Fads, Distance Education,and the Importance of Theory
Cleborne D. Maddux
SUMMARY. Fads are common in every area of education. The problem
with fads is that even promising developments are quickly abandoned to
make room for the next innovation. Educational innovations become fads
partly because they are without a firm foundation in theories of learning,
or because that foundation is not fully identified and communicated. There
have been many examples of fads in information technology in education.
The question of whether or not distance education will turn out to be a fad
is addressed, and some tentative steps are discussed that might help avoid
its achieving fad status. [
