Philosophies...how many of us have them?

 
       Distance education has moved from paper and pencil based asynchronous courses, to computer based courses that have the capability of being completed synchronously or asynchronously.  Until recently I had no real opinions about online education or distance education, I knew that it was a more convenient way for some people to obtain degrees, but I had never given any real thought to the design or implementation of online education.  Understanding my philosophy of distance education is an important part of understanding why I think and act the way I do about e-learning and technology.  With the lack of face to face interaction in distance education courses it is vital that the instructor develop a sense of community among learners.  I believe that the instructor has a responsibility to students to foster a community where communication is open, honest, and direct.  I believe in accessibility, whether through office hours, telephone conversations, e-mail correspondence, or instant messaging.  I think that instructors should provide multiple means for students to correspond with them, and encourage students to correspond with their peers outside of the requirements of the course.  Wikis, blogs, and instant messaging applications such as Skype are great ways to do this.  Both students and instructors are responsible for learning.  Instructors meet their responsibilities by providing clear and concise learning outcomes, course syllabi, course requirements, instructor expectations, and rubrics that will be used to assess student work and learning.  Students are responsible for learning, by keeping up with course assignments, communicating with their peers and instructor, and becoming an active member of the learning community.  I believe that any student in the online learning environment has to have a fair amount of intrinsic motivation in order to be successful. 

        My philosophy of distance education is not based on just one theory of education; instead it is based on my prior experiences, background knowledge, and a mix of what I believe to be best practices in education.  There will never be a one size fits all philosophy of education or design of education.  Instead each instructor must design their instruction based on what they believe in as well as what is going to best suit the needs of their students.