Bongobondhu

Journal of Education

Bongobondhu Journal of Education

Vol. 1, No. 1, Jan-Jun, 2020
©Zafari Foundation
Published by: Nurul Mostafa Kamal Zafari
Contact: [email protected]
 Navigating MOOCs for Teachers, Educators, Education Instructors and Education
Professionals

A Brief Study

Nurul Mostafa Kamal Zafari

1. Abstract

MOOCs are making the difference the way we are accustomed with the delivery of education.
The old brick-and-mortar method of education services are now changing. MOOCs are now
taking place of the classroom lectures. The question is how the teachers, educators, instructors
and education professionals can be benefitted from this opportunity. This paper will briefly
present the at a glance survey of MOOCs related to education and pedagogy. The purpose of the
paper is to provide everything in front of the teachers and educators to plan for their MOOC
learning or elearning.

2. Keywords: MOOC, online course, online education, open course, lifelong learning.
3. Introduction

Education is the Achilles’ heel for human kind to move forward. People around the globe is now
experiencing the fifth generation of technological advancement. Teachers, educators, teachers
instructors and educational professionals should engage in the life long learning as they hardly
could manage a time to train themselves in a twenty-first century fashon.

4. Definition of MOOC
Gaebel (January 2013) in his paper MOOCs – Massive Open Online Courses, an occasional
paper published by European University Association, defines MOOC this way:
The acronym MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Courses. MOOCs can be characterised as
follows:
- they are online courses
- with no formal entry requirement
- no participation limit
- are free of charge
- and do not earn credits.
Hollands and Tirthalli (May 2014) presented a word based definition of MOOC in their report
“MOOCs: Expectations and Reality” submitted to Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education
Teachers College. They have cited George Siemens, a former faculty of Athabasca University.
To Siemens, MASSIVE means
- Anything that is large enough that you can get sub-clusters of self-organized interests.
Three hundred plus students could be benchmark.
To them (Hollands and Tirthalli, 2014) OPEN means
- The most generic interpretation of the word “open” with respect to a MOOC was the
possibility for anyone with an adequate Internet connection to participate in the course.
To me ONLINE means
- Everything that is open to all online. For MOOC regard, online could refer to the courses
offered by the providers accessible using internet or intranet from a remote place from
users’ computers or smart phones or tablets.
To me COURSE means
- The contents or curriculum or course or tasks or streams that has been presented or
broadcasted or sent to the learners for their learning attainments. To get the assignments
done and to get the certifications.
Khalil (April 2017) defined MOOC in his doctoral thesis “Learning Analytics in Massive Open
Online Courses” submitted to Graz University of Technology this way:
Massive: Refers to large in scale, amount or degree, in which the number of participants exceeds
the so-called Dunbar's number (Wedekind, 2013). The Dunbar number describes the cognitive
limit to the number of social relationships with other people (Dunbar, 2010). Massive indicates
that enrollees are much larger than regular classes where the number of participants exceeds
hundreds to thousands of participants.
Open: The openness of MOOCs usually refers to the free access to online courses and learning
materials. The course’s curriculum, assessment, and information should be open (Rodriguez,
2012). Learners can participate in a course without fulfillment of other formal requirements or
other additional restrictions. Everyone can enroll without prerequisites. Thus, learners can access
the courses and the education materials whenever and wherever they like.
Online: The management, the information system, as well as the course itself are exclusively
online. Communication between the course participants and the learning contents takes place via
a specially accredited course that is available online and introduced on a web page, for instance
(Wedekind, 2013). Likewise, physical attendance is nonexistent, and all classes are dealt
remotely.
Course: The course can be summarized as a collection of learning materials that are introduced
by teachers in the form of a program. These courses usually have a predetermined start date and
end date. Courses can be taught by more than one teacher according to the content itself and the
online course provider (Wedekind, 2013).
McAuley, Stewart, Siemens, & Cormier (2010 cited in Khalil, 2017) clearly defined MOOCs as:
An online course with the option of free and open registration, a publicly shared curriculum, and
open-ended outcomes. MOOCs integrate social networking, accessible online resources, and are
facilitated by leading practitioners in the field of study. Most significantly, MOOCs build on the
engagement of learners who self-organize their participation according to learning goals, prior
knowledge and skills, and common interests.
5. Timeline of MOOC
Early MOOCs emerged from the Open Educational Resources (OER) movement. The term
MOOC was coined in 2008 by Dave Cormier and Bryan Alexander for an on-line course in
“Connectivism and Connective Knowledge” offered by the University of Manitoba.
 From 2008 to 2011, a number of institutions experimented with the MOOC concept
continuing in the open educational resources vein.
 2012 became “The year of the MOOC” has dubbed by The New York Times and since then
MOOC has become one of the hottest topics in education.
 Stanford University launched three courses in the fall of 2011, each of which had an
enrollment of about 100,000. The first course was “Introduction to AI”, which was launched by
Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig, had an enrollment of approximately 160,000 students.
 Following the publicity, Sebastian Thrun launched Udacity and Daphne Koller and Andrew
Ng launched Coursera. These two are for-profit companies. Coursera subsequently announced
partnerships with several other universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton
University, Stanford University, and The University of Michigan.
 MIT launched the MITx not-for-profit, an effort to develop a free and open online platform.
Harvard joined the initiative, renamed edX, and University of California, Berkeley joined in
later. Then the University of Texas System, Wellesley College and the Georgetown University
joined edX initiative.
 In November 2012, the first high school MOOC was launched by the University of Miami
Global Academy, UM's online high school. In January 2013, Udacity launched MOOCs-for-
credit, in collaboration with San Jose State University. In May 2013, the first entirely MOOC-
based Master's Degree was announced, a collaboration between Udacity, AT&T and the Georgia
Institute of Technology, costing $7,000.
 In June 2013, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill launched Skynet University,
which offers MOOCs on the sole topic of introductory astronomy. Participants gained access to
the university's global network of robotic telescopes, including telescopes in the Chilean Andes
and Australia.
 In September 2013, edX announced a partnership with Google to jointly develop the edX
open source learning platform. Google and edX will collaborate to build out and operate
MOOC.org, a new site for non-xConsortium universities, institutions, businesses, governments
and teachers to build and host their courses for a global audience.

6. Getting Ready for MOOC

Ferguson, Sharples and Beale (2015) in their paper “MOOCs 2030: a future for massive open
online learning” suggests some specific tools, skills and resources to getting ready for MOOCs.
They are:
- access to personal computing devices and the Internet
- unrestricted access to key sites
- MOOCs available in a language they understand well, designed with accessibility in
mind and designed to support progression
- safe environments for young learners
- enough basic knowledge to be able to begin learning
- skills in digital literacy, online study and social networking
- high motivation and self-efficacy.
7. How MOOC is Needed?
 Alkaff, Qomarudin, Alkaff & Bilfaqih (2018) finds multiplied needs of MOOCs as courses
contributed the receivers, providers, users, and other stakeholders. They find the Perspectives-
Needs grid below in their research:

Perspectives Needs
Learner • Self-esteem/Skill development
• Course certificate
• Specialization certificate
• Technical certificate
• Degree
• Professional certificate
• Job
Instructor • Reach greater audience for their courses
• Teach brilliant students
University • Expand impact
• Reduce educational cost
• Look for best talents
• Offer courses and degree
Company/ Organization • Employee training
• Recruit talents
• Offer courses
Product Certifier • Offer preparation courses for technical certification
• Offer technical certification exam

8. Characteristics of MOOC

Welsh and Dragusin (2013) refines MOOCs by these five characters:

Massiveness MOOC accommodate large number of participants with no constraints to

and scalability class size
MOOC addresses the geographic location and time requirement of
traditional learning and teaching
Open access MOOCs offers enhanced accessibilityand flexibility by providing open
learning environment
MOOCs are typically free or low cost
 MOOCs are open in terms of pace, place and time
Internet- All aspects of MOOCs are online using semantic web
mediated All MOOCs are accessiblevia Internet
Connectivism MOOC promotes out-of-class autonomy, interactivity and diversity
MOOC uses the connectivity of social networking platforms, personal
networks and communities of practice
Course MOOC offers both technical and non-technical courses e.g. Sciences,
Humanities, Social Sciences, etc.
MOOCs eliminates the need for pre-requisites and strict entry
requirements
MOOC courses have defined start and end date
MOOC Courses have predefined study guide and syllabus

Malliga (2013) observes the characteristics of MOOCs in a different way. To him MOOCs have
some these features:

 Free: free non-degree online courses with open unlimited global enrollment to anyone who
desires to learn, and regardless of their current educational level. Most of the MOOC are non-
credit bearing, some are starting to offer certificates, enhanced learning services and credit
options at additional costs.
 Online: Enrollment is done online at the MOOCs provider sites. Video lectures, online
quizzes, online assignment, virtual labs and learning materials are provided online. Anyone can
learn the MOOC courses offered online from anywhere using Internet and a laptop or a smart
device.
 Participatory: All learners can interact either through email or discussion forum. The learning
is collaborative, social and constructivist in nature.
 Instructors : Provide direction and a starting point to the learning intervention
 Distributed: New web technologies allow for scalable ways to deliver video lecture content,
implement social forums and track student progress in MOOCs. The material is all over the
internet: e-books, research papers, tweets, blogs etc
 Pedagogy: Many MOOCs use a video lecture style of pedagogy, repeating the old form of
teaching using a new technology. New Teaching Technologies and Social Networking are
essential to MOOC Format.
 9. Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Providers
MOOCs are offered by universities, colleges, humanitarian and development organizations,
corporations, institutions, cultural groups and so on.
This list will provide a brief overview of the providers for the teachers, educators, instructors and
education professionals, the list focused on the education related course providers:
Name of the MOOC Link
Provider
Alison https://alison.com/
The Open University UK https://www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses/full-catalogue
DisasterReady.org https://www.disasterready.org/
Udemy https://www.udemy.com/
Coursera https://www.coursera.org/
edX https://www.edx.org/
Canvas Network https://www.canvas.net/
FutureLearn https://www.futurelearn.com/

10. Courses for Teachers, Educators, Instructors and Education Professionals

In this section, some lists of provider wise courses and some statistics on the basis search results
using educational keywords will be provided.

