VOLUME 4, NUMBER 1, 1990
Editorial
What Distance Education Can Learn from Other Disciplines
Rebecca Oxford and Barbara Florini
Articles (for abstracts,
click here)
Psychological Factors and Distance Education
Madeline Ehrman
Adult Education: Context and Challenge for Distance
Educators
Elizabeth Hayes
Business, Education, and Distance Education
Stephen Murgatroyd
Looking at Distance Education through an Educational
Technologist's Eyes
Ellen D. Wagner
Forum
Questions and Research Strategies: One Researcher's Perspective
Chere Campbell Gibson
Interview
Speaking Personally with Linda Roberts
Richard Hezel
Book Review
Critical Reflections on Distance Education
Edited by Terry Evans and Daryl Nation
Daniel Granger
Software Review
The First Evaluation of FlipTrack® Learning System
Calvin Jordan
Guest Editorial
What Distance Education Can Learn from Other Disciplines
Rebecca Oxford and Barbara Florini
Why should articles about cognitive psychology, adult education, business, and educational technology appear in this journal? It all began some two years ago when Dr. Michael G. Moore, founder and editor of The American Journal of Distance Education, convened several dozen distance educators at The Pennsylvania State University to discuss the status and future of distance education.
Most of the participants wrote papers for the conference on various aspects of distance education. Their contributions, duplicated and distributed before the conference began, made a stack over a foot high, testifying to the vast amount of thinking and activity currently occurring in the distance education field. These papers (soon to be published by Pergamon Press in a volume edited by Dr. Moore along with Dr. Peter Cookson, Dr. Joseph Donaldson, and Dr. Allen Quigley and entitled Contemporary Issues in American Distance Education ) contained many insights and good ideas. At the same time, the papers raised a number of questions that continue to dog the field of distance education.
As participants began presenting their papers, heated discussions ensued in small groups and in plenaries. We two, as participants, began to have the nagging feeling that we had heard most of the questions and issues before in other educational contexts outside of distance education. It also seemed to us that some-though certainly not all-of the presenters chose to look closely at the (so far rather sparse) research on distance education, while ignoring many decades of relevant research in other aspects of education. We thought about some potentially important understandings that distance education seemed to be missing which come from "mainstream" fields. Fortunately, both of us were in the same small discussion group and had many more opportunities for informal conversation about these problems. The more we talked, the more we both felt a longing for a stronger, broader research base for distance education, a base that might be made possible in part by a critical, careful examination of the implications of years of research in other related fields. As we talked, the idea of a special issue of The American Journal of Distance Education rapidly arose, with a focus on what distance education might learn from research knowledge already existing in other disciplines.
Much to our surprise and pleasure, the final plenary session of the conference supported our suggestion of a special issue of this journal. Dr. Moore later named us as the co-editors, and we began identifying the disciplines that seemed particularly relevant to distance education. The final list included psychology because of that discipline's long-time contribution to education; adult education because of the number of adult learners in distance education; business because of management's crucial role in successful distance education practice; and educational technology because of the special requirements of distance education instruction and materials. Articles on each of these four themes are found in this issue. Given the dire need for research in distance education, we also wished to include something on that topic; the result is this issue's "Forum" contribution. By way of introducing these articles, we will summarize some of the main points and list a few of their implications for distance education.
Psychology
Dr. Madeline Ehrman's article, entitled "Psychological Factors and
Distance Education," considers the development of research on cognitive
styles. Current models of cognition, as explained by Dr. Ehrman, relate
to the hypothesized, underlying dimension known as "holistic versus
detailed" (or "global versus analytic"). Dr. Ehrman discusses
various cognitive styles that have been identified and widely researched:
psychological differentiation and field independence, the Kolb model,
brain hemisphericity, sensory preferences, and the Jungian model. She
demonstrates how learning behaviors or strategies are intimately linked
with cognitive or learning styles, and how strategies and styles are interwoven
with aptitude. Then she suggests ways in which other psychological factors
affect distance education: age, sex differences, affective variables such
as motivation and emotion, and personality characteristics.
Throughout the paper Dr. Ehrman indicates possible implications for distance education, and the conclusion of the article summarizes specific applications of psychological factors in distance education. Cognitive style is important in considering the goals of a particular distance education program; for instance, a course that is intended to be self-contained may have to cater to a wide array of cognitive styles, while a course designed to be a supplement might be oriented to meet the specific needs of a narrower range of styles. The learner-selection process raises the issue of whether students with particular styles should be encouraged to enroll, while others should be discouraged from enrolling. A program that provides highly explicit guidance might be useful and necessary for some types of students but overtly restrictive to others, and these factors need to be considered in the selection of students. Learners differ greatly in their individual need for personal contact, with some requiring much contact and others needing far less or none at all, and this aspect of style should be weighed carefully in planning distance education programs. The article raises these and many other important psychological concerns for distance education. In our opinion, the "bottom line" issue of completion rates will become a less severe problem if the psychological issues cited by Dr. Ehrman are considered and handled in a practical way by distance educators. We believe this article is a fascinating and useful contribution to the distance education field.
