Chapter 3: Trends and Issues Facing Distance Education: A Nowcasting Exercise

A field of practice is best understood within a temporal context as ideas and practices change over time. This is what is meant by trends: changes over time within a field as well as changes in society and the larger environment that have an impact on the field. Issues point to unresolved concerns, questions, and tensions that arouse the interest of researchers and practitioners alike. The study of trends and issues can come in different forms, such as surveys of individuals, news sources, and panels of experts. The 2011 Horizon Report (Johnson, Smith, Willis, Levine, & Haywood), for example, is a good example of a trend analysis based on input from a panel of experts. The present chapter offers a more idiosyncratic view based on my perspective as a single observer situated in the United States, informed by working relationships with professionals in several locations worldwide.