Thoughts on distance learning

All right, I have a few thoughts on the task, so my views of distance learning in relation to the posts on this blog.

What definitely strikes me as true are the following:

"...the learner is more isolated than most students, is required to maintain/sustain motivation without direct and immediate support from peers and teachers..."

"...requires the learner to manage both the rate and direction of learning. This, inevitably, requires an accurate knowledge of self as a learner. Distance learning environments use technologies and structures (technological and pedagogical) that might be unfamiliar to students. Students need to develop new skills, motivations and commitments to take full advantage of distance learning environments."

While it is also true that distance learning has quite a few advantages, the above points stress that it is, in the form it is currently widely available, a very lonely business. Of course, it is great to be able to manage one's studies oneself. The distance learner is only bound by deadlines. Where I conduct my studies, sitting in bed as I am doing it right now, lazing on a beach on Bali as I would like to be doing it right now or at midnight or 3 in the morning is entirely my business. Given some decent time management skills, that can be great because I can create my own favourite learning environment and not worry about being in a certain classroom at a certain time with certain people. Also, if I felt like, I could get my certificate or degree from an overseas university with appealing programmes. But we all know this.

So here are some thoughts on the downsides of distance learning, and to be honest, I think there are a lot that, in sum, can make a distance course much more difficult to complete successfully than a face to face course.
At times, the learner may simply feel lost. Communication is more complicated than on campus, a tutor might be on leave or not reply to an e-mail, fellow students may not be very keen to communicate with each other for various reasons, and it is entirley possible that a student (I know that from myself and other friends who have taken distance courses)reaches the point where he or she says "Why the hell am I doing this?", as there seems to be limited interes in what they are doing.
The presonal factor very often drops away. People simply do not know each other. The OU, for example, offers one tutorial a month in which students meet the person who marks their assignments. That is not very much and can hardly create a good relation or any form of trust between the student and the institution/teacher. I am currently in the lucky position that I know all the convenors of this course personally and see them every know and again. If that weren't the case, I might think differently about this course, even though there is certianly a lot of effort, proven by e.g. this blog, to keep communication going. But I guess that is the nature of distance learning, which brings me to the next point: Motivation. As I said before, it is great that the distance learner can create their learning environment - if that is a lot of help after a busy day at work is another matter of course:) I think it is easy to loose focus or simply let down one's guard for a while, and suddenly you have missed a few things that seem important, so, I guess everyone can relate to that, one has to quickly catch up with the reading (e.g. the posts on the blog, the recommended articles for a task etc.), which actually makes it difficult to maintain their favourite work environment. Another effect is that, only a few weeks away from the next assignment deadline, a student might only have a rather vague idea of they want to write about, let alone what to read for the assignment. I am usually not the type of person that leaves everything to the last minute, but when I do a distance course (this is not the first one, but the first one with a university), I tend to work in "bursts" of activity. I do a big chunk of work in a very short time and keep repeating that every few days until it is finished. Unfortunately, I very much prefer learning continuously to keep the strain low, but with distance learning, this seems to be my way... I know that I am not alone with that, so perhaps there even is a pattern. Someone apply for funding and research this please :)

I guess what I want to say is that distacne learning can be a really good thing if lacking alternatives (working full-time doesen't leave a lot of alternatives, does it?). It requires a lot of skills, though, that a student would not need to that extent in a face to face course. Certainly that is also true for the tutors, who have to communicate via the same channels as the students and have to keep track of a studnet's "presence" and paricipation in the virtual classroom.
I believe that distance learning will improve a lot, and I know that synchronous learning is alos possible through, i.e., online lectures and tutorials, provided the appropriate technology is available to all involved.

To answer the task question, yes, a lot of the things mentioned do ring true for me as a distance learner, and I think there is a lot of awareness of the student's issues in distance learning. That is a good starting point on which can be built to make distance learning a more attractive and satisfying experience for learners.