Impact of Media on Distance Education
Media is everywhere; it has become a part of our daily life. The media plays a dominant role in the learning process and has opened new dimensions in learning. Now education is no longer a constraint (约束) for anyone. Media has brought education to the doorstep of each and every individual. All forms of media—the newspaper, radio, television and the Internet are equally important in imparting education. As the technology is progressing, the different educational modules (模块) are being channeled through certain community access centers like community radio system, televisions, internet, community multi-media centers, etc. Media literacy or education does not only mean to be entertained by media but to learn something from it.
Distance education is often defined as institution-based, formal education where the learning group is separate, and where interactive telecommunications systems are used to connect learners, resources, and instructors.
The original distance education by correspondence has been upgraded by twenty-first century technology. Distance education has vastly benefited from the media boom with telecasts and broadcasts limiting the dependence on the written word. In the past, distance education was primarily delivered through mail and was called correspondence course. The medium of instruction was mainly through books, paper documents and other printed materials. Contrary to classroom learning, instructions provided by professors or teachers were delivered in print to the learners who didn’t have the opportunity to have interactive classes. Queries and notes were interchanged between teachers and students and vice versa.
But now the trend is fully replaced by colourful computer-based graphic resources. Computer-based education has changed the traditional offerings of correspondence education. This medium of education converts the traditional static resources into interactive and interesting online modules for the learners. Moreover, online-learning retains most of the characteristics of the classical form of distance learning, while offering more sophisticated learning materials at a much reduced rate.
At present, the concept of distance education with the help of media has gained wide popularity. The media boom with telecasts and broadcasts has to a large extent limited the dependence on the written word. Moreover, with the emergence of the Internet as a global media, the concept of distance learning has been revolutionized. From the age-old days, distance learning was mainly provided through correspondence. But the introduction of the Internet has changed the concept of distance learning to a great extent.
Nowadays, distance learning programmes are increasingly being delivered through computer technologies but the traditional media is not totally useless as it helps in effective learning. We can define quality online education as a people-oriented, instructor-led activity, where the level of communication should be comparable with on-campus education. Due to the connectivity of the Internet, distance education is often called online learning because the Internet-connected computers bring the teacher and learner face to face, which substitutes/replaces classroom learning. Moreover, the Internet has also facilitated the students to study online from any location and at any convenient time.
There are numerous factors which have contributed to the increasing popularity of the distance education through media. With the introduction of online learning in universities, distance learning has gained immense importance. Online learning has assumed the role of an important media for imparting distance education. It also went to the extent of providing quality online courses which have become almost comparable to the traditional classroom learning. Now students can get access to a broad range of disciplines from any location. With the mingling of online learning and distance education, education is no longer a constraint for any class of the society.
Distance education can also be termed as Interactive Telecommunications system. Interactive telecommunications systems broadly mean that the instructors and the learners use a variety of technological resources while teaching and learning from a distance. Nowadays, many universities have come up with the idea of transferring its on-campus learning into online learning.
Now we see an excessive use of media in education. Media has made its presence felt everywhere, be it by television, radio or computers, the most popular medium of imparting education. Unlike the past, education and examination is no longer monotonous (乏味的). With the introduction of media, education has assumed a different role. We can see that before the board exams or any competitive exams, different medias like television, radio, etc. come out with different education-related programs to help students to deal with their study materials. These media channels rope in different intellectuals, professors and teachers of different institutions to guide the students with their valuable suggestions and give them necessary moral boost to cope up with their burden of studies.
The most important advantage of online distance education is to earn a degree from one’s home or workplace. In traditional distance learning, interaction is limited to a certain point and feedback from the other side is often delayed because of slow postal systems. It has helped a large number of people to pursue education, who don’t even have the time to enroll for regular courses. Moreover, it is usually easier and less competitive to obtain admission for the online courses.
In case of online distance courses, learning is more fun and interactive. It is also flexible. It is possible to incorporate charts, maps, graphs, moving images, slides, video clippings and even audio recordings with the course material. It helps to understand the entire syllabus without the help of a teacher. The students are able to interact with their peers through online class projects, e-mails and also with the help of online conferencing. This interaction with the help of media using e-mail, conference calls and chat makes learning easier and entertaining. It substitutes the face-to-face experiences of traditional learning. The availability of online libraries with their huge collection of books has also made the learning process easier and worthwhile.
Speaking about the economic side of online distance learning, it is seen that most of the time, the expense of a regular course is much higher than the online courses. The media-related online distance learning is relatively economical than the traditional class-room learning. Nevertheless, keeping in mind its positive effects on individuals, these computer-based distance education continues to grow. Computer-based education has taken place of correspondence course because it offers colorful pictures as well as words.