With the progress of the postal services in the 19th
millennium, commercial correspondence colleges provided distance education
to students around the world. This trend continued transform into the 20th
century with the advent of radio, television, and other media that allowed for
learning at a distance. In the last decade, providing education at a distance
has changed significantly as the use of computer-mediated learning, two-way
interactive video, and other technologies has increased. In fact, the
‘distance’ in distance education refers to more than just the geographical
distance between the delivering institution and the students, it also includes
time, economic, social, educational, epistemological and communication
distances (Heydenrych & Prinsloo, 2010).
Nipper (1989) had categorized distance education into three
generations. The first generation of distance education refers to the
print-based correspondence study, which was called as the Correspondence Model.
Second generation distance
education refers to the period when print materials were integrated with
broadcast TV and radio, audio and videocassettes which was called as the
Multi-media Model. Third generation was enriched by the invention of hypertext
and the rise in the use of teleconferencing and video conferencing which was
called as the Tele-learning Model. Taylor
(2001) added the fourth generation, characterized by flexible learning (e.g.,
computer-mediated communication, Internet accessible courses) and the fifth
generation (e.g., interactive multimedia online, Internet-based access to
online resources). The table below shows that the fifth generation of Distance
Education by Taylor (2001).
Taylor
(1999 and 2001) [expanded
Nipper (1989)’s three generation to five]
|
|
1st
|
Correspondence –
single medium (print) – mass production of content
|
2nd
|
Teleconferencing –
audio – communications network – synchronous
|
3rd
|
Multi-media and computer-assisted
learning – interaction with content
|
4th
|
Flexible learning
via online delivery – communication enhanced online
|
5th
|
Intelligent flexible
learning – automated content and responses and campus portals
|
However, following the advance of technologies in 21st
century, Caladine (2008) has been added the sixth generation which is
focus on Web 2.0 into the five generation developed by Nipper (1989) and Taylor (2001).
The sixth
generation of distance education is characterized by an increase in the
materials created by students. The materials are likely to be shared among the
students’ peers and are likely to include video
and audio as well as text (Caladine, 2008).
Recently, the introduction of
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and the corresponding large participation
rates such courses exhibit have drawn the attention of students, educators, and
employers. Thus, there were some literature forecast that MOOCs will
become the seventh generation in distance education (Davis, Leon,
Vera and Su, 2014). Unquestionably, MOOCs have major implications for
both campus-based and open and distance learning institutions, for both
secondary and post-secondary levels, and for lifelong learning
opportunities.
Reference
Caladine, R. (2008). Enhancing e-learning with media
rich content and interactions. Hershey-New
York: Information Science Publishing.
Davis, H., Leon, M., Vera, M. S., and
Su, W. (2014). MOOCs: What Motivates the Producers and Participants?
Communications in Communication and
Information Science.
Heydenrych, J. F.
& Prinsloo, P. (2010). Revisiting the five generations of distance education: Quo vadis? Progressio, 32 (1), 5–26
Nipper,
S. (1989). Third generation distance learning and computer conferencing. In R. Mason
& A. Kaye (Eds.), Mindweave: Communication, Computers and Distance
Education. Oxford:
Pergamon.
Taylor,
J. (2001). Fifth.generation.distance.education. (Higher Education
Series, Report No. 40). Canberra, Australia: Department of Education, Training
and Youth Affairs.
