION: FROM TOOL TO PLACE 

Technology has always played an important role in distance education. In recent years, however, technology has become so intertwined with the place of DE that it may be redefining what Distance Education is.
 
TECHNOLOGY AS TOOL

One of the central characteristics of DE is that the student is in some sense separated from the teacher.  In the early days of DE, the printing press and mail service were technological innovations that functioned to bridge that separation. In more recent times, audio/video production, as well as television and radio, have also functioned to connect students with teachers.

Throughout the years, that has been the primary role of technology in Distance Education—a tool to connect students with teachers.   

TECHNOLOGY AS PLACE

With the advent of Internet technologies and networked communities, however, technology is becoming more than a connecting tool; it is becoming the very place of learning itself.  And in this place, we find much more than bridges connecting students and teachers; we find entire communities, as well as the vast digital landscape of information, entertainment, and communication.

Peters (2002) is one DE expert who recognizes this. He describes this new technology as “not simply an addition of new technical media to the well-known traditional pedagogical structure… Rather, it represents such an impact on teachers and students that they have to redesign teaching and learning” (p. 31). 

I agree.

With the advent of Internet technologies and networked communities, “teachers separate from students” hardly means what it used to. In the digital landscape, not only are teachers more connected with students, but also students are connected with other students. Opportunities for collaboration and peer-to-peer connections are changing the method and structure of how students learn.  

CONCLUSION

This is, of course, all very new.  And I am not certain that the theory of DE has quite caught up with the practice of DE. But there is little question in my mind that the changing role of technology in distance education from tool to place will alter the pedagogic strategies of DE as well as the theory of DE.

REFERENCES
Peters, O. (2002). Distance Education in transition.  Oldenberg. BIS.

ADDITIONAL WORKS CONSULTED
Holmberg, B. (2001). Distance education in essence. Oldenberg. BIS.
Moore, M. G., & Kearsley, G. (1996). Distance education: A systems view. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.