Tap to Read ➤

An Overview of Distance Education

Buzzle Staff
From the comfort of your home, you can now study a subject of your choice and get a degree in it. Here, we'll look at the advantages and disadvantages of distance education and how it has evolved over the years.
Today, technology has touched and prospered every aspect of life. Its contribution to the world of education is especially very great. It has introduced more subjects, changed the way certain subjects are taught, and the time in which they were taught.
The most notable contribution it has made is that of 'distance education'. Students can now take up courses from well-known universities that are located thousands of miles away.
A student can, with the help of technology, take up a course and complete it according to his convenience. Of course, there are deadlines that need to be respected. But these don't stop you from taking up a job or another class during the day. The points mentioned here will give you a rough idea of what distance education is about.

Time

The biggest advantage of distance education is that it reduces the time you invest in completing a course. You can take up multiple courses and also decide how much time you want to give each.
You don't have to invest time even in commuting to your university everyday. Distance learning has thus also proved to be a boon for the physically disabled and people who have been hospitalized for a longer duration.

Course Selection

Students can apply for multiple courses at the same time from various distance learning institutes. It involves theory-based courses comprising subjects as diverse as business, philosophy, and arts.

Age

There is hardly any focus on an age bracket. Right from a teenager to a housewife, anyone can apply to a single course. This means that even after retirement, you can learn a subject you always wanted to, but never could.

Jobholders

Before distance education existed, jobholders could never imagine working and studying at the same time. Today, with distance learning, employees can complete their work hours and then study. This gives a tremendous boost to your career in this competitive world.

Expenditure

Earlier, a course in a foreign university meant visa fees, travel expenditure, staying costs, and maybe even an educational loan. Today, the student can say goodbye to all these costs and complete his education.

Academic Environment

A live academic environment is absent in distance learning. This means you have to motivate yourself all the time and seeking help is as good as nonexistent. Most of the time, you feel like you're the only student in the class. Though discussion forums fight this hurdle, it cannot be completely eradicated.

Instant feedback

All our lives, we've been asked to raise our hands in the classroom when in doubt. In distance education, you have to wait for the teacher or course instructor to get back to you. This may sometimes pose as a problem, specially when you're stuck in the middle of something important.

Restrictions

Online courses are usually theory based. This means courses that need mandatory experimentation such as chemistry, are excluded from the courses. There is a certain limitation that you can't do much about.
As you can see, distance education does save your time and money. It enables you to study as per your convenience and live without the burden of loans. Distance learning as a field is still evolving. In some more time, with better technology, it might even eradicate the few barriers and hurdles that exist today.