Alison: Courses offered by Alison on education and pedagogy

Diploma in Educational Psychology

Diploma in Teaching Skills for Educators

Diploma in Children Studies

Certificate in Working with Students with Special Needs

Certificate in Instructional Systems Design

Certificate in Instructional Planning for Successful Teaching

Certificate in Introduction to the Learning Process for Teachers and Trainers

Certificate in Effective Communication Techniques for Teachers and Trainers

Certificate in Student Development and Diversity

Certificate in Fundamentals of Storytelling in Education for Teachers and Trainers

 The Open University UK: This listing will provide a wide range of courses that can help in
teaching, educating and to lead education related professions:

Accessibility of eLearning
Am I ready to be a distance learner?
Am I ready to study in English?
Assistive technologies and online learning
Attachment in the early years
Careers education and guidance
Changes in Science Education
Chartered teachers in Scotland
Childhood in crisis?
Childhood in the digital age
Children and young people: food and food marketing
Children and young people’s participation
Children’s perspectives on play
Continuity and learning
Creating open educational resources
Developing good academic practice
Digital literacy: succeeding in a digital world
The digital scholar
Early years team work and leadership
Encouraging book talk in the school library
Engaging with educational research
English grammar in context
English in the world today
English: skills for learning
Enhancing pupil learning on museum visits
Essay and report writing skills
Evaluating school classroom discussion
Exploring books for children: words and pictures
Exploring children's learning
Exploring educational leadership
Exploring equality and equity in education
Exploring languages and cultures
Extending and developing your thinking skills
Facilitating group discussions
Facilitating learning in practice
The family at the centre of early learning
Get started with online learning
A global dimension to science education in schools
How to be a critical reader
Inclusive education: Knowing what we mean
Infants’ understanding of their social world
The interplay between leading and learning
Introduction to child psychology
An introduction to Open Educational Resources (OER)
Involving the family in supporting pupils' literacy learning
Issues in research with children and young people
Key skill assessment unit: Problem solving
Key skill assessment unit: Working with others
Key skill assessment: Communication
Key skill assessment: Improving your own learning and performance
Key skills - making a difference
Language as a medium for teaching and learning
Learning how to learn
Learning to learn: Exploring learning
Learning to learn: Planning for personal change
Learning to learn: Reflecting backward, reflecting forward
Learning to learn: You and your learning
Learning to teach: an introduction to classroom research
Learning to teach: becoming a reflective practitioner
Learning to teach: making sense of learning to teach
Learning to teach: mentoring and tutoring student teachers
Listening to young children: supporting transition
Literacy, social justice and inclusive practice
Looking globally: the future of education
Open education
Parents and toddlers: Teaching and learning at home
Parents as partners
Partnerships and networks in work with young people
Play, learning and the brain
Primary education: listening and observing
Professional relationships with young people
The range of work with young people
Revision and examinations
The role of play in children's learning
Secondary learning
Sharing power and transforming educational practice
Succeed with learning
Take your teaching online
Taking your first steps into higher education
Teachers sharing resources online
Teaching and learning tricky topics
Teaching citizenship: Work and the economy
Teaching for good behaviour
Teaching mathematics
Teaching secondary geography
Teaching secondary mathematics
Teaching secondary modern foreign languages
Teaching secondary music
Teaching secondary science
Teaching using digital video in secondary schools
Understanding early years environments and children’s spaces
Understanding language and learning
Using film music in the classroom
Using visualisation in maths teaching
What children and young people say
What children's perspectives tell us about inclusion
Why teach art?
Working with young people: Roles and responsibilities
The world of the primary school
Young lives: is now a good time to be young?
The ‘why’ and ‘what’ of educational leadership and management
DisasterReady: DisasterReady is dedicated to providing humanitarian and development courses
-

Course Provider
Introduction to School Disaster Management Save the Children
Children’s Play Save the Children
Introduction to Comprehensive School Safety Save the Children
(CSS)
Fun, Safe and Inclusive Module on Facilitation Save the Children
Skills
Psychosocial Wellbeing of Parents and Caregivers Save the Children
Provider wise listing: This list has been prepared on the basis search results using some
keywords given in the box -

Providers Education Teaching Learning Instruction Pedagogy Classroom Curriculum

Udemy 1631 1363 10000 1789 24 535 677

Coursera 1116 791 2019 529 84 61 54
edX 441 388 2164 94 9 54 75
Canvas Network 38 - - - - - -

FutureLearn 208 209 858 4 7 61 16

11. Advantages of MOOCs

Armellini & Padilla Rodriguez (2016) finds these positive responses about MOOCs in their
research Are Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) pedagogically innovative? submitted to
Northampton Electronic Collection of Theses and Research (NECTAR), Northampton
University.
- With large number of participants
- Open access
- Pedagogically innovative
- Vast interaction between learners
- Free of cost
- Online course
- Technologically advanced
- Focus on autonomous, self-regulated learning
12. Concluding Remarks

To conclude, MOOCs are the greatest resources for the teachers, educators, instructors and
education professionals as they provide almost all types of courses aiming to serve the users at
their doorsteps. May be a small attempt could lead to giant step in one’s career as continuous
professional development never goes in vain.

References
Alkaff, Abdullah, M. Qomarudin, Nur., Alkaff, Sylmina D., Bilfaqih, Yusuf. (2018) Modelling Online Course
Services and Comparison of its Major Providers, International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning
(iJET), anuary 2018, https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v13i01.7528
Retrieved from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322648042_Modelling_Online_Course_Services_and_Comparison_of_its
_Major_Providers
Armellini, A. and Padilla Rodriguez, B. C. (2016) Are Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) pedagogically
innovative? Journal of Interactive Online Learning. 14(1), 15414914.
Retrieved from: http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/8234/1/Armellini20168234.pdf

Ferguson, Rebecca; Sharples, Mike and Beale, Russell (2015). MOOCs 2030: a future for massive open online
learning. In: Bonk, Curtis J.; Lee, Mimi M.; Reeves, Thomas C. and Reynolds, Thomas H. eds. MOOCs and Open
Education around the World. Abingdon: Routledge.
Retrieved from: http://oro.open.ac.uk/43541/

Gaebel, Michael. (January 2013) MOOCs – Massive Open Online Courses in the occasional paper submitted to
European University Association
Retrieved form: https://eua.eu/downloads/publications/moocs%20-%20massive%20open%20online%20courses.pdf

Hollands, Fiona M., Ph.D. & Tirthali, Devayani, Ed.D. (May 2014) MOOCs: Expectations and Reality report
submitted to Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education Teachers College, Columbia University.
Retrieved from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED547237.pdf

Khalil, Mohammad, MSc. (April 2017) Learning Analytics in Massive Open Online Courses. doctoral thesis
submitted to Graz University of Technology.
Retrieved from: https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1802/1802.09344.pdf

Malliga, Dr. P. (2013) A Survey on MOOC Providers for Higher Education in International Journal of
Management & Information Technology, Vol. 7, No. 1
Retrieved from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331080038_A_Survey_On_MOOC_Providers_For_Higher_Education

Mustapha, Abdulrasheed., Muhammad, Shamsuddeen H. & Salahudeen, Abdullahi S. (N.D.) Massive Open Online
Courses: A Success of Cloud Computing in Education
Retrieved from: http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1755/141-151.pdf

Welsh, Dianne. & Dragusin, Mariana. (2013) The New Generation of Massive Open Online Course (MOOCS) and
Entrepreneurship Education, Small Business Institute Journal, 2013, Vol. 9, No. 1, 51-65 ISSN: 1944-1150/6951
Retrieved form:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312769836_The_New_Generation_of_Massive_Open_Online_Course_M
OOCS_and_Entrepreneurship_Education

Witthaus, G., Inamorato dos Santos. A., Childs, M., Tannhäuser, A., Conole, G., Nkuyubwatsi, B., Punie,Y. (2016)
Validation of Non-formal MOOC-based Learning: An Analysis of Assessment and Recognition Practices in
Europe (OpenCred). EUR 27660 EN; doi:10.2791/809371 Retrieved
from: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/eur-scientific-and-technical-research-reports/validation-non-formal-
mooc-based-learning-analysis-assessment-and-recognition-practices

Technologies for Digital, Distance and Open Education:

Defining What are Those
Nurul Mostafa Kamal Zafari

1. Abstract

Distance education brings education at learners doorsteps. How could this happen? It happens
because of technologies. Multidimensional technologies are used in the delivery, presentation,
monitoring, evaluation of distance education. This paper will focus on the technologies and
devices used in the delivery of distance education, open education and elearning. Further as in
Bangladesh, it is hosting a huge number of Rohingya population and the hosting communities
are also in need of much more educational support during this COVID 19 homestay period. The
paper will try find out some ways to serve the Rohingya communities and hosting population
with educational services to keep the learners attached with their books and keep alive the
continuity of their learning.

