Distance Education Farhad Saba, Ph. D. Professor Educational Technology

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 How New, How Old!  1880’s Chautauqua, NY Correspondence Education  Educational Radio ( )  Educational Television (1940-present) Cable (1970-present) Satellite (1980-present)  Internet (1990-present)

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Definitions  Geographic separation of the learner and the teacher  Large lecture halls?

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Transactional Distance  Quality of communication Student-Instructor Student-student

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Why Distance Education?  Increasing cost  Increasing time-to-degree  Increasing debt

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Modern Era  Standardization  One size fits all system of education  Performing uniformed tasks

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Post-Modern  Individualization Personal differences  Differential personalized learning  Critical thinking  Problem solving

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Who Are Our Students?  Largest generation (36% of total population).  31% are minorities; more diverse than the adult population.  Have come of age along with the Internet.  Information has been universally available to them.  Community is a digital place of common interest, not just a shared physical space.

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Education Beliefs  96% say doing well in school is important in their lives.  88% of students report that attending college is critical or very important to future success.  76% of students would like to learn more about the world.  28% of high school students use a foreign news source to learn about current events.

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Internet Use by Age

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Even Young Children  72% of all first graders used a home computer during the summer on a weekly basis.  Over 85% of young children with home computers used them for educational purposes.  By 1999, 97% of kindergartners had access to a computer at school or home.  35% of children ages 2-5 use the Internet.

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Online Teens  71% of online teens say they relied mostly on Internet sources for the last big project they did for school.  48% say their use of the Internet improves their relationship with friends.  94% of online teens report using the Internet for school-related research.  74% of online teens use instant messaging.  24% of online teens have created their own Web pages.

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Virtual Schools  40,000 to 50,000 Students in (Clark 2000)  Virtual High School (VHS) (  Florida Virtual School (FLVS) (  Electronic classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) (

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Corporate Universities  Expenditure on Web-based training was estimated to be $5.5 billion in (Berge, 2001). The Thomson Corporation provides innovative online learning to as many as 86,000 GM salaried employees through General Motors University Ford has 20,000 online students in one of its programs

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Government (1)  U. S. Armed Services TRADOC  The U. S. Navy Video TeleTraining (VTT)  The Air Force Institute for Advanced Distributed Learning (AFIADL)  Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) SCORM (  The Defense Activity for Non-Tradition Education Support (DANTES)

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Government (2)  eGovernment initiative (eTraining) Gov Online Learning Center (  Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) The Emergency Education NETwork (EENET)  FBI Virtual Academy  Departments of Education, Labor and Agriculture

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Government (3)  State Human Resource Development Programs  Law Enforcement  Municipal, water and power agencies

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © All Institutions Private 4-year Public 2-year Public 4-year Fall Growth of Distance Education Source: U. S. Department of Education

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Total Number of Students  ,000  Million  Million  Current Estimate 6 Million (U. S. Department of Education)

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 “Baby Boom Echo” Growth in General Student Population  %  %

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Faculty Involvement % 13.5% 34 % 16% Innovators Early Adopters Early Majority Late Majority Laggards Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation model

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Faculty Involvement % 13.5% 34 % 16% Innovators Early Adopters Early Majority Late Majority Laggards Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation model

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Investment in Technology  National The Internet Super Computers Internte2  Local Fiber and Phone Lines Servers PCs

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Level of Investment  Millions  Billions  Trillions

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Industrial Age Standard Goods and Services On size fits all

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Post-Industrial Society

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Post-Industrial Society  Critical thinking  Decision making  Problem solving

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Differences 150 Miles/hr 2000 passenger/run Safe & Comfortable 50 Miles/hr 200 passenger/run Unsafe & Uncomfortable

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Feedback Loops: Positive Knowledge Learning

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Feedback Loops: Negative Room Temperature Heater

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Transactional Distance structure Independence

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Distance in education…  …depends on individual differences

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Individual differences  Prior-Learning Differential progress  Course Structure Mini Courses Micro courses Learning Objects

Farhad Saba, Ph. D. © 2005 Structural Issues  Flexible organization (Time to establish a new course)  Flexible Process (Time to degree)