Online learning has evolved significantly since its early days. Today, it is a way to learn important skills at your own pace and at a much cheaper price. The distance learning technology available to us now is on a whole new level and available from any device with an internet connection.
What is distance learning technology?
Not long ago, in terms of higher education, distance learning was not the best option. It was limited to only a few companies and schools. Nowadays, however, it is a major choice for educators and students alike as it provides with much needed flexibility.
Many people still think of online learning as distance learning, but it’s a much broader concept – including MOOCs, microlearning, and more.Distance learning technologies are a collection of the latest information methods and forms of development that enable the learning process to take place at a distance. Distance can no longer prevent live communication, interactivity and practical experience because everything is done through audio or video.
From an educational point of view, e-learning offers students the choice to either participate in lectures by interacting live on the web (synchronous), or participate anytime anywhere without being limited to a specific time (asynchronous).
History of e-learning
Distance learning is a form of education that has been around for many years and the first steps were made in the early 19th century. Distance learning used to be exclusively offline and consisted primarily of correspondence courses. However, now more and more colleges offer virtual classes as well. Distance education began around the same time that correspondence courses were introduced at conventional schools. The idea of open access to education was popular because it provided people with different beliefs, statuses, and cultural backgrounds the opportunity to study.
Radio and TV were Post’s competitors in the past century. Listening to lectures, watching lectures on TV.At the end of the 1999, Russia started using distance learning, and it was still the teacher that delivered information. One of the first pieces of technology that facilitated distance learning was the World Wide Web. With this, online resources like blogs, wikis and videos now allowed for interaction and feedback from teachers which in turn made for a more dynamic educational space.
Today, distance learning is no longer an auxiliary form of learning. Video lessons posted on the internet no longer attract people as much. New online courses are not without feedback, analysis of results and checking the effectiveness of students’ progress.
As distance education expands, it’s now entering the corporate culture field.60% of young professionals prefer an employer that offers training opportunities to its employees. In a time when sick-leave & lack of jobs are on the rise, on-the-job distance learning is becoming more popular by the day and will only continue to grow in popularity.
7 advantages of distance technology over face-to-face
Distance learning is the future. It not just a cliché, it’s a reality with many benefits like being more accessible to students and office workers, saving time and money in transportation costs. In the case of schoolchildren, they can enjoy their free time while they watch educational videos on TV instead of studying at home.
- Learning from anywhere in the world and at any time makes learning accessible for people with different accessibility needs. They include those living in remote areas, foreigners and people with disabilities.
- Reduced operating costs for businesses. Eliminates the need to rent rooms, and ‘check out’ an overseas coach. And of course, saves on travel expenses too!
- You can schedule course sessions to be completed on the client’s own time, whether at home, during lunchtime or after work hours. This means that business schedules won’t be disrupted which is important for both employees and employers.
- You can train numerous employees or students from different regions at the same time and you don’t have to worry about not having enough rooms as long as they are on different locations.
- Training material is stored in a shared database, which each participant can access.
- Analysis of the training process is done automatically with the given charts, reports and monitoring.
- Continuous individual training helps your employees stay in-tune for the future labour market requirements and can help improve demand.
A separate article with more information on the advantages of online format is available here.
