Teaching and Learning at a Distance vs. Exploring Online Education in K-12 Environments Summary

With its focus on Exploring Online Education in K-12 Environments, Heafner's article touches on different aspects of online education and how technology is changing the way the traditional classroom operates, “trends in K-12 online learning indicate a pattern of change in how students are learning in K-12 environments with promise of significant changes in the future” (Heafner, 1478). Both Heafner and Simonson agree that distance education and online learning is a dramatic idea and it has the possibility to change, even restructure, our current educational system. As with Heafner, there is no one size fits all theory to which distance education can be placed. The main importance is to continue to research and educate those involved in distance education to better prepare for the changes which are currently taking place, as well as, those that are in development for the foreseeable future in the K-12 classroom. Heafner, T., Hartshorne, R., & Petty, T. (2015, March). Exploring Online Education in K-12 Environments. In Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (Vol. 2015, No. 1, pp. 1478-1480). Simonson, M. (2014). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (6th ed.). Charlotte, N.C.: Information Age Publishing.