When I was interviewing for my current position as a middle school language arts teacher in a virtual charter school in Indiana, I remember asking the principal how virtual teachers were able to form relationships with students. I was fairly comfortable with the online environment, and I’d even taken a few college classes online, but those seemed to be set up with little interaction between students and instructors; I was concerned that I’d miss out on my favorite part of teaching – getting to know my students. The principal laughed a little and said she heard that question a lot. She told me that as a virtual teacher, I’d be spending much less of my time on classroom management and writing lesson plans, and more time interacting with my students one-on-one and in small groups – the difference would be that these meetings would be online or over the phone instead of face-to-face. She convinced me, I got the job, and she was absolutely right – virtual education is much different than teaching in a brick-and-mortar classroom, but I am amazed at how well I know my students, even if I have no idea what they look like. (Funny story: one of my students, after completing my class, added me as a Facebook friend. I had talked to this student for hours and hours over the course of the school year, and the picture I had in my head of him was a tall, lanky kid wearing jeans and glasses, but in reality he’s short, stocky, and practically the opposite of my mental picture!)
I use those stories to illustrate the fact that perception is really important, but it’s also very easy to come up with the wrong perceptions based on our prior experience. Distance learning is no different. People with little experience regarding distance learning often believe that it’s less valuable than education received via face-to-face methods, when research has continually shown that this is not true: Zacharis (2010), for example, found that there is no statistically significant difference in achievement between online learning and face-to-face learning.
However, even though the misperceptions are common today, more and more people are choosing distance learning. Both at the k-12 level and in higher education, numbers of online learners are growing dramatically. This growth indicates that in the future, even within the next five to ten years, the perceptions of distance learning will be much more positive than they are today. As we get students who are “digital natives” entering higher education with strong opinions about their educational needs and how to meet them, online education will be ready for them.
As an instructional designer and as a teacher in the virtual school environment, I think my job is to continue to pursue excellence. If I do my job well, my students and their parents will know the value of online education. If I design courses, units, or lessons that are instructionally sound, motivate my students to learn, and provide individualized attention, I will add to the body of positive experiences surrounding online education. I also believe that I can act as an advocate for online learning by sharing my own experiences as a teacher and instructional designer with those around me. My school’s motto this year is “Expecting Excellence Every Day.” In order for continuous improvement in distance education to happen, everyone involved needs to be committed to excellence.
References:
Siemens, G. (n.d.). The Future of Distance Education
[Video Program]. Laureate Education, Inc., 2012.
Zacharis, N. Z. (2010). The
Impact of Learning Styles on Student Achievement In a Web-based Versus an
Equivalent Face-to-Face Course. College
Student Journal, 44(3), 591-597.
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