A college degree through distance education is a very effective way to get the training you need without having to disrupt responsibilities you are already committed to. For many adults, learning through distance education is probably the only way a college degree can be earned. But it is not a cake walk and successful distance education outcomes require the student to do his or her part too. (more…)

At one time, few knew of the distance learning option when it came to getting an education. Then, as the internet began to grow and media technologies improved, more people started hearing the phrase distance learning. At first distance learning sounds like it would be easier than a traditional classroom but many times this is not the case. Distance learning has some special challenges that when overcome makes it a great way to work towards completing your education. Let’s look at a few of those challenges:

Are you an independent learner? With this type of education, you don’t always have the teacher or facilitator available to answer questions. Understand too that with distance learning courses, much of the material was not authored by the teacher. So in order to be successful at with this education method, you have to be able to research answers to the questions you have on your own. You more than likely will not have classmates to ask either.

Is the course media driven or print driven? Before the popularity of computers and the internet, distance learning courses were delivered mostly in printed media. You ordered a course and in a few weeks you received a package of workbooks and course material and were given so many months to complete it. The problem is that there was little interactivity with anyone and the student never completed the course. Modern day courses using this educational method have some interactivity during the time they are presented. You can connect to a virtual classroom, closed-circuit television, or watch the class on DVD. Modern day media delivery systems are capable of keeping a student engaged.

The online teacher will not have the visual cues needed to re-phrase the presentation. Do you remember when you were a student in high school when several in the class could not grasp a concept presented by the teacher? A good teacher would stop the class and re-phrase or present the material a different way and keep doing so until the class was back on track. With distance learning, the teacher does not have this sense of when students are getting it and when they are not. The distance learning student can of course press pause when a class is presented by DVD but still does not have the benefit of a teacher re-phrasing the material.

Distance learning presents technical challenges at times. For example, if the delivery method of a distance learning course is via computer, the system at the student end must be able to handle the presentation. Distance learning companies are upgrading their delivery methods all the time and it is quite possible that a student’s computer or internet connection cannot get the resources needed to present the material. For example, a distance learning student might be using a low-bandwidth modem connection that cannot handle the presentation of material in video format.