Distance Learning

Years ago the terms open learning and distance education was merely a dream, but today it is the fastest growing fragment in education and training. Distance learning opens access to education and training, freeing learners from the constraints of time and place, and offering flexible learning opportunities to individuals and groups of learners. It is the process of transferring knowledge to learners/students who are separated from the instructor/teacher by time or physical distance and are making use of technology components, such as the Internet, video, CD's, tapes, and other forms of technology to accomplish learning.

The emergence of the Internet and related networks such as the World Wide Web has had and will increasingly have fundamental effect on the transformation of education and training in all sectors. ODL (Open Distance Learning) provides education to those who cannot study in the traditional manner, as it gives freedom to choose what, when, where, and how to learn. Hence, distance learning is very flexible. At the same time, distant learning requires more of the learner. As a learner, you are responsible for ensuring that you schedule the necessary time away from other activities in order to complete your coursework and assignments. Whatever schedule you set, you must follow through with it, or else your learning will not be effective. Distance learning has reversed the dynamics of learning; instead of the student going to school, the school now comes to the student.