2. Keywords

Distance education, open education, digital learning, elearning, massive open online course, life
long learning, deep learning

3. Introduction

Education is the harmonious development of body, mind and soul . Education is the backbone of
a nation. Medium of education is the backbone of educational attainment. While the world is
changing and the way of life is changing, as a result people are engaging in much more creative
way to meet the essential goal of their lives. Education should not aim to idle in the walled
classroom and it should go to people to make them enable to enjoy their lives, to pursue their
dreams and to envision their ultimate destination of happiness. To this extent, distance and open
education and elearning brought a groundbreaking change in the lives of hundreds of thousands
of people around the globe. Distance education is aims to provide education at the doorsteps of
the learners from a wide range of universities, education service providers and institutions. Open
education makes sure that people has access to the courses even if they have no prior degrees
that enables life long learning. Elearning is the open courses provided by the organizations,
service providers, companies and corporations for their own employees or for the general mass
where sometimes it requires authorization from the employers or open in many cases.

4. Technologies used in Distance, Open and Elearning

4.1. Hardware Technologies
Radio and Television: Radio and television broadcasting has been used for educational
purposes for many years. There are different types of broadcast: public, cable, and satellite.
Some of the advantages of radio and television broadcasting are that they Audio- and videotapes
have come to play an increasingly important role as media for distance education. These
technologies are convenient and cost-effective. These media can be used to present the views of
experts, which would increase the credibility of and interest in the materials. Materials that
cannot be communicated by print could be communicated in this way. Video is a powerful
medium in terms of capturing attention, and conveying a lot of information quickly.
Cassette and cassette players: Cassette players is used to deliver distance education. The
fantastic side of this media is it could be payed anywhere and cassette players can be used with a
electricity connection or with batteries.
CD-ROM and DVD with DVD Players: CD ROM, DVD and DVD players are the early media
of delivering distance education. Accessibility is very easy into these devices.
Mobile phone: This is a long-range, electronic device used for mobile voice or data
communication over a network of specialized base stations known as cell sites. In addition to the
standard voice function of a mobile phone, telephone, current mobile phones may support many
additional services, and accessories, such as SMS for text messaging, email, gaming, Bluetooth,
infrared, camera with video recorder and MMS for sending and receiving photos and video, MP3
player, radio and GPS.
Mobile phones are probably the most common device used for educational purposes.
Even though its functionalities are more limited than more advanced mobile devices, such as
laptops and handheld computers, the proliferation of mobile phones (reaching 4 billion
worldwide mobile subscriptions at the beginning of 2009) make this type of mobile technology
widely and broadly available for education. The downside is its small screen and keyword size
that restrict the annotation capability and the content presentation as well as short battery life that
impedes long periods of teaching and learning.
Text messaging, voice communication and pictures are the most used resources to basically
support each of pedagogical models.
For instance, mobile phones are commonly used for behaviourist learning, where students send
frequent vocabulary messages and revision material via SMS text messages. Mobile phones also
allow students to access multiple choice questions and answers, and practical exercises.
Smartphone: This is a mobile phone offering advanced capabilities, often with
PC-like functionality. Usually, a smartphone is a phone that runs a complete operating system
software providing a standardized interface and platform for application developers. It also
provide advanced features like e-mail, Internet and e-book reader capabilities, and/or a built-in
full keyboard or external USB keyboard and VGA connector. In other words, it is a miniature
computer that has phone capability.
Growth in demand for advanced mobile devices boasting powerful processors, abundant
memory, large screens and open operating systems has outpaced the rest of the mobile phone
market for several years. The inconvenience of this technology is not being generally affordable
and the lack of standards across the different devices (i.e., learning material is usually device-
dependent when generated in a specific device and thus it is not presented in the same way on
every device).
Smartphones help fulfill certain phases of certain complex pedagogical models, such as the
behaviorist, social and context-aware learning paradigms, by making the most of advanced
features offered by these devices (e.g., retrieve and share with peers any type of data from the
Internet, identify the own’s surrounding location by the geographical information available,
review, listen and practice speaking, and provide services such as phrase translation, quizzes and
live coaching, etc.).
Laptop Personal Computer and Tablet Personal Computer: They are also referred as
Notebook PC and are personal computers designed for mobile use and small enough to sit on
one's lap. Both integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a
display, a keyboard, pointing device, speakers, and often including a rechargeable battery, into a
single small and light unit. A Tablet PC is equipped further with a touchscreen or graphics
tablet/screen hybrid to operate the computer with a stylus or digital pen, or a fingertip, instead of
a keyboard or mouse.
The downside is the relatively short battery life and portability. Since laptops and tablets offer
similar computer power and computing capability than traditional desktop computers, they can
be used to fully support the problem-based learning pedagogical model that by offering the
necessary mobility and full power, allowing learning groups to meet and fully work in a library,
bar, classroom, field etc. On the other hand, these devices are not suitable for supporting context-
aware and social learning, since its size restricts the portability and usability in certain outdoors
locations and for specific learning activities (e.g., field activities, tourist visits, etc.).
Handheld Personal Computer: They are also referred as Palmtop PC or Pocket
PC, which is a term for a computer built around a form factor which is smaller than any standard
laptop computer. A personal digital assistant (PDA) is considered a handheld computer. Newer
PDA commonly have color screens and audio capabilities, enabling them to be used as mobile
phones (smartphones), web browsers, or portable media players. Many PDAs can access the
Internet, intranets or extranets. Many PDAs employ touch screen technology.
Handheld devices are commonly used in the classroom for digital note taking. Students can
spell-check, modify, and amend their class notes or e-notes. Some educators distribute course
material through the use of the internet connectivity or infrared file sharing functions of the
PDA. Textbook publishers have begun to release ebooks, or electronic textbooks, which can be
uploaded directly to a PDA. Software companies have developed programs to meet the
instructional needs of educational institutions such as dictionaries, thesauri, word processing
software, encyclopedias and digital planning lessons.
PDA, more commonly than smartphones, are used by learners to support visits to museums, field
studies, etc. by having an interactive audio-visual tour, taking observational notes, taking photo,
querying networked database and comparing data, etc. Also, teachers use this device to collect
learners’ responses and results to tests and field activities and provide feedback to them. This
supports most of the pedagogical models, such as the constructivist approach, by allowing
learners to discover principles for themselves and acquire new knowledge upon the foundation of
the existing knowledge.
Portable media players: This is a consumer electronics device that is capable of storing and
playing digital media. Digital audio players that can also display images and play videos are
portable media players. The data is typically stored on a hard drive, microdrive, or flash memory.
Other types of mobile devices, like mobile phones, are sometimes referred as portable media
players because of their playback capabilities.
Podcasting is currently one of the most populars portable media formats used in education.
Podcasting is a term used to describe a collection of technologies for automatically distributing
audio and video programs over the internet. Podcasting enables independent producers to create
self-published, syndicated "radio shows," and gives broadcast radio or television programs a new
distribution method. Any digital audio player or computer with audio-playing software can play
podcasts. The term "podcast", however, still refers largely to audio content distribution. They are
usually audio and video programs on desktop computers, laptops, iPods, smartphones,
handhelds, and other mobile devices. Hundreds of free educational programs are available
online. Podcasting can support several pedagogical models, such as context-aware learning, by
offering news/issues related to the subject, books/journals/films reviews, explanation of key
concepts/terminologies, background information about the subject, links to make wider
connections, questions students should be thinking about before the class, etc.
Discussion boards: Internet forums could be described as a web version of a newsgroup or
electronic mailing list allowing people to post messages and comment on other messages. People
participating in an Internet forum may cultivate social bonds and interest groups for a topic may
form from the discussions. Many online courses’ curricula includes the participation of students
in on-line webbased discussions with the aim of sharing and discussing their ideas. Indeed, the
discussion process plays an important social task where participants can think about the activity
being performed, collaborate with each other through the exchange of ideas that may arise,
propose new resolution mechanisms, as well as justify and refine their own contributions and
thus acquire new knowledge.
In addition to these social tools, Semantic Web and ontologies, are also considered in the context
of Web 2.0 for the provision of customized and dynamic learning (e.g., adapting the learning
content in different formats and with different technologies). They are eventually integrated into
advanced Learning Management Systems for mobile education, such as Moodle.
4.2. Software Technologies
The table below will show the examples of tools used in the distance, open and elearning:
Sl. Area of use Tools
1 Assessment and Survey Respondus, Quiz Builder, StudyMate, Zoomerang,
Tools Survey Monkey, ExamBuilder
2 Asynchronous Email, Announcements, Discussion forum, SMS
Communication
3 Digital Repositories Google Scholar, ePortfolio, Equella,Youtube
4 Management and Turnitin, Gradebook, iGoogle, myYahoo
Administration tools
5 Photosharing Flickr, Gallery2, Zoomr, Picasa, Photobucket
6 Podcasts and Podcast, iLecture, iTunesU, MyPod, ePodcast
Streaming
7 Shared Documents Google Docs, Zoho Writer, SlideShare, Elgg,
Clearspace
8 Social Bookmarking del.icio.us, CiteULike, Simple, Diigo, Connotea, digg,
reddit
9 Social Networking Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Ning, LinkedIn
10 Subscribed Content Google Reader, Bloglines, RSS Feeds
Delivery
11 Synchronous Google Talk, iChat, CUworld, ICQ, Skype, Elluminate
 Communications Live, MSN /Yahoo, messenger
12 Virtual Worlds Second Life (SL), Virtual Graffiti, 1eSimulations
13 Weblogs and Blogger, Wordpress, Twitter, RAMBLE, Yammer
Microblogs
14 Wiki PBWorks, Wikispaces, MediaWiki, 1WikidPad, Zwik
15 File clouding spaces Dropbox, iCloud, MI Cloud, Google Drive, One Drive

