Distance education has been flourishing with various other names as correspondence education, online education, off-campus programs, independent study, open education and many more names. Whatever may be the name, the purpose at the end is to get certified with decent grades. However, there are many other dimensions to look at how the distance education is gaining its significance.
The concept of distance education was started in the year 1728, for teaching shorthand with the lessons mailed weekly to the students from the sources and Isaac Pitman started in 1840 and continued it. Though this concept was existent before centuries, distance education has become prominent in this twenty first century because of the advanced technology availed by most of the geographical areas in the world.
Distance education is not completely ‘distance’ to get certified. The need of the presence of the person during the written and lab examination in the college or university makes it to be a hybrid education or blended education.
With the increased opportunities inviting more and more students, right after their plus twos, the number of regular admissions is decreasing in the colleges. At the same time, the young employees find the importance of graduation for the growth of the career and further education towards promoting to upper levels of the career and drive themselves to go for correspondence or online education programs. Many MNC’s also find the need of academic growth of their employees, they started bringing the education directly to their employees through various programs like ‘Study and Work’ etc.
Online education has become an important channel of teaching and assessing the students by the universities to certify them with the appropriate and deserving grades.
In fact, the correspondence with the colleges and universities has become easier and faster than the regular college and university education. With the increased literacy and usage of computer and internet, instant communication through the internet or phone is made possible to interact with the university personnel.
Like in many developed countries, in India also the aspirants of distance education have been growing rapidly. There are a number of universities offering distance education to the people staying anywhere in the world for the advantages and benefits that it enjoys. The need of physical infrastructure as well as person power requirements would be reduced, saving lots of their budget. Eventually, the fee charged for the distance education is also to some extent reduced, which would be a boon for the poor or economically challenged students.
Author Bio: The Author is Faiz from Delhi NCR; he always loves to develop new writing ideas about Distance Education and already have written many articles on various subjects, at present he is involving in Education market also writing for the subject: Distance MBA & Correspondence Courses.