Distance education made easier with the use of education technology
In the recent past, learning process was confined to the classroom with the use of teaching aids like chalk, blackboard, duster, charts etc. But with the advent of technology, there is an educational revolution which made the distant learning much easier. Find the details on the same in this article.
Introduction
Technology is deep rooted in our culture and we are totally dependent on the use of technology in every walk of our life. Technology has such a great impact on mankind that it has almost determining his culture. In the recent past, conventional method was followed in the classroom teaching in India. However, still there are many schools across the country particularly in the rural areas where the classroom teaching is traditional with the use of teaching aids like chalk, duster, blackboard etc. Now there is a paradigm shift in the classroom teaching due to the rapid development of education technology and gradually more of technology based modern teaching aids are being used in the Indian classrooms.
In the present high tech world, India is one of the world leaders of the IT industry and this has lead to the versatility of computers in the education technology. Computers in the present days have become an integral part of school education and students right from the elementary stage learn computer skills and computer based education for enhancing their learning experience.Technology in distance education
Distance education is mainly aimed at delivering education to the students who are not a part of tradition classroom and who are physically not present in the classroom to receive the education. In the distance mode of education the teachers and students communicate by exchanging printed material through electronic media. Computer technology played a key role in the distant mode of education and made the learning process much easier than ever before. In the recent years distance education has emerged as the vital force in the educational delivery particularly in higher education. The increasing demand for educational opportunities has lead to the increase in distance learning activities that are designed to meet the needs and goals of the learner with the much use of computer technology.
The educational institutions have incorporated advanced educational technology in order to increase the access of classroom teaching to the distant learners and the educators are using the technology to improve the access of all the learners to the resources. Thus technology became an important factor in distance education not only in improving the learners' access to the classroom but also for effective communication through audio-visual aids. With the incorporation of latest technology into the education which made the learning process easy, there is much of socio-economic development in the country and thus distance education helped in the development of the nation. There is a tremendous advancement in the education technology in the recent past and most of the learning processes involve the modern aids of teachings some of the important ones are discussed below:Extensive use of computers in distant learning
Computers have become one of the most important aids of modern teaching particularly in case of distance education. In fact, the learning process in the present days remains incomplete without the use of computers. And with the advent of world wide web, the importance of computers has increased manifold. It is not only for subjects like Maths, Sciences and Social Sciences computers are used, but even for making the learning process of languages easier, computer and internet are playing a key role.Use of Power point presentations
Power point presentations through various slide shows has brought about a tremendous change in education technology. In particular, the distant learners find it easy to understand the subject in a nutshell which the same is presented through slides remotely. Such presentations has brought the learners and the facilitators together in the virtual classrooms where they can have an exchange of lessons. The distant learners need not compulsorily have a computer with them but they can spend some time in the cyber cafes by shelling few chips and involve themselves in distant learning.Role of interactive white boards in distant learning
These interactive white boards form an important part in distant learning which proved very useful and helpful as well to the learners as well as facilitators. These boards are user friendly and it offers much of interaction between the distant learner and the facilitator. Mostly these boards gained popularity in distant online learning where one single board is shared by multiple users / learners including the facilitator and they can write literally anything on these white boards with their fingers on the mouse of their computers. Thus distant mode of education has gained much popularity with the use of advanced education technology in the learning process which facilitates the learners to learn at ease.Importance of educational CDs
Educational CDs (Compact Disks) are yet another important educational devices that are being used extensively in the distant mode of education. Unlike the traditional print material or the texts, the entire study material is available in a single CD which makes the learning process much easier for the distant learners. With the educational CDs in their hand, the learners can go through the study material at their convenient time.Online course material
With the world wide web, everything including education has gone online and the distant learners get their course material online. This has further simplified their way of learning and they need not confine themselves to only one available material but they have a whole lot of course material available online.Conclusion
The revolution in education technology has increased the need of education of the people and thus distance education is offering a big potential to its learners and facilitators. It is providing quality education through diverse technology and media formats. Distance education has become essential to the increasing population of a country like India where the people could not attend the traditional classroom courses due to various reasons. It is truly said that education is a journey and not a destination and this has been proved by the ever-increasing demand for distance education not only in our country but across the world.
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