IRRODL Volume 4, Number 2

Various Authors
2003 International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning  
Pointing to the "objectivised, rationalized, technologically-based interaction," Peters (1973) referred to the then prevailing correspondence forms of distance education as "the most industrialized form of education" (p. 313). With such features as assembly line methods; division of labor; centralized processes of teaching materials development, production and dispatching; student admissions enrollment systems; automated registration, course allocation, and student support, and personnel
more » ... ent systems, distance education institutions demonstrated management structures and practices utilized in industrial and business organizations. Large numbers of courses and students were thus "processed" in correspondence, radio, and televisionbased distance education systems. Over the past decade or so, there has been a major worldwide expansion of distance education systems, particularly online, Web-based systems. Unlike prior distance education systems, however, network-based distance education models do not so readily accommodate industrialized forms of education. Indeed, the interaction that network-based models enable between students and course content, teachers and peers, sets practical and attenuates the extent to which such teaching-learning transactions may be regarded a form of industrialization. Abstract The widespread diffusion of e-Learning in organizations has encouraged the discovery of more effective ways for conveying digital information to learners, for instance, via the commonly called Learning Management Systems (LMS). A problem that we have identified is that cognitive variables and pedagogical processes are rarely taken into consideration and sometimes are confused with the mere use by learners of "diversified" hypermedia resources. Within the context of widespread dissemination of multimedia content that has followed the emergence of massive information resources, we discuss the need for more powerful and effective learner-centered tools capable of handling all kinds of design configurations and learning objects.
doi:10.19173/irrodl.v4i2.1086 fatcat:45izhvcg6vbr5fryrletnnprou