The Evolution of D.E. and the impact Instructional Design plays.

Wow....... After reading the articles all I can say is WOW. I FEEL VINDICATED. I have been preaching many of the ideas and theories presented in the article for years even though I did not have a term that neatly wrapped my thoughts in a package. Instructional Design is the term that has given me insight and understanding into my experiences and beliefs in my current work situation.

To answer my professor's question, YES I agree with him and his co-writes of the article. YES, I agree that most e-learners do not know what a proper program is supposed to look like based on the effects or principles of Instructional Design. There are 5 effects that impact Instructional design and they are 1) quality, 2) needs assessment, 3) ROI, 4) better instructional systems design, and 5) revision of learning model. In the past, my rants I have always been centered around 21st century learning and how this is the new philosophy and what is being touted but unfortunately the infrastructure is not in place. Broken down it is as simple as funding, training, equipment, service, and support.

 The 21st century model has not been adopted across the K-12 schools. Virtual Schools and e-learning environments are not flourishing in my school system. I agree with Moller and his co-writers that virtual schools are far more prevalent on the high school level because in my district we only offer virtual schools for grades 9-12. This is not the 21st century model I have been hearing about because students in grades K-8 are being left out and their numbers far exceed the numbers of students in grades 9-12. Thus, we are not creating the 21st century students.

The scope and span of this innovation (e-learning) is infinite. It offers many options contrary to its face-to-face counterpart. E-learning over the duration of the program is cheaper because it cuts down on overhead, travel  The article " The Evolution of Distance Education: Implications for Instructional Design on the Potential of the Web" outlines several benefits and threats to the innovation. I believe there are a few threats to the innovation being maximized to its full potential. I say maximized because the innovation is being used on a major scale throughout several entities (like business, education and government) but not to its full potential. I believe the main threats are training, service and support. Everything begins with training like who is trained, what type of training is implemented, and how often and the depth of training.