Assessment and Survey Tools: Survey and assessment tools are used to know the academic
trends and feedback from the students. Those could help the educators and course designers to
review their methodologies or contents for further review. SurveyMonkey or Zoomerang can be
used to get the student feedback in a moment. Respondus can be a great helping tool in the field
of mathematics. MathXL is used for automatic grading and targeted feedback as it is self-paced
and testing management systems. Online examinations tools help students roaming from multiple
choice questions to more sophisticated question criteria. Visualizations tools help teachers to
understand students’ cognitive level. VotApedia helps large groups by enabling them to answer
questions just using their mobile phones. Audience Response System can help motivate and
engage learners by providing simultaneous feedback on their understanding.
Asynchronous Communication: In educational settings Email is a commonly used
asynchronous communication tool for one-to-one or one-to-many online communication. It can
transmit files that include text, graphics and other multimedia content with or in the messages.
The strengths of email include the immediacy of the technology, the ability to connect and be
connected, ease of use and flexibility. However these may be seen as weaknesses as they create
expectations upon the educator to be always connected and contactable.
Other weaknesses include the potential for misunderstandings through lack of non-verbal
triggers such as tone or mood, as well as the need to establish and enforce boundaries and
netiquette. Such weaknesses are accentuated when corresponding with distance students or
students with English as a Second Language (ESL).
Another type of asynchronous communication tool used in higher education is the discussion
forum, which allows participants to post to a bulletin board or forum which can be viewed and
responded to by others at any time. However a major disadvantage of discussion forums is the
length of time it takes to hold a conversation. The use of online discussion forums has the
potential to increase students’ participation and interaction when used as a supplement to face-to-
face learning activities. Announcements are a further type of asynchronous communication tool
useful and widely used in educational settings. An announcement is a broadcast message to a
predefined group of people such as a class of learners. It is a useful way of notifying the group(s)
of breaking news, last-minute events or simply reminders of key dates.
Announcement tools are often incorporated into learning management systems.
Short message service (SMS) is a method for sending messages to mobile phones and these are
becoming more commonly embedded in higher education pedagogy. Additionally, an SMS
message can be sent from a mobile phone or from a computer connected to the Internet. Digital
Repositories: This category covers a plethora of different content management systems and the
search engines that index them. Digital repositories typical in higher education incorporate
online bibliographic databases that provide abstracts and indexing to the world’s scientific and
technical papers in wide-ranging disciplines. Bibliographic databases, of which there are more
than 100, include PubMed, IEEE Xplore, Scopus, Web of Knowledge, Web of Science and
Google Scholar and are easily accessible through institutional libraries.
Another type of digital repository is the learning repository created from combinations of in-
house and third-party resources, enabling academics to retrieve and share these resources. The
ePortfolio is a type of digital repository where the focus is on an individual’s collection of
artefacts. They facilitate the process of collecting, reflecting on, sharing, and presenting learning
outcomes and other professional accomplishments via a digital medium. EPortfolios have been
used in educational contexts such as:
• English language teaching for students to record and demonstrate evidence of learning and
development;
• As a medium for creating awareness of the importance of lifelong learning for students;
• Professionals who are required to provide evidence of competence and professional
development;
• Supporting and empowering women returning to employment;
• As a management system to store lesson plans of student teachers and allow subsequent
evaluation and detailed analysis. The use of ePortfolios can help students better understand
learning goals and reflect on the knowledge and skills they have developed.
Management and Administration Tools: Tools that are used for teaching and the management
of students and their learning include those tools used for administration of students’ grades and
reporting of student progress, and tools for the detection of plagiarism. Also included here are
tools to support the building of groups and provision of infrastructure to support group work
such as private discussion spaces and shared document spaces.
An electronic gradebook is a student information system which stores students’ demographic
data and allows grades and other data to be recorded. The data can be edited, released for
viewing and exported. Tracking and reporting tools provide the means to monitor students’
access to online components of a course or of completion of tasks.
Online plagiarism detection software is used in a variety of ways. It is often a way of
encouraging students to reference correctly and to write assignments in their own words. For
teachers it is a detection tool to ensure that work submitted by students is their own.
Online plagiarism software can also be used purely as an assignment submission tool.
Personalised homepages allow users to pull information such as news, weather, gadgets,
webpage links and RSS feeds from multiple sources into one fully customizable page. Netvibes,
Pageflakes, My Yahoo, iGoogle and Windows Live all allow the creation of personalised
homepages.
Photo Sharing: The use of photosharing websites has the potential to open lines of dialogue,
communication, and learning.
Flickr is an example of a website which enables the publishing of photos online so that they can
be shared with others either publicly or privately. Users can make annotations, leave comments
and have ongoing discussions about the images. The discussion generated by the group remains
visible in Flickr for future reference.
Photosharing sites can be used to compare and contrast images in fashion or art courses. Students
on a field trip, who take photos with their mobile phones, can instantly post them online. Later
the students can reflect and discuss, through the photosharing tool, their experiences and
observation with the rest of their learning community. Another example of an educational use is
the group of photography students who have collaborated across universities to create and
comment on virtual photo albums using Gallery2.
Podcasts and Streaming: The term podcast is a contraction of iPod and broadcast. A podcast is
an audio or video file (educational resources in this case) that can be created and made available
for download from the Internet to a computer or mobile device that is capable of playing MP3 or
MP4 files on demand.
Most podcasts have RSS capability (see subscribed content) allowing users to automate the
process of accessing recent additions. An alternative to podcasts are streamed files which contain
data sent in a compressed format that is played in real time at the destination. Unlike podcasts,
playing a streamed file can lead to stop-start reception depending on the speed at which the data
is transmitted. Such media is becoming commonplace in education, particularly in distance
learning with many of the world’s prestigious universities now distributing their lectures through
services such as iTunes (e.g. Stanford and Harvard).
Considerable research has been undertaken into the use of both teacher-generated and
studentgenerated podcasts in learning environments. The most common use of podcasts is for
delivery of lectures and supplementary recordings. With the advent of iTunesU, podcasting was
touted as the answer to learning anytime, anywhere and high profile universities made podcasts
of lecture series freely available. Shared
Documents: Numerous collaboration applications exist which enable the storing, editing and
reviewing of documents in a virtual space. This can be done by multiple individuals, either in
real time or asynchronously. By using a web browser and an application such as Google Docs
students can access a group’s documents, edit and save them. Shared document technologies
such as Google Docs are considered particularly useful if or when an institution adopts gmail
(google mail) as their email system, which has been the case in many Australian universities.
Such technologies are then extremely convenient particularly for students. These collaboration
technologies enable students and faculty to see what changes have been made to the documents
and by whom. This facility is not confined to text documents but a group can be working
collaboratively on spreadsheets and presentations which is considered useful in group work
situations.
Social Bookmarking: Social bookmarking is the practice of saving a link to a web site as a
public or private bookmark then tagging it with meaningful keywords. These bookmarks are then
available, in an organised manner, from any internet connected device. It is possible to see how
many other users have bookmarked a site, what else these users have bookmarked, and to search
for resources by tags, person or popularity. Commonly used social bookmarking sites include
del.icio.us, Simple and Diigo as well as Connotea and CiteULike which are aimed predominately
at scientists. However there are over 250 other sites that offer this type of service. In 2008 about
115 million bookmarks existed in del.icio.us alone.
In an educational setting social bookmarking simplifies the distribution of resources such as
reference lists, bibliographies and articles to students and colleagues. Shared bookmarks can lead
to the discovery of further resources while the creation of tags also encourages critical thinking
which suggests they are particularly useful in educational contexts.
Social Networking: Social networking creates online communities where people share interests
and activities. Users are able to choose how they are “seen” within this community by creating
profiles for themselves and can choose what information they wish to share.
While social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Bebo were not developed as
educational tools they have been eagerly adopted by some educational institutions seeking new
levels of student engagement and interactivity. Facebook is a feature of contemporary student
life and transition to university can be eased through interactions with numerous online
communities.
Some educational institutions are concerned by the possibility of postings which might be
considered inappropriate and they addressed this by blocking access to Facebook through their
network. Contrary to the negative perceptions of using this very popular technology in an
educational context, the use of Facebook for academic discussions with postgraduate distance
learning students enhanced student’s learning and insight. Cloudworks is one social networking
site specifically developed for educational purposes. Cloudworks harnesses Web 2.0 principles
of connecting and sharing by bringing together teachers/designers to share, discuss and find new
ideas and designs. LibraryThing, another social networking site developed with an educational
flavour, enables users to share information about books that they have read. Social network can
be used to encourage students to read or to undertake critical reviews. Using technological
infrastructures such as Joomla and Drupal, social networking sites have also been created
specifically for individual courses or sub groups within institutions. Each of these social
networking sites have a slightly different focus on different areas of social interaction making
their fit for purpose a necessary consideration when using them in teaching.
Subscribed Content Delivery (RSS Feeds / Aggregators): RSS, short for Really Simple
Syndication or Rich Site Summary, provides a means of keeping up-todate with content on the
Internet that is updated frequently. It allows content distributors to syndicate content via an RSS
file on the Web which an RSS reader can then easily download and check for updates.
Individuals who subscribe to an RSS feed are notified when new items are added. The
newsreader is accessible via the Internet, desktop computer, an email client or mobile phone. The
feed is in a standardized format, which allows it to be published once and viewed by many
different programs. The reader provides a user interface to monitor and read the feeds as well as
functions that enable users to search, organise, manage and share their RSS posts. Often email
programs and web browsers have the ability to display feeds. Such technologies pose new
possibilities for e-learning and the distribution of teaching materials.
There are any number of general readers easily appropriated for education such as Google
Reader and Bloglines, and there are also specialised aggregators freely available including
MedReader targeting medical and healthcare professionals.
Synchronous Communication: Synchronous communication has many forms and is the closest
technology-supported communication mode to face-to-face communication. It has an immediacy
that asynchronous communication lacks.
Synchronous communication can be text or audio based and can include video, multimedia,
document and desktop sharing. Synchronous communication is facilitated through chat rooms,
instant messaging and video-conferencing and is often used in education.
The need to support distance education and remote learners has prompted the use of synchronous
tools to facilitate communication in environments where face-to-face is not possible. It has been
used in a variety of learning environments, including small group teleconferences, professional
development for teachers, virtual assistants as online facilitators and supporting acquisition of
study and literacy skills..
Although some researchers have found that there are differences in the use of synchronous tools
which are dependent on factors such as culture (Wang and Reeves, 2007) others have found that
using such tools may cut through potential barriers.
Synchronous communication tools brings benefits to student support through efficient
communication. Such tools can also be used to promote cooperation among students who work
individually on their computers at home and to cross national and cultural boundaries.
Weblogs and Microblogs: A blog (weblog) is a web page where the owner writes personal
commentary, or opinions, to which readers have the ability to leave comments. The owner of the
blog directs its content with dated postings of items in reverse chronological order containing
text and images. The blog may incorporate a number of features such as links, taglines,
permanent links, blogrolls and archives. A blog owner requires motivation to post regularly
placing increased pressure on educators using the technology. However various applications such
as RAMBLE and Google’s Blogger Mobile enable bloggers to easily send messages and images
directly to their blog from their mobile phones. Blogs can provide a shareable student writing
space or be used as a mechanism to record a student’s progress. They can also be used as a
digital display of a student’s work and achievements. Blogs have the potential to improve the
correctness, completeness and innovations of achievements by students. Blogs can also be a way
for teachers to share information and experience, though in their study the use of the blog for
knowledge construction was limited.
Wikis: Wikis are a collection of web pages designed to allow multiple authors to create, edit and
delete content at any time and from anywhere and they are particularly suitable for group work in
education. Content is built collaboratively with many users being able to structure the content,
create links and track a history of contributions. The pages within the wiki can be interconnected
and organised as necessary as there is no predetermined structure. The most well known wiki is
the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. As of 2012, Wikipedia had over 19 million articles from
85,000 active contributors in more than 270 languages.
Application of wikis in the academic context include fostering learning in students, the
collaborative writing of a textbook by faculty and students, as a tool to understand artworks and
to improve report writing amongst students.
5. Recommendations
- Available Media and Technology to be explored and utilized at maximum extent in order
to enhance the quality of distance and open education, and elearning.
- Mandatory training to be provided to all the counsellors in using proper technology that
to be used in their classes at contact classes.
- Sufficient investments and funds to be allocated to distance mode of education to procure
the modern technology.
- Teachers should change their traditional way of thinking and to adopt modern ways of
thinking in using media and technologies.
- Digital lessons and Library should be prepared and kept in web sites of universities for
the use their students.
- Regular interactions between Teacher and Learner to be maintained through e-mails.
 - Flexible Learning sessions to be arranged according to targeted students time schedules.
- All forms of traditional implementations to be diminished at all levels in Distance
Education.
- Online exams to be arranged to the students of Distance Education and scope to be given
to then to write exams according to their leisure.
- Educational TV channels should be started or improved and programmes should be
telecast for 24 hours in a day, so this gives a learner more flexibility to learn.
- here should not be any traditional implementation in planning, execution and feed back in
Distance Education.
- The libraries should be digitized and all the books should be available on Web to their
stakeholders.
6. Concluding Remarks
Technologies are bringing a tremendous development in the way of distance education. But still
it requires a good amount of attention to strengthen for better inclusion of the people who are out
of reach. Should education only aim to reach the people who are rich and have abundant
opportunities, rather education must be served the people who are not getting the blessings of
education. Can we suggest distance education and online education should be the next generation
education for all. To bring revolution in this newer approach, more corporations and
organizations should come forward and take the opportunities to make the learning open and
lifelong.

