Distance Education and E-Learning – Past, Present and Future

are buzzwords in education set it since the on-formal education as we know it today, was. Many of these concepts come and go on their use and their context but some terminologies have withstood the test of time ever. Let’s take a look at some of the common conditions along the chronology of their evolution.

Although often used interchangeably, there are between distance learning and distance education. Distance learning via print and electronic learning aids. The learners will be to resources, instructors and other participants, and they tend connected separated by time and / or geographic / physical distance. Distance learning from each other is the system and the processes that connects a group of learners with distributed learning resources. Learning takes place in different forms, but in general students, teachers and resources are separated by time and space.

Distance learning is spent over the years in a distance learning. He tends to use synchronous and asynchronous tools, and learning and communication methods. Synchronous learning uses electronically delivered teaching and learning with participants connected simultaneously and communicate directly. On the other hand asynchronous learning is characterized by a lag in communication.

A while back, Along Came e-learning! On E-Learning (eLearning) the provision of educational materials is defined with the help of electronic media such as the Internet, intranets, audio and video equipment, web conferencing, virtual classrooms, CD-ROMs, and recently, Web 2.0 tools. In other words, the e-learning is a different kind of technology-supported teaching and learning. In recent years, come to replace terms such as learning, audio-visual, computer-aided learning, web-based learning, online learning and other buzzwords of 1970, 1980 and 1990.

E-learning is to completely automate the process of teaching and with a program called Learning Management Systems (LMS) in motion. To facilitate the development of courses on Internet-based technology, universities have increasingly embraced universities and businesses both open source and proprietary LMS tools. A growing trend in e-learning is the use of “hybrid” or “mixed” or “multimodal” didactic approaches to supplement or replace some in-class instruction with the technology enabled teaching and learning, which is used in many case many Tools are grouped into the LMS.

In the same spirit, many students in e-learning may operate geographically far away from the institution. For example, the learner traditional learners living on campus or close all or part of its online still under course. This is often associated with the need for flexibility in personal (family) responsibility and working hours. Taking advantage of e-learning adds an additional flexibility. In fact, some people see distance learning as not synonymous with e-learning, argues that distance learning is a generic term that is happening now to use the Internet as a vehicle. Thus, the position is presented, while distance learning and e-learning do not overlap, they are not identical, but complementary.

E-learning is growing rapidly and is often connected to the Internet. But there are other ways of learning are to develop in a considerable rate. Mobile Learning (m-learning), for example, is a rapidly growing innovation that the advantage of being learners’ learning moving has. In other words, multi-tasking, for example jogging or listening to recorded lectures during the driving to work. Therefore, m-learning is an extension of e-learning is a mobile (cellular), Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and MP3 players (with iPods and podcasting, the most common). In places where bandwidth is limited m-learning is developing at a rapid pace.

As technology becomes more affordable and widely available, education options continue to grow. For those who want flexibility with family and work commitments, e-learning and M-learning can be an option to consider. For organizations and institutions, the employees without compromising on productivity, time, cost, or hiring a consultant to train, this is also an option worth considering.

Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Comments are closed.

Powered by WordPress