Assumptions and Distance Education

Assumptions about learners are what is taken for granted about them. Standards for online instruction often begin with the designers listing of the characteristics of the target audience for the instruction— prerequisite competencies, access to resources, and level of self-motivation, for example.

The massive research data provided by those advocating mastery learning during the 1950s and 1960s provides guidance about learner assumptions (Saettler, 2004). One assumption later supported by research was the idea that any communication between a student and the instructor must be based on what both have in common: language, background, interests, motivation, for example. All models of communication require assumptions about what the sender of a message and the receiver of the message have in common (Simonson, 1984).

One of the first decisions that online designers must make is time; true individualized instruction holds learning outcomes constant and allows for variations in time (e.g., the student has as much time as he or she needs to meet a course’s learning outcomes). Most often, however, distance education—teaching and learning at a distance—is time-bound (the 15-week semester or the 8-week term, for example). Once the time issue is resolved, then the structure of the learning experience is decided. At this point the “sticky” decisions about learning theory must be made: behaviorism, constructivist, or combinations of theories. A comprehensive review of online courses and programs shows that behaviorism-based course structures dominate (Simonson et al., 2015). Courses organized around weeks or units/modules/topics are most common. Structure decisions are usually decisions without evidence (e.g., assumptions).

Early on, the designer makes decisions about how communication between the instructor, students, and content should occur—and whether this communication be asynchronous or synchronous (Orellana, Hudgins, & Simonson, 2009). Certainly, there is evidence to help making these decisions, but prescriptive evidence is largely lacking, and the assumptions about communication are often based on experience or personal preferences. The evidence does support one trend; novice distance educators design their courses with considerable live communication, while more experienced distance educators opt for asynchronous communication (Simonson et al., 2015).

It is hard to imagine online instruction without instructional technology, so one immediate assumption is that online course design and delivery must be instructional technology-based. The types of communication technology and instructional technology to be used is a critical set of decisions that are made early in the design process (Dick et al., 2015).

The United States Department of Education states that distance education must provide for regular and substantive interaction. Both words—substantive and substantial—are vague and open to interpretation, and so assumptions must be made. Recently, there have been some who have advocated that interaction is not necessary and is an outdated concept— MOOC supporters, for example (Simonson, 2015). Others think that the entire distance education experience should begin with the provision for interaction. Certainly, the designer of online instruction must make decisions about interaction, and standards for online education should have clear guidelines about interaction.

Revisits to Dwyer’s (Moore & Dwyer, 1994) relevant-cue research, and Dale’s (1946) realism theory are critical here. Decisions about text, pictures, motion media, and graphics are critical in any instructional design activity. The individual or team who creates online instruction needs to make many decisions about literacy, including how the medium supports the delivery and understanding of content. It is clear that Clark (2012) was correct; media do not directly influence achievement; however, it is also a basic assumption that without media it is nearly impossible to communicate at a distance. Assumptions galore are made by the designer related to the literacy—visual and verbal—of all involved in distance education.

This is the most straightforward category of assumptions that are infused in the standards for the design and delivery of online learning. It is clear that 90% of any content area can be successfully learned by 90% of any group of learners, given enough time (Saettler, 2004). However, the six areas of assumptions listed previously directly influence the assumptions about learning; online students will learn, assuming that the assumptions are correct.

In summary, an initial design step, and eventually a design standard for online instruction, is for the planner to list the assumptions that are at the foundation of the instructional design plan. Assumptions can be organized into the categories listed here, and should be presented as part of the design plan.

And finally, designers of online instruction can, even must, make assumptions. Scientists interested in distance education should conduct research on assumptions so they become standards. Standards are expectations that should, even must, be met. Standards without research are still assumptions—ideas without evidence.