DESOCIALIZATION ASPECT OF DISTANCE LEARNING
Distance learning, also called distance education, [i]is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom. It seeks to offer access to education and learning when data and students cannot be connected due to unavoidable occasions or situations and/or distance. This learning program can also upgrade the information know-how and awareness of company manpower even inside their offices. This can also enable adults to finish their education through an on-line educational learning method.
People of different situations and circumstances use distance learning to provide education for themselves or for their loved ones if conditions do not allow them to attend a classroom setting.
Desocialization is [ii] to take out of a social context, (to) individualization.
The utilization of distance learning is growing over the years. The arrival of new discoveries in technology is concurrently revolutionizing the system of learning and teaching. However, it has also created problems with regard to the promotion of socialization to its learners.
Interpersonal and social skills of students, especially the younger ones, may not develop due mainly to the lack of face-to-face interactions with other classmates and teachers. Learning the virtue of professionalism may also be lacking in the skills learned at distance education. There are also networking opportunities that might be lost.
Should students decide to attend a traditional classroom setting in the future, they might encounter problems in creating, developing, and participating in an academic social group. There is also the danger that students will be indifferent in the future to forge an interpersonal interaction in such an academic group.
It has been found out that there is lesser opportunity for learning new methods, skills, and experiences if there is a lack of physical contact. Studies also show that classroom situations, as against distance learning, provide students with daily fresh ideas that, at most times, come from peer interactions. The advantages of these experiences might not be felt at the moment but it will surely benefit the student in the long run.
Another aspect of teaching aside from giving lessons to students is the creation and building of rapport, unity, and team spirit between teachers and students, and between classmates. In distance learning, a student will not be able to experience these team values. A distance learner will also not feel loyalty to a school. One cannot identify one’s self with a learning institution thus, cannot feel a sense of belongingness to it. .
A distance learner loses the opportunity a traditional teaching brings. The classroom methodology is arranged around objects, ideas and information, and experiences. The distance learner does not become acquainted with various ways of doing things or studying. He or she will not realize the value of sharing information while reciting and presenting ideas to the class. He will only depend upon technology for his learning experience.
Although the use of video conferencing is gaining ground in the application of distance learning, there are still occasions wherein a situation demand that a student and teacher meet face-to-face.
Distance learning sometimes entails the student to also be distant from their teachers and classmates. Such distance does not promote good teaching relationships between mentee and mentor.
Distance education concentrates only on the curriculum but effective learning experience requires association with a group of classmates, sustaining each other, and doing projects together.
Gerhard Casper, Stanford President, has stated that [iii] “distance learning may eventually lead to the destruction of the residential university experience, and with it the elimination of the experience of socialization and peer interaction…”
According to Mesa and Schulman, 1994, [iv] “distance learning recognizes that on some level, cultural and racial experiences, values and behaviours will affect the way people communicate and the way they perceive communication.” They added that providing friendliness and sincerity during discussions can attain casual occasions for socializing.
[i] En.wikipedia.org
[ii] www.google.com.ph
[iii] Besser.tsoa.nyu.edu
[iv] Ivythesis.typepad.com
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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