I have finally reached the end of the semester. I have been presented with many ideas that would have never crossed my mind had I not taken this course. I also would have never started to think about the cost factors involved in distance education. Now, when I speak with others in the field of education I feel confident that I have a better understanding of the economics behind it. Granted, I am not claiming to be an expert, however, I have developed ideas around the basic concepts.
This course helped me understand that there is a lot of preparation and planning that must take place prior to even attempting to place a DE program within an institution. I originally believed that everyone was just jumping on the bandwagon of distance education because they believed that they could turn a profit by reducing overhead of a program. I quickly discovered that is not the case.
Also, another interesting idea that will stay with me, beyond my time in this course, is the concept of value. I am of full understanding that value is determined by the person that holds the item, but in terms of education and skills, value is decided by many different people that may not have a say in what you value for yourself.
Finally, this course made me think about the future of DE. I am not sure what the next step for DE in higher education will be. I want to believe that most schools will become dual mode institutions and offer both on ground and distance courses; but I believe that there is a factor that I am not even aware of at the moment. Maybe in regards to mobile learning and even younger students.
At any rate, I was not at a loss of thoughts in this class and fully appreciated the thoughts that it ignited in terms of my progress towards my degree.
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