References
Caballé, Santi., Xhafa, Fatos., Barolli, Leonard. (2010) Using mobile devices to support online collaborative
learning,
Retrieved from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/220056796_Using_Mobile_Devices_to_Support_Online_Collaborative_L
earning
Craig, Annemieke., Coldwell-Neilson, Jo. Goold, Annegret., Beekhuyzen, Jenine. (2012) A Review of eLearning
Technologies: Opportunities for Teaching and Learning, presented in in CSEDU 2012 – 4th International
Conference on Computer Supported Education, INSTICC, Portugal. Retrieved from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233725875_A_Review_of_E-
Learning_Technologies_Opportunities_for_Teaching_and_Learning
Gana, Mustapha Bakur. (2017) Technology in Distance Education and eLearning, Course paper for Atlantic
International University.
Retrieved from: https://www.academia.edu/34512922/Technology_in_Distance_Education_and_E-
Learning_Assignment.pdf
Georgiadou ,Elli., Siakas, Kerstin V. (2006) Distance Learning: Technologies; Enabling Learning at Own Place,
Own Pace, Own Time in R. Dawson, E. Georgiadou, P. Linecar, M. Ross. G. Staples (eds). Learning and Teaching
Issues in Software Quality, Proceedings of the 11th INternational Conference on Software Process Improvement -
Research into Education and Training, (INSPIRE 2006), April, Southampton, UK, ISBN 1-902505-77-8, The
British Computer Society, pp. 139-150. Retrieved from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228948127_Distance_Learning_Technologies_Enabling_Learning_at_Ow
n_Place_Own_Pace_Own_Time

Haddad, Monaliza E. O., Ferreira, Naura S. C., Faria Adriano A. (2014) The Use of Educational Technologies in
Distance Education—Enabling the Appropriation of Teaching and Learning Process, Open Journal of Social
Sciences, 2014, 2, 54-58 in SciRes. Retrieved
from: http://www.scirp.org/journal/jss http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jss.2014.21006

Hossain, Mohammod Shamim., Saddik, Abdulmotaleb El. (2008) Delivery Technologies used for Distance
Education in Bangladesh Open University, University of Ottowa, Australia.
Retrieved from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/245860198_Delivery_Technologies_used_for_Distance_Education_in_Ba
ngladesh_Open_University

Srinivas, Sri Ranganayakula. (nd.) The Use of Media and Technology in Distance Education – Indian Context
Retrieved from: https://www.ajol.info/index.php/afrrev/article/viewFile/40999/8439
 What do we mean by Distance Education? Theories and Practices:
A Study for New Beginning

Nurul Mostafa Kamal Zafari

Abstract

Distance education is not a very brand new concept having said that it is taking time to get
momentum. But it is true that distance education will take its place very soon. Distance
education can be defined as, we see it is delivered through several modalities, using phone,
tablet, television, internet, CD-ROM, apps, handouts-worksheets, audio devices etc., a mode of
delivering educational topics via a second media to reach the learners at home or in distant place.
With its advantages and disadvantages, distance education is so important in the wake of
emergencies and as well as during normal situations. As amicable theories and approaches are
yet to evolve to a considerable extent on distance education, enthusiasts around the world now
trying to define distance education from their independent point of view. This paper will try to
focus on the overall thoughts on distance education and will try to make a minimum idea box for
the practitioners.

