Leila Liberman, RDH, BS OMDE 601-9040 A-2 10 July 2011

Des ribe an! e"#lain $%e a!&an$a'es an! !ra(ba )s *+ %i'%ly in!us$riali,e! sys$ems *+ learnin' an! $ea %in' -n$r*!u $i*n It is difficult to delineate between advantages and drawbacks of the highly industrialized system of distance education (DE) courses. Many people love chocolate yet many dislike chocolate. !pplying this concept in a comparative analysis between distance education and traditional classroom reveals several advantages and drawbacks. "he purpose of this essay is to compare the following elements when developing #uality DE course and traditional learning$ planning mass production standardization and communication.

.lannin'
! DE course re#uires significantly more planning than traditional classroom courses. %onsideration from day one to the end of the class must be completely thought out. "here are many specialized persons involved in the course development and organization of a DE course thus &high labour responsibility' ((eters )*** p ++,). "ime constraints and availabilities of each specialist must be considered because everyone works on their own time schedule. Dependency on multiple specialists will make this disadvantageous. It is the responsibility of the administrator to have this coordinated. In contrast traditional classroom courses are fabricated by one instructor who needs to complete all the research and perform the presentations. "here is more autonomy in course development. Instructors not fluent in multiple languages will have problems when considering the non-English speaking student (.agar )*+*). ! DE administrator compared to a traditional classroom director must have more effective group management skills to guarantee a well planned DE course.

Mass .r*!u $i*n

DE course availability too many students are positive in the society (Moore and /earsley )*+)). &Industrial practices will result in high #uality0 the high cost of this is amortized when courses are distributed to a large number of students' (Moore and /earsley )*+) p. )*1). "he advancement of technology assures mass productions successfulness. 2hen developing a DE course research must be completed to discover who will use the course and how long there will be needed. %areful consideration must be taken with societal changes and e3pectations associated with the production of any course. !ccording to .agar ()*+*) instructors must consider asynchronous learning and respond within a short time frame. 4iberman +

S$an!ar!i,a$i*n
In the early years of DE courses were designed with little need to change the content. DE courses are designed for use over many years allowing small changes to the course content. &"he courses are used for several years0 in fact they often have a work life of around eight years' ((eters )*** p +++). "he more a course is used the lower the cost of the course ((eters +567). 8tandardization is also reflected in how an instructor communicates with the students. "his communication is not individualized. "he instructor will be speaking to the entire class when posting a response0 therefore the language needs to be uniform for each student to comprehend. Dentistry course design will not last any e3tended period. %ontinuing education courses are routinely being edited to incorporate new dental materials that are available. In the dental profession standardized courses would definitely be seen as a drawback.

/*mmuni a$i*n
!llowing students to access courses anytime and anywhere is essential to a positive production. 2ithout communication the course will not be widely used making it less cost effective. 9igh levels of interaction (student-to-student and student-to-instructor) are necessary through different forms of web-based media (.agar )*+*). "he cost of digital communication and availability will vary across the world. "here are third world countries which do not have the accessibility that we have in the :8. &2e outside the "hird 2orld have been in a post-industrialist era ; the Information !ge' ((eters )*** p. ++)). "heoretically the instructor is available at all times with a DE course. In traditional classrooms the instructor is available during scheduled class time and administrative hours. DE offers significant fle3ibility to meet the students< needs. /*n lusi*n Industrial production and consumption of a distance education course must be carefully contemplated to promote success. %ommunication is vital and highly attainable through the advancement of the digital world. 8tandardizing a course is topic specific. Mass production can be successful once the target audience is identified. 2e are taught early in life that planning is essential to prosper. !s with distance education planning is essential to produce the utmost #uality course. !s the world evolves the industrial age is being replaced with the digital=informational age0 however education is a business and someone must make money.

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Re+eren es

Moore M. >. ? /earsley >. ()*+)). Distance Education: A Systems View of Online Learning (6th edition). @elmont %!$ 2adsworth %engage 4earning. .agar 8. ()*+*). %omparison of MaAor !dvantages and 8hortcomings of Distance Education. nternational !ournal of Educational Administration" #()) B)5-BBB. (eters C. ()**+). Learning and teaching in distance education: Analyses and inter$retations from an international $ers$ecti%e (#nd ed.). 4ondon $ /ogan (age. (eters C. (+55,). In D. /eegan (Ed.) Otto &eters on distance education. 'he industriali(ation of teaching and learning. 4ondon$ Doutledge.

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