Adult Education
In her article on "Adult Education: Context and Challenge for Distance
Educators," Dr. Elizabeth Hayes offers a sound explanation of the
nexus between adult and distance education. She points out that much distance
education is actually adult education-although we must immediately state
that distance education also occurs at other educational levels and ages
as well. In a very clear and readable fashion, she explains the broad
scope of adult education, which is characterized by the following: focus
on the learner rather than on a particular subject matter, educational
practice, or setting; concern for a growing population of adults engaged
in formal learning activities and for the changing and increasingly diverse
nature of that population; and the attention to the multiple purposes
of that population for engaging in further learning. Dr. Hayes then outlines
a number of significant themes that pervade research on adult education,
including: adulthood as a time of change and development, the impact of
life experience on adult learning, and the significance of the social
context as a factor influencing learning. She discusses the increasingly
important topic of "andragogy," the art and science of helping
adults learn, as formally conceptualized by one of the world's leading
adult educators, Malcolm Knowles.
Dr. Hayes notes that one general principle from adult education research
that might be applicable to distance education is the importance of adapting
teaching methods for particular learning situations and audiences. Four
specific implications for distance education, as Dr. Hayes notes, concern
assessing learner needs, encouraging active learner involvement, accommodating
and integrating adult social roles, and promoting outcomes related to
stages or cycles of adult development. Dr. Hayes explains each of these
implications in depth, so that distance educators will be able to apply
existing adult education research to their own practical problems.
For instance, she points out that distance educators must know as much as possible about the needs of their adult students. These needs are both content-related (e.g., information, skills, and abilities that the learner desires to gain) and process-related (e.g., preference for teacher-centered versus student-centered instruction). Assessment of both kinds of needs is essential for the planning of relevant distance education programs.
Likewise, each of the other three practical implications for distance education is spelled out carefully and intelligently for readers of this journal. In addition to outlining the four main concerns for distance education practice, Dr. Hayes discusses implications for future research in distance education. Distance educators who work with adults will certainly gain an excellent background from reading this article.
Business
Dr. Stephen Murgatroyd turns his interdisciplinary expertise to the issue
of "Business, Education and Distance Education." He contends
that the realm of business has much to teach distance education. His key
assumption is that distance education programs and institutions are in
a very competitive environment and depend crucially on the reactions of
their "customers" for continued operation and growth. Distance
education customers have a great deal of power in shaping what is needed
and how it is delivered-much more so than do typical students in conventional
educational programs. This means that distance educators have to be savvy
about the marketplace. Specifically, they must be aware strategic management,
human resource management, and management of innovation and technology.
What does each of these issues suggest to distance education?
Strategic management requires managers to invest in the development of the competencies of all staff, including academic, professional, and support personnel. It necessitates managing flexibly rather than rigidly in terms of resources, organization, and people. It demands thinking "outside-in" instead of "inside-out," that is, thinking from the perspective of the customers' logic and assumptions rather than focusing on inside-out concerns such as academic credibility with other institutions.
Human resource management involves putting people first. Across cultures there are differences in how this may be accomplished, as shown by examples taken from Japanese and American business. Based on his discussion of human resource management, Dr. Murgatroyd explains three implications that are well worth the immediate attention of distance educators.
The last major issue treated in this article is management of innovation and technology. Decisions about investments in innovation and technology depend crucially on the business strategy chosen by the organization. Four possible strategies cited in the article include: least-cost provider in a broad market, least-cost provider in a niche market, excellent provider in a broad market, and excellent provider in a niche market. Each of these strategies might cause a different decision to be made about any given investment. The author helps distance educators consider their strategy and the application of this strategy to decisions about innovation and technology.
In addition to citing examples in many noneducational areas of business, this article draws upon distance education situations from the Open University in the U.K. and Athabasca University in Canada to point out lessons to be learned in these three areas of management. Unless we see distance education at least in part as a business requiring skillful management of all three types described in this article, the whole field of distance education may someday find itself fighting to survive.
Educational Technology
The fourth and final major article is offered by Dr. Ellen Wagner and
is called "Looking at Distance Education through an Educational Technologist's
Eyes." She breaks some of the old, false stereotypes that surround
the educational technology field. She shows that educational technology
is by no means merely a hardware-based medium for delivering instruction.
It is instead a discipline whose goal is much broader and more significant:
solving problems of human performance.
Dr. Wagner calls for distance educators to realize that the discipline of educational technology provides a framework within which the systematic development of instruction can occur, and through which technologies may be selected to accomplish specific ends. The area of instructional design and development is crucial for the appropriate use of technology and for the success of distance education.
She cites Locatis's useful guidelines for use in designing distance education programs for use with emerging technologies, parallel systems, scenario-based instruction, and networked informational systems. In addition, she offers other significant and practical information that distance educators need to have about the use of technology. Dr. Wagner rejects the artificial split between distance education (perceived of as pragmatic and applied) and educational technology (viewed as abstract and oriented to the scientific method). She calls for a real integration of the two into a cohesive system intended to improve human performance. As we distance educators are faced with an increasing array of technologies from which to choose, we must remember the admonitions in this article about how the best technology-related decisions are made as part of an overall instructional design approach.
