远程教育理论中几个基本概念的探讨

An Examination into Some Key Concepts in Distance Education Theory

本文对远程教育理论的三个最基本的概念——远程教育、远程教学和远程学习进行讨论,试图从教育学原理的角度,对这三个最基本的概念涵义和基本特征进行分析,以便能够对这些概念加以区分,并把握这些概念之间的联系。

Within the discipline of distance education and teaching, a great number of terms are currently used. Analyses show that these terms reflect three phenomena or activities, namely, distance education, distance teaching and distance learning. An examination of these terms is essential for the following purposes: to pave the way for the development of distance education; to provide a framework for theoretical research in distance education; and to offer tools for the clear description of various incidents and phenomena. I believe that distance education refers to educational activities that are provided by educational institutions and with the assistance of multimedia technologies and various teaching resources. These technologies and resources are used to overcome the barriers of 'time' and 'space' imposed by conventional education. The characteristics of distance education are its openness, extensibility, flexibility, manageability and capability of utilizing different media. Distance teaching contrasts with classroom teaching, in that teachers and students are separated physically and the crucial elements in the process are information technology (IT), multimedia, educational resources as well as counseling and guidance. Unlike classroom teaching, distance teaching and learning are separated spatially and usually asynchronous; IT and multimedia play an intermediary role; distance learners enjoy a great degree of autonomy; and the control over teaching is mostly indirect. Lastly, distance learning refers to learners' acquisition of educational information and resources. These forms of learning activity are specific to distance education, and are distinguished by self-initiation, self-orientation and self-control.