Unconstrained learning: Principles for the next generation of distance education

Abstract

Distance education has had a dramatic effect on learning in the last decade. While providers have experienced both academic and financial success, now is not the time to be complacent. Rather, we must begin to determine the direction of the next generation of distance education. In this chapter, three generations of distance education are outlined. The first is characterized by correspondence courses; the second is identified by early internet use; and the newly proposed third generation of distance education is characterized by an emerging technology-enabled learning space that brings to distance education a volume, depth, and breadth that eclipses early internet capacity. Ten principles for the next generation of distance education are offered, including a paradigm for learning experience design that not only incorporates sound instructional design practice but also encourages instructional designers to explore the inherent strengths of the technology-enabled space to design dynamic learning experiences.