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last.updated 6.13.10

The Future of Distance Education

Purpose

With the various contexts in which teaching (and the teaching of writing) is occurring, as well as the new communication technologies that there are to mediate distance learning, instructors and administrators have a lot of options and opportunities to consider as they go forward teaching writing from a distance. Today we will examine some of those new opportunities and discuss their implications for specific contexts.

YouTube Video–Second Life in Education

Discussion–What is the future of distance learning?

We will discuss the following questions:

• What questions do you have about the readings?
• Based upon your limited experience in Second Life, Sarah Robbin's talk, and the readings for today what are the educational affordances of these computer games? What exigencies do they create to the teaching situation? Would you adopt them? for what purpose? why?
• What other social media sites would you want to adopt to teach writing from a distance? How would you use these technologies and why?
• What guidelines would you recommend for examining new technologies before they get adopted?
• How might other contexts, such as business and writing in other disciplines, help us think about distance education?