Towards a Prototypical Categorization of Distance Education in Teacher Education

Abstract

Higher Education is in constant transition. In the Flemish context this is illustrated by a gigantic transformation in teacher education (TE). In the context of this transformation Educational master-level programs (EQF 7 – VKS 7) are designed and will be implemented in 2019-2020. The main factor that has to be taken into account is the a priori choice to offer the master programs at different locations throughout the Flemish region. This demands from the new educational masters in TE a radical focus on multi-campus education. This article stresses the need to establish a strong vision on distance education (DE) in TE. To do so a typology of distance education in teacher education is developed. Elen et al. (2014) can be seen as a prime inspiration for the different approaches (of distance education in teacher education). At the core of this article are the three outlined approaches as a basis for discussion. A methodology is presented to systematically sketch this process and its future aspirations. It has to be noted that this search for prototypes can never be seen as a fixed description but as a constant search and debate.