Section V

The chapters in this section identify trends and issues with instructional design and technology in a variety of settings: military, health care, P-12, higher education, and around the world. In this week’s blog post, tell which setting you are working in or intend to work in.

I have read the distance learning and instructional design in international settings, and I think I have experience in this field so I have some words to say.

First of all, it does tend to distance learning recently. As it mentioned on the book, distance learning may be defined broadly as off-campus or off-site learning mediated by technology. Actually it does offer some part time students a good opportunity to take classes. It does not only offer an opportunity to them who need it, but also offer an opportunity to those who want to improve themselves. Second of all, since distance learning requires the instructional designers and technologists who can work in the new global electronic environment. That offers opportunities to those who are good at technologies.

Admittedly, there are still some underdesigned online courses. Say instructional designers and technologists have had little or no chance to make inputs in the rush to get most of these courses to market on the internet or putting lecture notes into HTML for the web simply is not enough. But I believe that people will get used to the e-World eventually, since we are in an efficient world. I understand that people cannot do one thing at one time, instead they are required to do more at the same time.

Then identify one thing that you learned from reading about each of the other settings and explain how that concept, idea, or approach could be adapted to your setting.

I am impressed that after read the higher education part, it is more complicated than I thought. Firstly, what is higher education? Higher education is a term that is used to encapsulate all types of colleges and universities, even though there is a great diversity among what traditionally are terms four-year and two-year colleges. In my mind, there is only four-year college which is the formal college form.

Categories	Definitions
Four-Year Colleges Using Carnegie Classifications
Doctoral/Research University I-Extensive	Full range of baccalaureate programs, 50 or more doctorates per year across at least 15 disciplines.
Doctoral/Research University II-Extensive	Full range of baccalaureate programs, 10 or more doctorates per year across at least 3 disciplines, or 20 or more doctorates per year overall.
Master’s (Comprehensive ) Colleges and Universities I	Full range of baccalaureate programs, 40 or more master’s degrees per year across at least 3 disciplines.
Master’s (Comprehensive ) Colleges and Universities II	Full range of baccalaureate programs, 20 or more master’s degrees per year overall.
Baccalaureate Colleges I-Liberal Arts	Full range of baccalaureate programs, at least half of undergraduate awards are bachelor’s degrees, and at least half of bachelor’s degrees in the liberal arts field.
Baccalaureate Colleges II-General	Full range of baccalaureate programs, at least half of undergraduate awards are bachelor’s degrees, and less than half of bachelor’s degrees in the liberal arts field.
Baccalaureate/Associate’s Colleges	Undergraduate colleges with significant baccalaureate programs, majority conferrals are associate’s degrees and certificates.
Specialized Institutions	At least half of the degrees awarded in a single field.
Tribal Colleges and Universities	Tribally controlled and located on reservations, members of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium.
Two-Year Colleges Using Katsinas’s Classifications
Publicly Controlled Community Colleges	Rural (small ≤1000 students, medium=1000-2499, large w/2500+); suburban ( single or multi-campus); urban ( single or multi-campus).
Privately Controlled	Private, nonprofit institutions, proprietary institutions.
Federally Chartered and Special Use	Tribal colleges.

I learned that there are three major factors that affect colleges and universities are the reduction of finances and other resources, the decline in the competition for student enrollments, and diversification among student populations. Compare to the distance learning, I guess we can think about this new pattern of studying form. It only requires instructor and internet, so it can save money. Since distance learning does not require students have to attendant at a fixed time in a classroom, also it is convenient to students who have no such sufficient time to attend school. Therefore, distance learning could be a good solution for higher education.