Emerging Technologies: Impacts on Distance Learning

Abstract

In the next decade, our society may change from its present extensive use of technology as a mediator of human experience to a reliance on technology-permeated experience as a primary form of personal consciousness. In response, our paradigm for distance learning must evolve so that we can replicate the workplaces and communities of the future in schools today. This will aid students in filtering and interpreting the complex, pervasive informational environment that sophisticated media are creating in society. This article presents a scenario crafted to suggest the capabilities of advanced technology for making distance-learning environments more effective. Policies should be developed so that the benefits of these innovations for distance learning are realized as rapidly as possible, but we must ensure that these powerful new media do not shape the instructional message in unwanted ways.

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References

1. Fritz E. Froehlich and K. Leon Montgomery , “The Emergence of Telecommunications as a Discipline,” Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science, 16(5):6-7 (June-July 1990).

2. A popularized, extended discussion of these issues is given in Shoshana Zuboff , In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power (New York: Basic Books, 1988).

3. Christopher J. Dede , “The Evolution of Distance Learning,” Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 22(3):254 (Spring 1990).

4. U.S., Congress, Office of Technology Assessment , Critical Connections: Communication for the Future (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1990), p. 4.

5. This scenario has been excerpted from Christopher J. Dede , Imaging Technology's Role in Restructuring for Learning (New York: Bank Street College of Education, Center for Technology in Education, 1990), pp. 4-5.

6. A more detailed discussion of research in computer-supported cooperative work and its potential impact on distance learning is given in Dede , “Evolution of Distance Learning,” pp. 255-260.

7. Chip Morningstar and F. Randall Farmer , “The Lessons of Lucasfilm's Habitat,” in Cyberspace: First Steps, ed. Michael Benedikt (Cambridge: MIT Press, forthcoming).

8. William Gibson , Neuromancer (New York: Ace Books, 1984).

9. Christopher J. Dede and Geetha Jayaram , Designing a Training Tool for Imaging Mental Models, U.S. Air Force Human Resources Laboratory Technical Paper (Brooks Air Force Base, TX: U.S. Air Force Human Resources Laboratory, forthcoming).

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10. Exploratory research on knowbots, as well as other leading-edge media innovations too numerous to describe in this article, is discussed in Stewart Brand , The Media Lab: Inventing the Future at MIT (New York: Penguin, 1988).

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11. Joseph F. Coates , “Aspects of Innovation: Public Policy Issues in Telecommunications Development,” Telecommunications Policy, 1(3):11-13 (1977).

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12. This issue is discussed in more detail in Dede , Imaging Technology's Role in Restructuring for Learning, app. A.

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13. An excellent overview of distance-learning policy issues is given in U.S., Congress, Office of Technology Assessment , Linking for Learning: A New Course for Education (Washington, DC: Office of Technology Assessment, 1989).