We explain what distance education is, its characteristics, advantages and disadvantages. Also, what is blended learning?
What is distance education?
Distance education is a form of teaching that is done remotelyThat is, there is no physical academic environment where students and teachers meet, but rather educational centers provide teaching through a channel that is usually virtual, such as the Internet.
This type of education emerged as an alternative for students who could not take a degree course in persona course or a postgraduate degree due to time constraints or geographical distance. Thus, distance education allows people from different parts of the world to access a varied educational offering.
The first forms of access to distance education were through correspondence, radio and television, but at the end of the 20th century it gave way almost exclusively to education through the Internet. This implies that currently one of the necessary conditions to access distance education is having a computer or electronic device with an internet connection available.
Remote education through the internet use video calling and messaging platforms, websites and applications to establish a contact channel between students and teachers, who carry out the entire educational process (teaching, feedback, evaluation) virtually.
Distance education It can occur at school, university, postgraduate level or courses in general. and is characterized by offering great flexibility in learning and demanding commitment and responsibility from students.
See also: Good school
Origin and evolution of distance education
Although distance education is one of the educational offers that has grown the most in recent timesthe first options of this type emerged in Western Europe and North America during the 19th century and early 20th century.
The distance educational offer of the time offered content by correspondence and allowed courses to be taken from any geographical location. After the creation of radio, and then television, courses and careers began to be taught through these two means of mass communication.
After the Second World War, distance education became popular among the European and North American population, given the need for individuals to acquire knowledge or develop skills in order to enter the labor market.
This type of education It also included the use of the telephonewhich served as a support medium in the educational process. Then cassettes and video cassettes with content in audio and video format appeared, which functioned as supports for distance education.
With the emergence and subsequent success of computers, distance education It began to be done through diskettes and virtual encyclopediasbut it was not until the subsequent development of the Internet that distance education became widespread.
Thus, existing methods of distance education were set aside and email began to be usedvideoconferencing and virtual platforms to deliver educational content to a large portion of the world’s population.
Features of distance education
The main characteristics of distance education are:
- Physical distancingThere is a physical separation between the teacher and the student throughout the educational process. This allows people from different geographical locations to access a variety of educational offerings.
- Use of electronic media. Virtual platforms, digital books, online notes, access to tutors, videos and audiovisual material are used to transmit knowledge. For this, an internet connection is essential, which allows access to the media or platforms on which the content is found.
- Use of tutoring and student support. On certain occasions, students have an online tutor who helps them to clear up any doubts during the learning process. Students establish contact with their tutors via email or virtual platforms.
- Independent learningIn this type of education, the student is responsible for organizing his or her study time. In some cases, he or she must attend classes scheduled on a specific day and time.
- Flexible schedules. Students can access the content or take virtual classes or assignments during their available hours.
- Two-way communicationTeaching platforms allow for two-way communication (between teacher and student) and peer-to-peer communication for preparing online practical work, video conferences, among others.
- Technological focus. The distance education system is supported by technological advances that allow the evolution of this teaching methodology.
- Time optimization. Each student freely uses his or her time and form of study. This allows the demand for students to expand since they do not have to suspend their daily activities to attend an institution.
- Lower cost. Remote education implies a lower cost for educational institutions because it does not require classrooms or printed materials. In addition, the courses taught are usually cheaper than those in person and the student saves time and money by not having to travel from one place to another.
- Massive reachThe widespread use of the Internet has allowed anyone with a computer and an Internet connection to access various educational options, such as courses or postgraduate courses in different geographical locations. However, the current digital divide that exists in the world means that not all people have access to this type of education.
Advantages and disadvantages of distance education
Some of the main advantages of distance education are:
- It allows access to the educational offer from any geographical location.
- It usually offers a more accessible and varied offering than face-to-face education.
- It offers multiple platforms and applications to transmit and access knowledge and to carry out work collaboratively.
- It offers flexibility because the student can take classes at the time and place that suits him/her.
- It allows learning in the use of virtual platforms.
- It helps the development of virtues such as responsibility and organization, since students must take charge of their educational process.
- It allows you to use dynamic forms of teaching using different tools and audiovisual supports.
- It allows the constant training of students.
Some of the main disadvantages of distance education are:
- Internet access is needed, so many people may be excluded from this type of education.
- It makes the student’s social interaction with their peers difficult and can lead to social isolation. This happens, above all, at school.
- It is not entirely efficient in manual or technical subjects or disciplines, in which in-person presence is essential.
- It involves the adaptation of teachers and students to virtual tools and platforms.
- It makes teaching psychomotor skills difficult.
- Decreases student-teacher interaction.
- It makes the student evaluation process difficult.
- A quiet environment is required at home so that the student can take classes or complete their homework.
Media and supports for distance education
Some of the platforms or media used by distance education are:
- EmailThis medium is used as a communication channel between the student and the teacher or educational institution. It allows sending and receiving instructions, documents, links, audiovisual material, assignments and any type of file.
- Platform. Portals are used, which function as virtual workspaces, where students and teachers meet to use tools such as messaging, file sharing, assessments, among others. The platforms can be created exclusively by the educational institution or online platforms such as Moodle, Swad or Google Classroom can be used.
- Video classes. Video calling applications are used in which virtual meetings are held with students and teachers attending. These classes can be given synchronously or can be recorded so that students can view them at any time.
- Audios. Audio files are used to send certain content so that students can listen to it and from there do whatever the teacher requires with that information.
- Videos. Audiovisual material is used to transmit certain content. These videos can be uploaded and viewed from the internet or can be sent through a channel such as email or chat.
- Forums. Online platforms are used in which information and opinions on different topics are discussed or shared. In most cases it occurs asynchronously.
- Chats. Online messaging applications are used as a means of communication to send content, communicate with the student or schedule meetings.
- Blogs. Websites specialized in different subjects are used that upload regular content and allow user feedback.
- Virtual encyclopedias. Websites are used that offer content on different topics and to which students can go to obtain information.
Blended education
Along with face-to-face education and distance education, there is another option, which is blended education, which consists of a learning modality that combines in-person and remote educationStudents who take a course or degree in a blended learning format receive some content or subjects virtually and others in person.
This can occur, for example, when in a university degree the theoretical subjects are received remotely and the practical subjects are received in the classroom. It may also happen that a large part of the subjects are taken virtually and the institution is attended in specific cases such as group presentations, evaluations, tutorials, among others.
In other cases, Some courses or degrees that are taught in person also offer a semi-presential versionwhich allows the accession of students who, due to time or geographical distance, cannot attend the full in-person course of the original course.
It may be useful to you: Evaluation
References:
- “Distance learning” in Britannica.
- “What’s the difference between online learning and distance learning?” in Stafford.
- “Distance education” at UNEVOC.
- “Tips for studying online” at Universidad Siglo XXI.