When I first signed up for the class, I have a different view of what distance education is all about. I think because I was a part time 'Pendidikan Jarak Jauh' (PJJ) lecturer before at UiTM Jln Othman, P.J about 11 years ago. I conducted the class once a month on Sundays and each meeting will last for four hours. The content of the subject matter and assignments are solely based on a textbook used by the university. Students would then mail their assignments to me. Some of them would hand in the assignments by hand so that they could see me and clarify any doubts they have had in mind. Thinking back, how I wish there was an LMS like moodle to monitor the students' progress and understanding.
Simonson (2003), defines distance education as it is institution based, formal education where the learning group is seperated, and interactive telecommunications system are used to connect learners, resources and instructors.
Meanwhile, according to Keegan (1996), the characteristics of distance education are:
- seperation of teacher and learners
- influence of an educational organisation
- use of technical media to unite teacher and learners
- two-way communication
- absence of learning group
- presence of intersubjectivity and reintegration
- privatisation of institutional learning, industrialisation of teaching and division of labour (in preparing the modules)
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