Keywords

Distance Education, Distance Learning, Online Education, Online Learning, Digital Learning,
Lifelong Learning, Open Education, Open Learning, eLearning

Objective of the Study

This study is aimed to

- Provide a comprehensive idea of distance education

- Create a general concept paper for the practitioners for further reference
- Generate a meaning among its readers what does it mean by distance education

Scope of the Study

This study will lay the fundamental concepts of distance education for a comprehensive reading
purpose. It will check the existing facilities of the distance education and will try to fill the gap
of having no combined effort to present distance education for the young researchers. This paper
will recommend some important issues to address for better development of distance education.

Limitation of the Study

Conceptualization: This study can not conceptualize all relevant aspects of distance education as
it deals with the primary issues which is fundament in nature for the purpose of introducing
distance education for academic practice.

Finding solution to existing challenges: The study can not suggest solid solutions to the existing
challenges of distance education.

Implication of the Study

This study includes the major areas of distance education. It will be helpful for the young
professionals in the field of distance education, practitioners of distance education in
organizations, policy makers for the education in emergency service providers, educators and
instructors of online and elearning programmes and platforms. The study will bring forward all
necessary information and concepts regarding distance education for the abovementioned people
from a wide range of service providers.

Research Methodologies

This research is done through using primary and secondary sources. So one could consider this
paper as contend based research result. The primary sources are – informal interview with the
teachers and students of Bangladesh Open University, chat and video discussions with online
teachers on UDEMY, Khan Academy and some other providers; and professionals worked in
distance tab based education programmes during emergencies i.e. humanitarian emergencies.
The secondary sources include – published research papers and books available in the open
sources.

1. Introduction
Correspondence education, distance education, open education, online education and elearning,
this is the terminological evolution of offcampus education and the word offcampus is now
replace by ecampus. Distance education is now online, on time, on demand and open for all.
Distance education has its charming way of presentation and this is one of the most influential
educating mode that brought groundbreaking change the way we used to with classroom
teaching. Traditional classroom teaching now has been replaced by virtual classroom where even
you could raise your hand (ZOOM) and could get your answer in real time.

1.1. Some Quotes on Distance Education

E-Learning exploits interactive technologies and communication systems to improve the

learning experience. It has the potential to transform the way we teach and learn across the
board. It can raise standards, and widen participation in lifelong learning. It cannot replace
teachers and lecturers, but alongside existing methods it can enhance the quality and reach of
their teaching, and reduce the time spent on administration. It can enable every learner to
achieve his or her potential, and help to build an educational workforce empowered to change.
It makes possible a truly ambitious education system for a future learning society.
Towards a Unified e-Learning Strategy
The DfES e-Learning Strategy Unit, 2003
Technology has revolutionized the way we work and is now set to transform education. Children
cannot be effective in tomorrow's world if they are trained in yesterday's skills. Nor should
teachers be denied the tools that other professionals take for granted.
Tony Blair
1998
A click of a mouse button provides any student anywhere with unprecedented opportunities to
learn. So if a child in Grand Junction wants to master Japanese, it's possible online. If a budding
artist in Five Points wants to study the masterpieces of the Louvre, it's possible online. If a future
Stephen Hawking in La Junta wants to study Gravitational Entrophy with the man himself, it's
possible online. If military parents want continuity in their children's education throughout
frequent moves to serve our country, then it's possible online.
Rod Paige
US Secretary of Education, 2002
With every special newspaper supplement, it seems, those in the business [of e-learning] offer
new visions, new services we didn't know we needed, yet more exciting equipment and software
possibilities that lie just over the horizon and, less well-publicized, an increasing number of
routes to what may be educational dead ends.
Online Learning and Teaching With Technology
Murphy, Walker, Webb, 2001

1.2. Book Review on Distance and Open Education

Bates, AW (2004): Managing technological change: Strategies for leaders in higher education.
CARNet, Zagreb. (181 pages) A rather detailed review and development strategy for managing
e-education at universities and colleges. It is necessary to understand the context in which it
develops products and services of e-education. Useful to managers in e-education and authors of
online courses or course.
Rosenberg, MJ (2001): E-learning: Strategies for delivering knowledge in the digital age.
McGraw-Hill, New York. (343 pages) Detailed analysis of the role and possibilities of e-learning
in business organizations. It contains practical examples. Very useful for the management of
continuing education in corporations.
Picciano, AG (2001): Distance Learning: Making Connections Accross Virtual Space and Time,
Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (253 pages) Overview of the area of distance
education in respect of different technologies and media, educational institutions, teachers and
students. The comprehensive view of the broader context of distance education that allows for
the e-learning in the perspective of other analogous forms of education. Good for general
information on distance education, and useful to managers in e-education.
Melton, RF (2002): Planning and developing open and distance learning: A quality assurance
approach. RoutledgeFalmer, London. (223 pages) A detailed overview of the different elements
that contribute to the quality of the course or courses for distance education. Very appropriate for
an academic institution, the managers of distance education and authors of on-line courses or
course.
McVay Lynch, M. (2002): The Online Educator: A Guide to Creating the Virtual
Classroom, RoutledgeFalmer, London. (170 pages) Overview of different technologies, forms of
communication, techniques, strategies and pedagogical principles in e-learning. Succinct
reminder of the many important factors in shaping the success of on-line courses or courses in e-
learning. It is necessary for authors, instructors and managers of on-line courses or course.
Salmon, G. (2000): E-Moderating: The Key to Teaching and Learning Online, Kogan Page,
London. (180 pages) Is often cited work on moderating on-line communication, ie. the
interaction in relation to tasks and conduct dialogue and discussion with students in teaching e-
learning. Contains recognized theoretical model of e-moderating, and numerous examples of
situations with concrete messages exchanged between the moderator and the participants on-line
teaching. Very useful for the development of competences in moderating online interactions.
Palloff RM. & Pratt, K. (1999): Building learning communities in cyberspace: Effective
strategies for the online classroom. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. (206 pages) Collection of
numerous guidelines and examples for successfully organizing and managing groups in e-
education, and for more effective communication in individual and group interactions with
students. Useful for trainers, mentors and moderators in online teaching.
Collison, G., Elbaum, B., Haavind, S., Tinker, R. (2000): Facilitating online learning:
Effective strategies for moderators. Atwood Publishing, Madison. (216 pages) Overview of the
role (moderator, initiator), dialog techniques and strategies to interact with the users of e-
education. Especially useful for better understanding and management of on-line dialogue.
Horton, W. (2000): Designing Web-based training: How to teach anyone anything anywhere
anytime. Wiley, New York. (607 pages) A lot of useful tips and examples with images from
various on-line courses. Simple and understandable written and very comprehensive guide that
step-by-step leads to a successful design and management course or courses in e-learning. Very
useful for authors and designers of on-line courses or courses.
Hanna, DE, Glowacki-Dudka, M., Conceição-Runlee, S. (2000): 147 practical tips for
teaching online groups: Essentials of Web-based education. Atwood Publishing,
Madison. (74 pages) A collection of tips on on-line teaching for those who already know
something about the area. It can serve as a reminder for designers and instructors of courses and
courses in e-learning.
Gilbert, SD (2001): How to be a successful online student. McGraw-Hill, New York. (267
pages) View the many factors that influence the success of e-education students, the self-
assessment of personal needs and abilities, to apply to attend the on-line courses or course, of
obligations and execution of successful participation in on-line interaction with other students.
Designed for e-learners.
Adams, T., Clark, N. (2001): The Internet: Effective online communication. Harcourt, Fort
Worth. (368 pages) Basic communication technologies and services on the Internet, as well as
tips for successful personal, group and public communication using electronic mail, network
news, discussion groups, electronic conferences, web pages, multimedia content on the web, etc..
Useful for authors of online content, instructors and moderators, and participants in e-education,
which are not sufficiently familiar with the basics of Internet communication.

