I count online distance education as
one of the many gifts of World Wide
Web. It is making almost every kind
and type of degree, certificate and
diploma within the reach of students
located at virtually any place.
There is no denying, an online
scholar will come across millions of
fake diploma mills when looking for
an accredited university or college
and must weigh the many
technicalities involved. However in
today's world of violent school
crimes, busy schedules and expensive
education, home schooling and online
distance education are two most
viable options. It is even better
than home schooling because an
online scholar is facilitated even
more i.e. s/he has power of making
schedules and choosing course plans.
Nevertheless, it can be further
improved if following points are
taken into account:
Creation of
Collaborative Learning Tools and
Practices: Design advanced user
friendly computer supported programs
for learning.
Establishment of Effective
Infrastructures: The aim is to
ideally utilize both computer and
networking by establishing effective
infrastructures. Highly trained IT
technicians should be hired so that
they help teachers concentrate on
teaching by providing technical
support.
Improvements in Teaching Methods:
Technology should be used to improve
the modes of teaching and life like
teacher-student interaction.
Teachers should be trained in the
latest teaching trends and made
better guides.
Computer-supported Education at
School Level: Concept of online
distance education will not appear
so foreign if computer supported
learning is introduced at basic and
school level. Software should be
designed and pedagogical support
should be provided for this.
Teacher's Electronic Communities:
This way, teachers will interact and
learn new learning methods for
distance learning from each other.
Not only this, they will also
discuss the difficulties they might
be facing individually. These forums
can also prove very useful in
identifying fake diploma mills, thus
eventually becoming quite an asset
for the advancement of online
distance education.
Establishment of Online
Libraries: Libraries, catering to
the educational needs of all online
distance education scholars, should
be established.
These changes will make distance
education even more accepted mode of
learning.
