Initial Distance
Education Reflections
Distance Education
“Distance education is any system of teaching and learning that uses technology to offer a “traditional” qualification to students that are removed from the source of the teaching”
After the first two weeks of the course, I have come to the conclusion that DE is not just the offering of “traditional” qualifications, but any course that can enrich the person taking that course. I still feel that prospective students should do their homework and only take courses that are recognized by the governing body of the subject matter. I have come across too many students that have done a course only to find out afterwards that the course is not accredited and will do nothing to enhance them in the eyes of their employers. These courses do have their place, but students should be aware that these courses are mostly for personal enrichment.
I think that DE has come a long way since its beginnings and it will be very interesting to see where DE goes from here. From the time that organized DE (correspondence education) began, it has always been dependent on the technology of the time. Without the industrial revolution, I do not think that DE would ever have been viable.
My View of Me as a Learner
Although I scored 58 in the aptitude test (http://www.adprima.com/dears.htm), I feel that I fall in the second category (45-54). When studying I have to keep reminding myself to stay on the task at hand and not go off on a tangent. As I am interested in a wide variety of subjects, I can be easily be distracted when I read or something that catches my attention.
Another problem that I have when studying is that I do not learn well when listening to someone. My main way of studying is through reading. In this it is good as the majority of the work that we have to study is in writing.
MDE
I can say with conviction that I have enjoyed the first two weeks of the course tremendously. As I work in DE the main thing that I have found that differs from what I am used to in DE is the setup of the course. I will definitely be using this study experience to enhance the courses that I teach at Unisa.
Library Guide
The library guide has helped me quite a lot with the APA standard used in the course. The plagiarism tutorials on the site have also been a great help in writing the first assignment. I have also bookmarked the site to back to it later, so that I can read the blogs and also go through the “How do I?” section.
“Distance education is any system of teaching and learning that uses technology to offer a “traditional” qualification to students that are removed from the source of the teaching”
After the first two weeks of the course, I have come to the conclusion that DE is not just the offering of “traditional” qualifications, but any course that can enrich the person taking that course. I still feel that prospective students should do their homework and only take courses that are recognized by the governing body of the subject matter. I have come across too many students that have done a course only to find out afterwards that the course is not accredited and will do nothing to enhance them in the eyes of their employers. These courses do have their place, but students should be aware that these courses are mostly for personal enrichment.
I think that DE has come a long way since its beginnings and it will be very interesting to see where DE goes from here. From the time that organized DE (correspondence education) began, it has always been dependent on the technology of the time. Without the industrial revolution, I do not think that DE would ever have been viable.
My View of Me as a Learner
Although I scored 58 in the aptitude test (http://www.adprima.com/dears.htm), I feel that I fall in the second category (45-54). When studying I have to keep reminding myself to stay on the task at hand and not go off on a tangent. As I am interested in a wide variety of subjects, I can be easily be distracted when I read or something that catches my attention.
Another problem that I have when studying is that I do not learn well when listening to someone. My main way of studying is through reading. In this it is good as the majority of the work that we have to study is in writing.
MDE
I can say with conviction that I have enjoyed the first two weeks of the course tremendously. As I work in DE the main thing that I have found that differs from what I am used to in DE is the setup of the course. I will definitely be using this study experience to enhance the courses that I teach at Unisa.
Library Guide
The library guide has helped me quite a lot with the APA standard used in the course. The plagiarism tutorials on the site have also been a great help in writing the first assignment. I have also bookmarked the site to back to it later, so that I can read the blogs and also go through the “How do I?” section.