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Distance learning continues to expand through the decades and now includes curriculum that uses all of the Web 2.0 technologies.
The demand for better and more applicable training and professional development is greater today than ever before. Adult learners need training to be more than just showing them how to do something. They need training to be task specific and on demand. Distance learning using web-based technologies, while it has been around well over a decade, could be just the method and tools to meet the new training needs. Distance LearngingTraining and Development magazine reporters Bob Mosher and Frank Nguyen wrote in their article "Training is Broken (There. We Said It.)" in the August 2008 issue, “We no longer live in a world where knowledge alone is power. What’s important to an average worker is keeping current with the new software procedure, the latest and greatest product to sell to a customer, or the updated human resources policies to manage employee performance.” In the article, the reporters explore the concept of performance support (PS) options to provide training for today’s workers. Performance support, according to Mosher and Nguyen, could be used to teach employees everything they need to learn when they get into the workplace including information, resources, and tools where they need it most – right at their job. Distance learning tools could be the perfect solution to implement PS. Distance learning (DL) or distance education is a field of education focusing on the pedagogy and andragogy, technology and instructional design systems to deliver training to learners who are not physically in a traditional classroom or training room. DL TechnologiesTypically, technology used in DL includes video, live conferencing, e-mail, on-demand reference materials, chat rooms or live broadcasting of a teacher conducting instruction in a classroom in one location and transmitted to a classroom in a different location. Distance learning can be synchronous using the telephone, videoconferencing or web conferencing. It can also be asynchronous using e-mail, CDs, message board forums, voice mail, fax DVD or videocassette. Types of Distance Learning ClassesDistance learning can take many forms including correspondence courses, CD, PocketPC or mobile learning, Internet based using either synchronous or asynchronous or a combination of both. DL can also be integrated using live-group instruction and a combination of the other technologies. Technologies used depend on the purpose of the course and characteristics of the targeted learners. If convenience and self-study is the purpose, then the DL curriculum should exclude live-group meetings. DL at Your DesktopMosher and Nguyen also reported, “This decades-old discipline’s (referring to performance support) time has finally arrived, and it may become the next dominant learning approach in corporate education.” Distance learning’s true power will come when a learner can have the class right at their computer covering what they need when they need it. Almost like an extended help desk or putting action into a Help facility. Need to know how to do a mail merge using the newest version of Microsoft Word? Dial up or log onto your personal and individualized distance learning program and ask the facilitator to show you the steps and coach you through the process. The technology is there – the knowledge is plentiful – and the need is stronger than ever to find new and effective ways to use distance learning.
The copyright of the article Distance Learning Goes the Distance in Human Resources Management is owned by Patricia Faulhaber. Permission to republish Distance Learning Goes the Distance in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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