Long Distance Learning in the Classroom

• Skill Acquisition

  The philosopher Hubert Dreyfus, for one, argues that it cannot. Without face-to-face learning, the learner remains stuck at the level of mere fact-collecting competence: "Only if the detached, information-consuming stance of the novice, advanced beginner, and distance learner is replaced by involvement, is the student set for further advancement. Then, the resulting positive and negative emotional experiences will strengthen successful responses and inhibit unsuccessful ones, and the performer's theory of the skill, as represented by rules and principles, will gradually be replaced by situational discriminations, accompanied by associated responses. Proficiency seems to develop if, and only if, experience is assimilated in this embodied, atheoretical way. Only then do intuitive reactions replace reasoned responses."

• Involvement

  Notice the key phrase in Dreyfus's statement: "situational discriminations." On Dreyfus's model of skill acquisition, distance learning omits this crucial element and thus abandons the learner at the level of information gathering competence. Not only must the learner be situated in a "real" context in which elements like fear and risk are a factor, but situational aspects like "being put on the spot" must truly matter for the competent novice to achieve proficiency.

• Risk and Expertise

  This distinction is best illustrated by example. A pilot in training can certainly gain competence by way of computer-simulated models. But the move to proficiency and then to expertise can only be made by being actually involved in the moment. The trainee must feel the stress and risk of the situation to take full intuitive advantage of responding appropriately at the appropriate moment; the full context of this mood and ambiance must be taken to heart.

• The Apprentice Model

  The proficient trainee will also benefit from working under an expert or master practitioner in the field. Whether it be in the laboratory, courtroom, hospital or classroom, the acquisition of expertise is best facilitated by studying with one who has obtained mastery in the skill sought--by being in the presence, as it were, of the master at work.

• Telepresence

  One may still object that live, dialogic teleteaching (that is made possible most powerfully by video distance learning) does just this: bring learners face to face with someone who has achieved mastery in their field of study. Dreyfus, however, disagrees here as well: "such distance-learners would still lack the experience that comes from responding directly to the risky and perceptually rich situations that the world presents. Without an experience of their embodied successes and failures in actual situations, such learners would not be able to acquire the ability of an expert who responds immediately to present situations in a masterful way. So we must conclude that expertise cannot be acquired in disembodied cyberspace."

• Considerations

  At this point, e-learning advocates will surely question why the Internet should be so singly used to teach a skill set that it surely was not meant to: namely expertise in Dreyfus's embodied sense of responding to the world. While expertise may not be attainable "on demand," so to speak, even critics of distance learning (like Dreyfus) readily acknowledge its benefits: mobility, accessibility and highly efficient information exchange for disciplined learners willing to seek out new knowledge.

References & Resources

• Classroom 2.0: Long distance learning
• On the Internet: Thinking in Action; Hubert L. Dreyfus; 2001
• Dreyfus, "How Far Is Distance Learning from Education?"
• World Lecture Hall