Is Distance Learning in Higher Education Successful?

Distance Learning

Introductory remarks and objectives of proposed research

Education is -- if we have any recollection of our classical language training -- supposed to be a drawing out rather than a putting in, which would seem to make it at least as an appropriate activity for adults as for children. Adults have their far greater basis of experience than do children and so are in many ways much more easily educated (Ravitch 2000).

Education is, after all, not simply the acquisition of facts but their synthesis as well, the creative and unique ways of putting together information about the world that those with experience in the world can achieve. Education may well be -- as it is often humorously argued -- wasted on the young, not because of any inherent fault of their own but because their range of experience is so narrow that it is difficult for them to make the best use of the facts that they are given. Unconnected to experiences and without an already established framework of other knowledge about the way in which the world works, the facts presented to the young in the course of their education are often like expensive crystal goblets sliding unanchored on a silver tray. It is almost inevitable that some of them will fall off and be smashed.

And yet, of course, young people do need to be educated, especially as the technologies of daily life and the workplace become increasingly complicated and demanding. There is so much to learn in a lifetime that if we do not begin the process of education at an early age it will be impossible ever to gain enough knowledge about the world to make our contributions. However, there is no reason that education for the child cannot be supplemented by education for the adult. This proposal outlines a research project to determine if distance learning in higher education is successful or not or whether a model of adult education (as suggested by Meziro, 2000) would be more useful.

Literature Review

The literature review for this project should examine two different sets of literature. The first of these will be generally on the adult learner, looking at what makes higher education (which is that portion of education that is aimed at the adult learner) successful, including an examination of the proper mix of applied and purely theoretical knowledge.

The second set of literature will be that which examines in a general fashion the arena of distance learning. While it is certainly true that most of those who participate in distance learning are in fact adults, some children so as well for a number of reasons: They have illnesses or disabilities that prevent them from attending a traditional school; their parents' jobs require that the family move frequently; they wish to get ahead in their studies, etc. The literature on distance learning for all ages of students should be examined.

These two sets of literatures should then be combined.

Justification of problem

Distance learning will continue to help people adjust their professional lives to the rapidly changing pace of technology. Any research that helps to make distance leaning more effective will be useful.

Hypotheses

The hypothesis that initially guides this research is that distance learning is effective for higher education, but that gender, class and cultural background are significant factors in determining who is likely to be successful so that certain groups (men in their early twenties, for example) can be expected not to succeed nearly as well as members of other demographic groups.

Operational definitions

This research depends on operationalization of the concept of education and knowledge; the former as a measurable sense of increased competence, the latter as facts acquired.

Methodology

Subjects and Sampling Procedures

The subject pool for this research is 50 individuals ranging in age from 18 to 65 who have participated in distance learning in the last five years and who are representative of the gender and ethnic breakdown as well as the professional goals of distance learners generally. An additional 15 students who have trained in technical schools will be interviewed.

Instruments

The primary instrument in an open-ended interview of the 65 students.

Some quantitative data will also be included, including employment history and grades. Quantitative research is most valuable when used to investigate any behavior or belief that can be quantified without doing harm to the core concept. (How, for example, can one quantity the idea of belief in the importance of the First Amendment without coming up with a unit of research and measurement that is so far divorced from the core idea that the research design has destroyed its own subject?)

Overall, the most important data collection tool for this research was a series of in-depth interviews performed as well as observations of these same individuals at their jobs and as students.

Characteristics of the measures