Educating Aviators: Challenges for Distance Learning in Aviation Tertiary Education

Background

The application of technology in higher education has received increasing attention in the past two decades (Kirkwood & Price, 2014). Two important movements have stimulated this attention including the emergence of online teaching into the everyday practice of university business and the rise of distance education programs offered throughout the higher education sector (Larreamendy-Joerns, 2006). The two movements have forced changes to the delivery of higher education that has had, and will continue to have, an effect on student learning now and into the future (Simmons, 2007).

In the case of distance education, the principle stimulus for change has been the emergence of new technology (Moore & Kearsley, 2012) including the significant growth of the internet as a global medium for telecommunications. Many aspects of the learning process, ranging from information delivery, interactivity and communication, to the evaluation and assessment of learning outcomes, can now be offered through vastly accessible online and internet-based platforms (Thomas, 2003). This method of education delivery is now widely marketed as ‘e-learning’ or ‘online learning’ (Moore & Kearsley, 2012).