1.3. Key Definitions

Andragogy: The term is derived from the Greek words “anere,” meaning “man” and “agogus”
meaning “to lead,” and refers to a theory of education for adult learners.
Connectivism: As a learning theory applicable to the digital knowledge age, connectivism
focuses on where knowledge derives from and how learners interact on networks, and it further
argues that knowledge exists and is distributed on networks, and therefore, learning consists of
the ability to construct and traverse these networks.
Distance Education (DE): Planned and organized teaching and learning in which learners are
separated from teachers or facilitators in time and space.
Electronic Learning (E-Learning): It is a learning paradigm that uses educational technologies in
employing the principles of multimedia learning.
Giga University: A giga university is a higher education institution with 1M or more students
and is capable of providing educational approaches to masses.
Heutagogy: The term is derived from the Greek word for “self”; with “agogos” meaning “to
lead” and based on theories of self-determined learning,
Learner: An individual who demands knowledge at any age in any of the learning processes
(e.g., formal, informal, and non-formal learning) as part of a lifelong learning pursuit.
Mega University: A mega university is a higher education institution with 100K or more students
and is capable of providing educational approaches to masses.
Mobile Learning (M-Learning): As an extension of e-learning, it is a learning paradigm that uses
mobile technologies to provide a just in time, just in place, and just for me experience.
Open and Distance Learning (ODL): Any learning activities within formal, informal, and
nonformal domains that are facilitated by information and communication technologies to lessen
distance, both physically and psychologically, and to increase interactivity and communication
among learners, learning sources and facilitators.
Open University: These types of higher education institutions embrace openness in education as
a core value and provide flexible learning opportunities through distance education or open and
distance learning, with minimal or no entry requirements.
Openness (in Education): This term has many forms and dimensions, but in essence, it supports
the idea that knowledge is a public good and anyone who demands it should have access to it
without being faced with any barriers.
Pedagogy: The term is derived from the Greek words “paidos,” meaning “child” and “agogus”
meaning “to lead”; which combined gives us ‘to lead the child, and it refers to a theory of
education for young learners.
Rhizomatic Learning: Rhizomatic learning focuses on how learners navigate through the
network and pursue knowledge as a creative quest for learning.
Student: An individual who demands knowledge as part of a planned and organized learning
pursuit and who is attending an educational institution.
Ubiquitous Learning (U-Learning): As an extension of e-learning and m-learning, it is a learning
paradigm that uses ubiquitous technologies to provide a seamless, just in time, just in place, and
just for me experience.
1.4. Literature Review
Distance Learning by Amani Mubarak Al-Khatir Al-Arimi: A small literature but outlines major
aspects of distance learning. The author tries to find out the specifics of distance education where
he puts the distance education from a beginners point of view which is helpful for the researchers
in getting at a glance idea on distance education.
Growing Importance of Distance Education by Milena Bogdanović: In her paper, she objects
the ideals of absoluteness of distance education but she agrees to receive the fact that importance
of distance education is growing and it is unstoppable and so shouldn’t be. She concludes her
paper with a positive impression on distance education, “Finally, the use of technology should be
cost-effective, ie. trainer/instructor and designer of on-line content should always strive to
objectively evaluate how the expensive technology that they want to apply (and to impose the
students) more effective ways in which education of the well-organized and illustrated books of
similar education content.”
From Distance Education to Open and Distance Learning: A Holistic Evaluation of History,
Definitions, and Theories by Aras Bozkurt: While searching the paradigm shift of educational
dimensions of distance education towards open and distance learning the author opines that
“Distance education (DE) and open and distance learning (ODL) are interdisciplinary fields that
emerged in a near history of humankind”. Distance education history and development was the
major point of discussions in his paper. He also lays a brief but constructive outline of theories of
distance education.
The Evolution, Principles and Practices of Distance Education by Börje Holmberg: Having
started with a positive comment, “This book is a fairly comprehensive presentation of distance
education, how it has developed and what it is like in the first decade of the twenty-first
century.” Holmberg covers wide range of subject matters and he envisions to find out
sophisticated way towards the development of distance education as he believes that “Distance
education is a theme of great interest as it plays a very important part in many societies.” His
book covers those topics i.e. Concepts and Terminology – Student Bodies, The Evolution of
Distance Education, Distance Education in the Twenty-first Century - An Overview, Principles,
Practices and Problems, Presentation of Subject-matter, Interaction in Distance Education,
Counselling, Supervised Distance Learning , The Organisation and Administration of Distance
Education, Theoretical Approaches, Evaluating Distance Education, Distance Education as an
Academic Discipline and through his research he establishes some new facts on distance
education outlining the framework for future of distance education.
A Shift from Classroom to Distance Learning: Advantages and Limitations by Manijeh
Sadeghi: The author observes the changes very closely and defines the pathways of the mutation.
He also curves the advantages and disadvantages of distance education while he also mentioning
some important suggestions that can be brought forward to the upbringing of distance education.
1.5. Defining Distance Education
Authors have applied a wide variety of alternative terms for distance education, including open
learning, open teaching, non-traditional education, distance learning, distance teaching,
correspondence education, independent study, home study, extension study, external study,
external learning, flexible education, flexible learning, life-long education, lifelong learning,
contract learning, experiential learning, directed private study, drop-in learning, independent
learning, individualized learning, resource-based learning, self-access learning, self-study,
supported self-study or continuing education, in the related literature (Demiray & İşman, 2003 in
King, Young, Drivere-Richmond, & Schrader, 2001).
Correspondence education is “conducted by postal services without face-to-face interaction
between teacher and learner. Teaching is done by written or tape-recorded materials through
written or taped exercises to the teacher, who corrects them and returns them to the learner with
criticisms and advice” (Titmus, Buttedahl, Ironside, & Lengrand, 1979 in King, Young, Drivere-
Richmond, & Schrader, 2001).
Dohmen (1967), former director of the German Distance Education Institute (DIFF), defined
distance education as “A systematically organized form of self-study in which student
counselling, the presentation of learning material and the securing and supervising of students’
success are carried out by a team of teachers, each of whom has [distinct] responsibilities. [This
form of self-study] is made possible at a distance by means of media which can cover long
distances. The opposite of ‘distance education’ is ‘direct education’ or ‘face-to-face education’, a
type of education that takes place with direct contact between lecturers and students” (ibid.).
Peters (1973) defines DE as follows: “Distance teaching/education (Fernunterricht) is a method
of imparting knowledge, skills and attitudes which is rationalized by the application of division
of labour and organizational principles, as well as by the extensive use of technical media,
especially for the purpose of reproducing high quality teaching material which makes it possible
to instruct great numbers of students at the same time wherever they live. It is an industrialized
form of teaching and learning” (ibid.).
According to Moore (1973), distance teaching can be defined as “The family of instructional
methods in which the teaching behaviours are executed apart from the learning behaviours,
including those that, in a contiguous situation, would be performed in the learner’s presence, so
that communication between the teacher and the learner must be facilitated by print, electronic,
mechanical, or other devices” (ibid.).
Holmberg (1977) defined distance teaching/education as “a method of imparting knowledge,
skills and attitudes which is rationalized by the application of division of labor and
organizational principles as well as by the extensive use of technical media, especially for the
purpose of reproducing high quality teaching material which makes it possible to instruct great
numbers of students at the same time wherever they live. It is an industrialized form of teaching
and learning” (ibid.).
Garrison and Shale (1987) states, “Distance education implies that the majority of educational
communication between the teacher and student(s) occurs non-contiguously. It must involve
two-way communication between the teacher and student(s) for the purpose of facilitating and
supporting the educational process. It uses technology to mediate the necessary two-way
communication” (ibid.).
Barker Frisbie and Patrick (1989) define DE in terms of the rise of telecommunication
technologies. They state, “Telecommunications-based distance education approaches go beyond
the limits of correspondence study. The teaching-learning experience for both the instructor and
student(s) occur simultaneously – it is contiguous in time. When an audio and/or video
communication link is employed, the opportunity for live teacher-student exchanges in real time
is possible, thereby permitting immediate responses to student inquiries and comments. Much
like a traditional classroom setting, students can receive on-the-spot clarification from the
speaker” (ibid.).
Moore (1990) provided another definition of DE, stating “Distance education involves all
arrangements for providing instruction through print or electronic communications media to
person engaged in planned learning in a place or time different from that of the instructor or
instructors” (ibid.).
According to Moore and Kearsley (1996), distance education can be defined as “Planned
learning that normally occurs in a different place and requires a well-defined system of delivery
that includes modified teaching techniques, alternative modes for communication, including, but
not limited to technology, as well as alternative administrative and organizational components”
(ibid.).
UNESCO (2002) presents a definition of distance education: “Distance education is any
educational process in which all or most of the teaching is conducted by someone removed in
space and/or time from the learner, with the effect that all or most of the communication between
teachers and learners is through an artificial medium, either electronic or print” (ibid.).
According to Schlosser and Simonson (2009), distance education is now often defined as
“Institution-based, formal education, where the learning group is separated and where interactive
telecommunications systems are used to connect learners, resources, and instructors” (ibid.).
Moore and Kearsley (2011) redefined distance education as “Teaching and planned learning in
which teaching normally occurs in a different place from [the] learning, requiring
communication through technologies, as well as special institutional organization” (ibid.).
According to Shale (1988), distance education involves a noteworthy paradox, puts forward its
existence with it but cannot identify itself. From the definitions listed above, it is clear that the
term “distance education” is a generic, umbrella term that can be used synonymously with other
like terms (ibid.).

