Literature Review on Odl

Literature Review on Odl

A Review of Literature on Distance Education Linda Cannell Trinity Evangelical Divinity School of Trinity International University ABSTRACT: The issues affecting the future of distance education are complex. Questions concerning accreditation and standards, evaluation and assessment, instructional requirements related to academic credit, admissions criteria, and control of instruction present a mine field of difficulties for decision-makers. Moreover, such issues as descriptions of experiential learning, cognitive processing, transformational versus transmissive modes of learning, and lifelong learning demonstrate one clear trend: some form of an instructional paradigm is inexorably shifting to some form of a learning paradigm. This review of the literature on distance education is to provide a basis for the discussion of distance education in relation to theological education, and the role and responsibility of accreditation agencies in relation to the rapidly developing programs of distance education in various institutional settings. Any review of literature on this subject is quickly dated. Literature on the topic is increasing exponentially, web sites appear and disappear seemingly overnight, and what was once considered “state-of-the-art” technology quickly becomes obsolete. Nonetheless, there are issues presented in this review that are important for the future of theological schools and agencies that accredit them. “The future is outside the traditional campus, outside the traditional classroom. Distance learning is coming on fast.” Peter Drucker Distance Education: A Concept in Search of a Theory1 A coherent review of the literature on distance education is hampered by a bewildering range of definitions, multiple opinions concerning purpose, varying perspectives on the relationship between distance learning and traditional modes, and the lack of a consistent theoretical framework. The trajectory from correspondence study to more contemporary,...

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