Distance Education

Distance Education and the Internet

TECH4101

Manar Al-WahaibiInstructional & Learning Technologies Department

Defining Distance Education

What is distance education or distance learning?Distance education is defined as a field of education that focuses on the pedagogy, technology, and instructional system designs that aim to deliver education to students who are not physically "on site" in a traditional classroom.

Distance education or distance learning?

In my point of view , Distance learning is broader than distance education. That’s mean distance learning refers to the use of educational materials or media by learners who are not necessarily linked with an educational organization or engaged in communication with an instructor but distance education refers to process of teaching and learning which requires organization and communication between learners and instructors through various media.

Print medium:Print is the most common medium used in distance education. Forms of print are textbooks, manuals, course notes, and study guides. Print materials are relatively inexpensive to develop or distribute (Moore, p78). Print is used in some form by almost all distance education courses, regardless of what other media they employ. Print media is used here in an "asynchronous way" by the learner.

History of distance education and technology (old technology)

Audio- and Videocassettes

Materials is generally expensive and involves specialized skills (recording, editing, directing). Some distance learning provide what's called "video-based instruction". In such program, video tapes are the main medium of delivery of information to the learner.

History of distance education and technology (modern technology)

Web-Based Conferencing

Web-Based Instruction: With the fast growth of the Internet, and the fast

progress of communication, the world wide web is a new promising medium for distance learning. With the enormous number of resources available online, and the increasing number of people who have access to the Internet, web-based instruction is considered one of the fastest media for teaching and learning. The world wide web provides a cost-effective, technology rich, and interactive medium. Even though she did not introduce web-based instruction as a medium for distance learning

Defining Distance Education

Time for Presentation

Defining Distance EducationIn conclusion, many key features characterize distance education:

1. The separation of teacher and learner;

2. The separation among learners;

3. The use of one medium to deliver instruction; and

4. The use of a communication channel to facilitate interaction and support learners.

Questions & Discussions

The End