Distance Education in the Digital Age: Common Misconceptions and Challenging Tasks

Abstract

This article discusses in its first part three common misconceptions related to the operation of distance education providers in the digital age: The tendency to relate to e-learning as the new generation of distance education; the confusion between ends and means of distance education; and the absence of the teachers' crucial role in the discourse on knowledge construction. The second part of the article examines four challenging tasks for the future development of distance education in the digital age: Bridging over the digital divide; designing cost-effective modes of utilizing the new technologies; redesigning the roles of actors in the distributed teaching responsibility within the industrial model of distance education; and creating effective quality assurance mechanisms. Resume Cet article aborde dans sa premiere partie trois idees fausses couramment rencontrees concernant l’operation de fournisseurs d’education a distance a l’ere numerique : La tendance a faire reference a l’apprentissage en ligne comme etant la nouvelle generation d’education a distance; la confusion entre les fins et les moyens de l’education a distance; et l’absence du role central de l’enseignant dans le discours sur la construction du savoir. La deuxieme partie de l’article examine quatre tâches presentant des defis pour le developpement futur de l’education a distance a l’ere numerique : franchir le fosse numerique; concevoir des modes economiques d’utilisation des nouvelles technologies; reconcevoir les roles des acteurs dans la responsabilite de l’enseignement reparti a l’interieur meme du modele industriel d’education; et creer des mecanismes efficaces de controle de la qualite.