Contrasting Views
As we discussed this special issue, considerations about what to examine
and what to ignore in related fields moved us immediately into questions
about epistemology, or the nature of knowledge. Such considerations also
brought us squarely up against issues about the nature and philosophy
of scientific methods and techniques-about one pole (positivist, experimental,
and rigorously controlled) to the other pole (interpretivist, ethnographic,
and descriptive) and everything in between. In tackling the question of
"Which kinds of research in other fields are appropriate for distance
educators to consider?," we entered a maze of opinions and argument
that we felt might interest readers.
One point of view is represented by the "Forum" contribution by Dr. Chère Campbell Gibson. Simplifying a little bit, this viewpoint suggests that distance education should beware of "borrowing" anything from another field because the assumptions, clients, and issues involved in distance education are still being defined and may be different from those in any other area of education. We will let Dr. Gibson speak for herself in "Forum," since she presents her argument clearly and with vigor. We welcome her ideas, even though-or perhaps because-they differ from our own and will thus stimulate discussion. Though we do not condone uncritical and naive overlaying of one field's research results onto another, we do feel that disciplinary isolationism is a serious danger if we fail to consider existing research in related fields. We want distance educators to become critical, knowledgeable consumers, who will neither "buy into" everything nor reject everything from outside of distance education, but who will take into consideration any relevant research findings that other fields might offer. It would be a serious waste of resources to say that distance education is so unique and special that none of this research has any relevance for distance education, and that distance educators must start all over in creating a separate research program in vacuo. Thanks to Dr. Gibson for encouraging the debate by presenting her views. AJDE welcomes more discussion on this topic in future "Forum" sections.
Synergy
Distance education offers to other, related fields a rich area of exploration.
For instance, cognitive psychology has much to learn from distance education
in terms of how people in specific situations and environments choose
to acquire knowledge and skills. Adult education researchers will find
in distance education a myriad of interesting issues and questions that
they can study hand in hand with distance education researchers. Business
managers may come to see our field as fruitful for managerial research
and development, and distance education leaders may be able to teach business
people some new ideas about distance learners as a market. Educational
technologists, with their focus on improving people's performance, may
welcome the chance to deal with some of the important problems posed by
distance education practice.
We must learn from each other; it is not a one-way street, in which distance education is the recipient of existing knowledge and has nothing to give back. To us, distance education is a growing, thriving area of urgent need in the modern world, and positive symbiosis and synergy between distance education and other related fields is essential. We are grateful to the authors of the invited articles and are pleased to share their challenging ideas with the readers of this journal.
Psychological Factors and Distance Education
Madeline Ehrman
The article describes the development of research on learning
styles and how current models of cognition relate to the hypothesized,
underlying dimension known as "holistic versus detailed." The
article discusses various cognitive styles, such as psychological differentiation
and field dependence, the Kolb model, brain hemisphericity, sensory preferences,
and the Jungian model. Furthermore, it demonstrates how learning behaviors
or strategies are linked with cognitive or learning styles, and how strategies
and styles are interwoven with aptitude. Then it suggests ways in which
other psychological factors, such as age, sex, motivation, emotion, and
personality, affect distance education. The paper indicates possible psychological
implications for distance education, and the conclusion of the article
summarizes specific applications of psychological factors in distance
education. (74 references)
Adult Education: Context and Challenge for Distance
Educators
Elizabeth Hayes
The article explains the broad scope of adult education
and the nexus between adult and distance education. The article outlines
these significant themes that pervade research on adult education: adulthood
as a time of change and development, the impact of life experience on
adult learning, and the significance of the social context as a factor
influencing learning. The article discusses perspectives-especially andragogy-on
teaching adults. Finally, it points out implications for practice in distance
education and for research. (37 references)
Business, Education, and Distance Education
Stephen Murgatroyd
A key assumption of the article's discussion is a similarity
between business and distance education programs and institutions. The
similarities cited are the existence of business and distance education
in extremely competitive environments and a dependence on the reactions
of their "customers" for both their operation and continued
growth. Upon this assumption, the author discusses three areas of business
and organizational study particularly relevant to the managers of distance
education programs. These areas are: strategic management, human resource
management, and the management of information systems and technological
innovation. Cited for discussion are management examples from business
and educational programs (the Open University in the United Kingdom and
Athabasca University in Canada) that illustrate possible implications
for the management of distance educational programs. The author concludes
that managers of distance education programs can learn much of value by
examining the similarities between business organizations and educational
organizations rather than focusing on the differences. (33 references)
Looking at Distance Education Through an Educational
Technologist's Eyes
Ellen D. Wagner
The article addresses the relationship that exists between the future of distance education and educational technology, a discipline focused on performance. The author then examines how educational technology is defined by educational technologists; reviews some of its historical antecedents and contemporary concerns; and considers the interaction among process, product, and applications components of educational technology as embodied in instructional design and development. This perspective then serves as the backdrop for reexamining the relationship between educational technology and distance education. (45 references)
