Monday 1 July 2013

Why Distance Education?

If you’re an adult considering going back to school to increase your salary potential, benefit from a professional certificate program, or just take a few courses for your own personal fulfillment, chances are, you’ve looked into enrolling in a distance learning program. The options for pursuing a degree or taking a class through distance learning, have increased significantly thanks to new Web-based settings, applications and capabilities that allow distinguished universities o offer students around the world the same academic resources and access to faculty as traditional students on campus. But is the experience really the same? 

An online education affords the student many unique benefits like flexibility, convenience and accessibility. Depending on the specific program, a student is able to complete assignments and even participate in lectures and class discussions on his or her own time. 

Depending on the particular program that distance learners choose to complete, distance degrees can be just as valuable as traditional degrees. Often, students pursuing distance education have the same access to the respected faculty and course materials as students pursuing traditional degrees. 

Colleges and universities that expect smart, ambitious, self-driven students to complete online and traditional degree programs need to continuously monitor and evolve their quality assurance strategies. Many universities understand that nontraditional students, especially adult students, have different learning styles and varying levels of technology experience from traditional college-aged students. These differences contribute to their distance learning choices and ability to complete distance learning programs. A student who benefits the most from face-to-face learning, for example, will find that a distance learning program is more difficult, even if it provides interactive lecture discussions and personalized career services support. On the other hand, a student who works well independently and with minimal help from other students or advisors, may perform better through an online program.

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