Diversity Within the Virtual Classroom

Abstract

In 1996, Kenneth Ashworth wrote an essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education that concluded that a "virtual university. . . . seems likely to produce only virtual learning" (p. A88). His commentary, spurred by the founding of the first well-publicized virtual university, Western Governors University (WGU), projected the demise of higher education if such institutions gained credibility. Ashworth worried, as did many other observers of higher education at the time, that on-line virtual universities were going to bypass traditional colleges and universities and create an alternative institution for the awarding of credentials, diminishing the quality and substance inherent in the campus-based model. Technology could be helpful, he conceded, but only "around the edges, not as a complete substitute" for faceto-face exchanges in the classroom environment.Today, just seven years later, we are awash in distance education, but Ashworth's predictions do not hold water. His feared future has failed to materialize but not simply because WGU failed to become the model for the virtual universities of the future (Kinser, 2002). Rather, traditional colleges and universities began creating virtual classrooms themselves, plunging headlong into distance learning at a rate that would leave the pioneering WGU far behind. The result is that distance education has become commonplace among colleges and universities, public and private, four-year and two-year (Bradburn, 2002). Far from occurring outside the control of traditional degree-granting institutions of higher education, distance education is well within their sphere of influence (Horn, Peter, and Rooney, 2002). It is hard to rationalize keeping technology on the periphery when its use in teaching and learning has become a key reality of the modern university.

Online Distant Learning Using Situation-Based Scenarios

“…We witness the development of online training applications and the use of generic online meeting applications for training purpose to create online virtual classrooms. But generic interactive applications are not well suited to a training context, and specialized ones can require too much learning time to master (Murphy and Manzanares, 2008) (Kinser, 2003), slowing down their acceptance by the users (Jung et al, 2006) (Pigliapoco et al, 2008). Moreover, users expect new learning possibilities through the use of these applications (Hay et al, 2004).…”

Distance education from the inside out: experiences grounded in the real world contexts of participants

“…As noted by Kinser (2003), "The research on why students attend distanceeducation programs is sketchy, but over the past decade it has become clear that the 'If you build it, they will come' model is not sufficient to ensure enrollment" (p. 70). Phipps and Mersotis' (1999) research has shown that institutions require substantial justification in order to recruit and sustain higher numbers of students while Katz's (1999) study supports knowledge of the potential consumer student market is crucial to the success of a distance education program.…”