Here in the U.S. we can all finally take a breath now and know that we won’t be barraged every day with the constant drone of what is happening on the election trail. If there is any clear message that came out of the U.S. elections I think it was clear that people are ready for a change. It is refreshing to see change being welcomed because many people have difficulty with change. In this instance change seems to be desirable because what we are currently living with seems to have so many problems.

I was having a discussion with a colleague yesterday about another aspect of change that both of us see in our work each day. This change has to do with distance education and the discomfort and resistance that many people have with it.

Distance education is clearly here to stay and how people are reacting to it in various ways is certainly interesting. The field of massage therapy is an interesting example. By nature of what we learn in this field it is clear that a big portion of our work involves psychomotor skills and is best taught in a face-to-face environment. However, much of what we learn or study is primarily cognitive and requires deeper types of thinking and not just rote movement. Distance education is clearly effective for addressing these issues.

What we were both remarking at is that there is acceptance of distance education for continuing education, but a strong resistance to it in entry level education. While training in continuing education may not be as intense as that in entry-level programs, it seems odd that a method of delivery for course work would be acceptable at the continuing education level and not in entry level programs. I’ll explore the reasons for this discrepancy in future posts.