A Matter of Perspective

Online Distance Education

“In all affairs, it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.” – Bertrand Russell.

Perception is an interesting and elusive word. The etymology of the Latin words per “thoroughly” and capere, “to grasp or take,” implies that a thing is perceived with one’s senses in its entirety. To perceive seems simple enough as undertaken via the senses every moment of every day of life, but what one perceives is not always what others perceive, for what a person thoroughly takes in is subjectively interpreted through a filter and history of individual experiences. Perception can be a slippery slope. It is the domain of opinion-making and bias. It is the playground of beliefs, learning, misconceptions, and contemplation, and the thin line between genius and the insanity of creativity. One can see a circle as a square without edges or a square as a two-, four-, or as eight- triangles. It is a matter of perspective.

            To express one’s current perception of a training and educational system that one considers relevant, one need not look further than the monitor: online distance education. Online learning is a matter of perspective, like the circle and square. Online distance learning is a description that is somewhat an oxymoron, somewhat accurate, and somewhat false. The perceptional impression is that distant online learning equates with face-to-face learning, but in fact, one perceives a difference. Is online distance education really education or a box of recipes? Do many perceive online distance education as valuable, or do others perceive it as valueless? It can be said that it is convenient for those at a distance from the source of its origin. One may perceive its value in the structure-less individual nature of its form to participate at the time and leisure of the student. It can also be perceived as unstructured and overtly individualistic to the point of isolation.

            Online distance education is a system of systems. Depending on one’s perspective, it can be seen as a hierarchy of authority, a series of concentric circles with each authority a part of the whole, or from some vantage points, as a circus of clowns with little structure but to entertain. However, like the wizard behind the curtain, someone somewhere is in charge. It could be a politician in the system of governance, a Board of Directors in the system of education, a Dean in the system of a college, or a teacher or professor in the system of a course. The statement is often heard that the whole is the sum of its parts, but cannot the parts be the sum of the whole? It is a matter of perspective.

            The resources of online distance education require varied talents and skills. Some are applied effectively, others not so much. Learning management systems, programmers and instructional designers, decision-makers, project management, financing, subject matter experts, digital delivery infrastructure, and instructional personnel for delivery. Applying the resources required can be orchestrated to produce rhythm, tone, volume, and notes combined to produce melodic pleasure or unpleasurable, discordant, painful noise. Some love Prokofiev, others Beethoven. So, it is with online distance learning. Distant online learning is either applied well or not. It is practical, or it is not. It is of value, or it is not. Although the observation is presented as rather black and white, it points to mediocrity when one sees gray. Once again, it is a matter of perspective.

            The online distance learning system’s economic and social impact also has positive and negative aspects. Economically, a person with a degree becomes more employable and a contributor to the enterprise, no matter how obtained. When educated individuals make more money, they pay more taxes, along with the employer. The taxing authority uses the taxes as fuel for the engine of social order. Educated people generally have a political inclination that sustains social cohesiveness and maintains the implementation of social philosophy. Online distance education has become an adjunct product/service of the more extensive economic system of education. Whether it is a profitable enterprise or an investment with an expected return is questionable, but that, too, is a matter of perspective. In Newtonian physics of motion, every action or force in nature creates an equal and opposite reaction. The nature of education as an action or force must also comply with Newton’s third law. The complexities of an educational system such as online distant learning push against a student’s personal, economic, and intellectual needs, and the opposite reaction is to propel the student away from the educational force in equal measure into society towards a personal, economic, and intellectual resolution of their need. Perspective matters.