What Is Distance Learning?
The purpose of this article is to tell you what is distance learning:
One of the most influential and pervasive technological and social developments in recent times is that strange and wonderful
creature that we call the Internet. Almost from the moment of its inception, it has quickly blossomed from its meager beginnings as a means of
data exchange between academicians and scientists into an omnipresent facet of our every day existence. It is hard to find an area in our lives
where the Internet has not made its presence felt. Seen in the most advanced scientific laboratories and military planning centers, it has also
managed to find its way into homes and schools all over the world. The wide range of settings and environments where the Internet has entrenched
itself is a testimony to the myriad uses and functions that we have come to expect from this technological marvel. Used in everything from
distance learning to email communication between family members, from school related research to marketing campaigns, the ways
in which we have come to depend on the Internet on a daily basis far surpass our earliest expectations of it.
Let us consider that example that was mentioned earlier in this article; distance learning. For the many
thousands of people who have not been able to get their degree and are now working fulltime, it is difficult to even begin considering the
possibility of going back to school. For one thing, a full time job more often than not already takes up a huge chunk of their time. There are
only a limited number of hours in a day and often they are barely even enough to accomplish all the demands of a fulltime job and any family or
personal obligations that you need to fulfill. It is obvious then that there is simply no time to go to school on a regular basis. The distance
that is involved in actually going to the school has not even been considered into this scenario and that time can be quite considerable.
Distance learning however neatly manages to sidestep those issues and finally makes it possible for even the
most harried office employee to get the degree that he has longed for.
Distance Learning
At its most basic form, distance learning is simply a learning arrangement between an instructor and a
student, much like any other course in a «real» school except in this particular scenario, the two—instructor and student—are separated by time
and space. One or the other could be anywhere from the next block or another continent, and they may only have online contact once every few
days. Because the student is not constrained to being in any particular place at any particular time, he or she can be free to do whatever they
want with the rest of their time such as devoting it to work or to personal pursuits.
Many thousands of people all over the globe have already realized the many advantages of distance learning
over traditional schooling and the number of new believers is growing every day.
This article has told you about what is distance learning.
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