Three generations of distance education pedagogy. Terry Anderson, Jon Dron IRRODL

This paper defines and examines three generations of distance
education pedagogy. Unlike earlier classifications of distance education
based on the technology used, this analysis focuses on the pedagogy
that defines the learning experiences encapsulated in the learning
design. The three generations of cognitive-behaviourist, social
constructivist, and connectivist pedagogy are examined, using the
familiar community of inquiry model (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer,
2000) with its focus on social, cognitive, and teaching presences.
Although this typology of pedagogies could also be usefully applied to
campus-based education, the need for and practice of openness and
explicitness in distance education content and process makes the work
especially relevant to distance education designers, teachers, and
developers. The article concludes that high-quality distance education
exploits all three generations as determined by the learning content,
context, and learning expectations.