Distance Learning...At the End of Journey?

Five years ago, the strong message that surfaced from the sessions that made up the three-day 7th SEAMEO INNOTECH International Conference that I attended from 6 to 8 December 2000 in Manila, Philippines had me scouting for places to further my study immediately as I came back. This was my first ever-international conference that I was given the opportunity to attend by my division, Malaysian Examination Syndicates where I am currently attached.

Dubbed “Knowledge Networking in the World of Learning,” the conference brought together some 400 educators from 18 countries to share experiences and insights on the interplay of knowledge and technology where education is pervaded by the new and changing tools of information and communication.

I was very impressed as well as highly motivated during the opening ceremony when Philippine Senate Education Committee Chairperson Teresa Aquino Oreta in her keynote address spoke of her plans to modernize basic education through a series of information technology projects in Philippines. Senator Oreta sponsored the raining of school officials on instructional leadership and educational applications of technology.

The clearest focus of a majority of conference presentations was electronic learning in its various forms. Among others are Michael Churton, Director of Distance Learning, of the University of South Florida, focusing on the implications for human resource development of new distance learning technologies, Sean Loiselle of Lotus Asia discussing how knowledge management is changing the way we find and share knowledge, learn from it and apply it in everyday lives and John Mulhern of the University of South Carolina laying down standards for continuing teacher education which cover context, process, content and evaluation.

Today, with those educational applications of technology I am able at the comfort of my office when time permits me out of my official duty to browse the Internet in continuing my education, searching in a never-ending story in the borderless world of knowledge. At the end of the day, as said by Mahatma Gandhi, quoted by Amalina the girl who scored 17 A1’s in her SPM result, satisfaction is not in the achievement but the process towards achieving it. That is the beautiful part of my life as a distance learning student, a life long learning that I heard first time from Michael Churton. It is not the marks that mattered me the most now but the process of forever acquiring new knowledge, new skills, experiencing the good, the bad and the ugly throughout.

And the last three days for the last 36 hours, at the tips of my fingers I searched the world not only for the course EDU 3234 Reading and Project Work for Teaching Literature in ESL Contexts but also for BB1 2417 Public Speaking and EDU 3230 Content-Based Second Language Instruction.

Where do I begin this journey? And will there be an end to a journey of educating oneself?