现代远程教育若干理论之评述

A Critique of Some Theories of Modern Distance Education

本文对现代远程教育的几种主要理论——自主学习理论、工业化理论、相互作用和交流理论、系统分析理论进行分析和评述。文章分别概括各种理论的基本观点,并对其特点、优点和缺陷做出评述。

This paper offers an analysis and critique of some major theories of modern distance education - autonomous learning, industrialization, interactivity and interaction, and the system approach. Their basic frameworks, characteristics as well as strengths and weaknesses are examined. This author believes that the theory of autonomous learning merits attention because of its strong emphasis on self-control, self-regulation and self-evaluation in the learning process. However, in this theory, 'learning' is often stressed at the expense of 'teaching'. Besides, it might not be correct to assert that the ability to carry out autonomous learning comes naturally with physical maturity. An industrial approach to distance learning stresses the impact of IT and multimedia on distance education but other important factors might be neglected. For example, the role of the active individual in the teaching and learning process is seldom discussed. The theory of interactivity and interaction is a possible remedy to the defects of these theories. It attempts to re-examine the activities of distance teaching through a study of their features: a separation in time and space, and the distributed mode of teaching and learning. This theory also looks into one of the most crucial questions in distance learning: Is distance education a 'people to people' or a 'machine to people' teaching process? A system approach to distance education, on the other hand, adopts the methodology of system science to examine and explain the various phenomena in distance learning and teaching. Its strength lies in its ability to deal with the phenomenon and patterns of distance education from a global and contextual perspective. However, compared with other theories of distance education, the system theory often fails to provide concrete and in-depth analysis, and tends to gloss over individual differences.