Blog Post 8: Distance Education

Distance education is a topic that is becoming extremely important and popular in today's technologically advanced society. Distance education is a means of educating people through use of technology such as computers, regular mail, television, and CD-ROMS. More than 96% of colleges offer distance learning class, including the University of Florida. I have personally taken two online classes, statistics and this very class. There are many advantages to taking a distance education class, such as working at your own pace, comfort, the availability of multimedia, and access to more materials. However, there are downsides as well; cost, security, and lack of personal impact are some major concerns for distance education.

Distance education, as the name implies, is most certainly an important topic in the field of education. Distance education can open the doors more many more people to be educated in a wider variety of topics. However, I plan to be an elementary school teacher and hope to teach first or second grade. At these young ages, distance education would not be practical, because children need more social interaction, teacher help, and hands on activities in order to be successful. Overall, distance education is extremely valuable in the field of education, but I would not use it personally.

Distance Education: Pros and Cons
I chose to include a more lengthy and detailed list of pros and cons of using distance education, because I feel it is important for teachers and students to weigh the benefits and negative aspects before choosing distance learning. I found this article by using google to search for "distance education pros and cons."