Randy Garrison does an excellent job in his discussion article “
Theoretical Challenges for Distance Education in the 21st
Century: A Shift from Structural to Transactional Issues”, by reviewing the significant
theoretical developments and contributions to the study of distance education. Garrison shows the significance of theoretical development on distance education by giving a full
description of the inner workings of a theory and reviewing a variety of theories from pioneering theorists to modern day theorists.
Garrison first begins by discussing what is meant by a theory. He then describes a variety of different theories and their connections to distance education. This is followed by the progress and challenges distance education theories face. Before Garrison gets into the description of the theories in the article, he gives a full clarification of what is meant by a theory and their importance to different fields. He defines theory as “an explanation, and a systematic account of relationships among phenomena” and is quoted as saying, “the power of ideas, as represented in our theories, influences practice directly by focusing perspective, revealing knowledge and suggesting alternatives”. A good theory should help predict what will or could be. Garrison donates two full pages to describing how a theory is constructed, what constitutes a theory, and what theories are good for. One concept he states, is that a theory is essential to understanding and communicating the purpose, methods and goals of a field of practice.
In order to show how distance education has not only advanced but was also developed, Garrison gives a brief description of a variety of different theories. To give fuller weight to his description of theories, Garrison uses comments and quotes from other researchers and authors. He describes similar studies and concepts that have evolved and are connected to the theories he describes.
Garrison concludes the article by discussing the progress and challenges involved with distance education theories. He says this century will see the emergence of a postmodern era of Distance Education characterized by increased diversity and choice. Garrison also emphasizes how these postindustrial technologies will not replace industrial approaches to distance education in the future. The advances in communications technology, is a constraint distance education faces in connection with design challenges.
A challenge the field of Distance Education faces is the constitution of theories addressing specific components and concerns of postindustrial distance education. Another challenge Garrison mentions is the asynchronous written communication and how it represents very different characteristics than real-time verbal communication. He also mentions that new challenges are arising because of new audiences of distance education are composed of members of higher education.
By fully describing the term ‘theory’, Randy Garrison, generates the understanding of what he means by the significant theoretical developments and contributions to the study of distance education easy to follow. By giving an overview of different theories before trying to explain any of the progress and challenges each of them face, gives a smooth flow to the article. The theories presented in this article show how the construction of theories can support and influence the construction of distance education.