Issues and concerns on learning at a Distance
- 1. ISSUES AND CONCERNS ON LEARNING AT A DISTANCE
- 2. Major Practical Issues that influenced Distance Learning can be classified as ff: 1. Separation of the teacher and learner for the majority of each instructional process. 2. Use of educational media to unite teacher and learner and carry course contents. 3. Provision of two-way communication between teacher, tutor or educational agency and the learner.
- 3. Prominent Issues in DL (Distance Learning) 1. What is different about teaching a distance?
- 4. 2. What are the reasons for teaching at a distance? There are many factors that come under the justification to this question including: a. Lack of proper transportation b. Lack of availability of educated teachers and qualified personnel especially in remote areas. c. Socio-economic conditions of the remote people compiled to use distance learning.
- 5. 3. What are the different ways to improve planning and organization of distance learning: a.By an appropriate motivation and bend up of the mind. b.By having a foresight and long-term view towards designing an educated society.
- 6. 4. What are the different ways to meet student needs? a. By establishing proper, continuous person- to-person meeting on a regular basis. b. By contacting through a media such as Television, Telephone and Web. c. By establishing a common ground for meeting at different time intervals, such as weekly or by-weekly.
- 7. 5. What are the guidelines on teaching skills? a.A through preparation of handouts. b.Reviewing the material twice before taking up the class. c.Stressing more towards the practical and application relevancies. d.Underlying mathematical logic or reasoning(if any)
- 8. 6. What are the different methods for improving interaction and feedback? a.By providing a free hand to the students b.By mixing audio-video in corporate training.
- 9. The Challenges of Distance Learning 1. The learner needs to have readily available access to a computer and the internet. If the student does not have this, they could miss important announcements from the professor, have problems managing their time for the class, or even fall behind on assignments.
- 10. 2. Distance learning courses require self-motivation. When taking hybrid or online courses, there is not always a professor pushing the student to do the work for the class or reinforcing the material. It is up to the students to play the role of the professor in these circumstances.
- 11. 3. It can be difficult, if not impossible to find one-on-one time with your professor. Unless there are communication tools being used (such as skype or chat), the student may have a hard time finding the help they need when there is limited contact with the professor.
- 12. 4. Although distance learning is becoming far more mainstream and widely accepted, many people still have mixed feelings about it. It is not uncommon to find people who believe that traditional face-to-face courses are far more beneficial and legitimate than online or hybrid courses. This is not necessarily true.
- 13. 5. Those who are more social may not enjoy distance learning because real social interactions are kept to a minimum. In online courses, most of the interactions a student has with their peers are through online communication tools, such as discussion boards or email.
- 14. 6. Students enrolled in distance courses are often expected to find their own resources to aid class work. This applies to both academic material and tutorials or help with the online tools the student is using.
- 15. 7. If the student is taking only online courses and has no opportunity to visit the campus, there is a lack of campus atmosphere. This plays a role in the student’s overall experience with the institution, and also helps with the feelings of support.