Important tips in Distance Education

Distance Education

 Are you looking to help those who are unable to go to school due to a physical disability or are you a student who is unable to go to school? You should look into distance education or distance learning.

What is distance education though? Distance education is a field of education that uses technology and instructional systems to educate students who are not physically able to receive their education. Instead of the student who is unable to attend a class either buys the video of a teacher teaching a subject or, more popular today, the student watches the teacher over a webcam.

Now that you know what distance education is, when did it start?

The oldest university to use distance education would have to be the University of South Africa which has been offering distance education since 1946. It has been available since the 1840s in Great Britain though.

The early forms of distance education would use a commercial correspondence to deliver the piece of education to the student. Many colleges in America use distance education today, although any student can receive it, not just the disabled. Many students have at least one internet class a semester which is where you stay at your house and watch the teacher teach over a live webcam feed.

If you are going to do distance education it is important for you to know the options you have on having it delivered to you. The most obvious choice is for you to do what is called virtual classrooms which is where you watch the lesson on your laptop over a live webcam feed. You can also order DVDs and VHS tapes or just order books or other written print and read them.

There is a difference between open learning and distance learning, but what is it? Open learning is when the student is allowed to choose the time and place he/she wants to learn. Distance learning is when the student and teacher are unable to meet at the same time. This is important because not all open learning schools use distance learning and not all schools that use distance education are open learning schools.

Distance education is definitely on the rise as many more schools are beginning to use virtual classrooms and provide more options for the disabled and those who are unable to attend classes. If you are thinking about becoming a distance education teacher you should consider it. You will be able to choose the time you want to record a lesson and just send it to your students to watch at the time they want.

Distance education is a great thing because it allows many students who were originally unable to attend school to do so and it also allows teachers the chance to teach more students then they would originally be able to teach.