2. History of Distance Education

2.1. 1st Age: The Age of Correspondence Distance Education
Distance education is defined as correspondence study as the tutorial materials were sent to the
students and the materials correspond the interactions (Sadeghi, 2019). Many called distance
education, in eighteen century, at that time as “home study” and “independent study” targeting
the remotest masses ranging farmers, industry workers, women and enthusiast to get an urban
education from home using the fastest railway networks (Moore & Kearsley, 1996; Nasseh,
1997; Smaldino et al., 2000 in Bozkurt, 2019).
Some datelines in the development of distance education from Bozkurt (2019):
 The earliest evidence of the origin of DE can be traced to 1728, when Caleb Phillips
advertised shorthand lessons by mail in the Boston Gazette (Verduin & Clark, 1991).
 In 1833, a Swedish newspaper advertised the opportunity to study “composition through
the medium of the post” (Smaldino et al., 2000, p. 37).
 In the 1840s, Isaac Pitman used the postal service in Great Britain to teach shorthand
lessons. Soon after, Pitman’s lessons were formalized through the founding of the
Phonographic Correspondence Society (Smaldino et al., 2000; Moore & Kearsley, 1996).
 In Europe, in the mid-1850s, Charles Toussaint and Gustav Langenscheidt taught
language in Berlin, Germany through correspondence study. Later, they developed a
language instruction exchange program, which lead to the establishment of a
correspondence language school (Moore & Kearsley, 1996; Smaldino et al., 2000;
Watkins, 1991).
 From 1873 to 1897, correspondence study flourished in America. Anna Eliot Ticknor,
who is recognized as the mother of American correspondence study, founded the Boston-
 based Society to Encourage Study at Home (Holmberg, 1986). This initiative reached
more than 10K students in 24 years. Learners, mostly made up of women, corresponded
monthly with teachers, who offered guided readings and frequent tests (Smaldino et al.,
2000; Watkins, 1991). The purpose of this correspondence study was to help provide
women, who were restricted from accessing formal educational institutions, with the
opportunity to study through materials delivered to their homes (Nasseh, 1997).
 In 1882, in Chautauqua, New York, William Rainey Harper developed correspondence
program teaching courses in Hebrew, the results of which eventually led to the
recognition of correspondence courses by the State of New York. In 1892, when Harper
was assigned as the first president of the University of Chicago, he benefited from his
previous experiences and initiated the world’s first formal program of university distance
education. (Moore & Kearsley, 1996). As a result of this movement, Correspondence
University was established in Ithaca, New York in 1883 (Erazo & Derlin, 1995).
 In 1886, Hermod began teaching English by correspondence in Sweden. Following that,
he founded Hermods in 1898, which grew to become the world’s largest and most
influential distance teaching organizations at this time (Smaldino et al., 2000). In 1891,
Foster, the editor of the Mining Herald, a daily newspaper in eastern Pennsylvania, began
offering correspondence courses in mining and the prevention of mine accidents
(Smaldino et al., 2000). Foster’s efforts led to the development of International
Correspondence Schools (ICS), which aimed to train iron and railroad workers, as well as
miners (Moore & Kearsley, 1996). The number of enrolled students exploded from 225K
in 1900 to more than 2.5M students by 1923 (Moore & Kearsley, 1996; Smaldino et al.,
2000).
 In the last decade of the 1800s, a series of new correspondence institutions helped
correspondence study to flourish (e.g., Skerry’s College in Edinburgh in 1878 and
University Correspondence College in London in 1887). In parallel to these
developments, the university extension movement in the USA and Great Britain
promoted the acceptance of correspondence study (Smaldino et al., 2000).
 In 1892, distance learning achieved academic recognition when the University of
Chicago offered the first college-level distance learning program. Students were able to
 learn through correspondence study by using the United States Postal Service to submit
assignments and lessons (Hansen, 2001).
 In 1885, with the development of short courses and farmers’ institutes at the University
of Wisconsin, another form of university extension of correspondence study appeared. By
1891, a program of correspondence study, led by eminent historian Frederick Jackson
Turner, was offered by the same university. However, the public showed little interest in
the correspondence programs, resulting in their closure in 1899. It took seven years to
recreate a new, stronger correspondence study department within the school’s university
extension division (Smaldino et al., 2000).
 In 1900, Cornell University developed a program for women in rural up-state New York.
This program was a great success, with more than 20K women enrolling in it (Cornell
University, 2001). Correspondence education through the Land Grant universities was
developed based on the policies of the 1862 Morril Act, whose democratic ideals dictated
that educational opportunity be open for people from all backgrounds (Moore &
Kearsley, 1996). The Morril Act serves as an significant cornerstone in the history of
distance education because of its visionary approach to openness in education.
 In 1901, Moody Bible Institute, which was established in 1886, founded a
correspondence study department which continues to still exist, having more than a
million enrolled students (Smaldino et al., 2000).
 In 1915, the National University Extension Association (NUEA) emphasized the need for
new pedagogical models and national-level guidelines for correspondence educators
(Nasseh, 1997).
 In the 1920s, distance education broadened its focus to secondary school curriculum
(Smaldino et al., 2000).
 By 1930, courses specifically designed as correspondence study were being offered by 39
American universities (Bittner & Mallory, 1933).
 The United States Military Institute, founded in 1941, was converted to the United States
Armed Forces Institute (USAFI) in 1943. Throughout World War II, USAFI offered
correspondence courses to military personnel and continued offering them until its
closure in 1974. Before the closure of USAFI, more than seven million military personnel
had taken high school courses and approximately 261 thousand personnel had taken
 courses at the graduate level. The giving and reading of assignments through computers
in USAFI pioneered the 24-hour active phone counselling service for students and
classrooms, with the group studies being based on a correspondence curriculum; that is
teaching via mail service (Watkins, 1991). All these contributions provided by USAFI
have led to the rise of a new era in the history of distance education.
 The Ministry of National Education in France established a distance education training
program in response to the oncoming Second World War. The Centre National
d’Enseignement par Correspondences had been originally founded for children mainly
but was eventually converted to a distance training institution for adults (Smaldino et al.,
2000).
2.2. 2nd Age: Distance Education via Visual-Auditory Media
Invention of radio has made it inevitable to shifting from correspondence education to radio
centered audio modal education (Casey, 2008 in Bozkurt, 2019). Later invention of television
has made a tremendous change in the history of distance education, it was really ground breaking
as distance education providers around the globe started using this visual-auditory modality to
reach much more learners in the furthest possible corner of the world.
A chronological timeline has been given below cited in Bozkurt (2019):
 By 1921, licenses for educational radio were being granted to the higher education
institutions in the USA (Saettler, 1990; Casey, 2008).
 Between 1918 and 1946, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a
license to more than 200 higher education institutions (Pittman, 1986a; Casey, 2008). In
1925, Iowa State University launched the first five-credit radio lessons (Pittman, 1986b).
 By 1923, educational institutions owned around 10% of the radio stations used for
educational purposes (Public Broadcasting Service, 2003).
 In 1925, the federal government emphasized the importance of educational radio and
allocated special frequencies to educate agricultural communities (Department of
Commerce, 1926).
 In 1930, the U.S. Department of Education had an active role in educational radio. A
variety of programs, ranging from science to history, were sponsored by the U. S.
Department of Education (Laine, 1939).
 In the early 1930s, broadcasters experimented with many different educational television
programs.
 In the 1950s, courses for credit started to be offered by higher education institutions
(Smaldino et al., 2000).
 In 1956, a closed-circuit television service was launched, and Chicago TV College
pioneered teaching by television (Moore & Kearsley, 1996).
 In the early 1960s, Airborne Television Instruction (Midwest Program on Airborne
Television Instruction: MPATI) launched the first “flying classroom” on an airfield near
Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana (Smith, 1961). The program aimed to broadcast
educational television programs to 400 thousand people (Gordon, 1990).
 In 1963, the FCC created the Instructional Television Fixed Service (ITFS), a band of 20
television channels available to educational institutions (Public Broadcasting Service,
2003).
 In 1964, the University of Wisconsin launched the Vocalized Educational Media (VEM)
project, which was the first attempt to identify, categorize, and systematize distance
education practices. This project put forward instructions on how to create and use
multimedia educational packages for the advantage of the independent student (Gooch,
1998).
 By the 1970s, there were 233 educational television stations in the USA (Gooch, 1998).
 The AIM Project, which encouraged higher education institutions to deliver educational
content through educational television, was implemented in Great Britain, Australia, and
Germany (e.g., Open University in Great Britain and Fern Universität in Germany)
(Casey, 2008).
 In 1970, Coastline Community was the first to present a lesson completely on television
(Casey, 2008).
 By the 1980s, with the help of communication satellites, educational television was
available throughout the continental United States and beyond (Saba, 2013).
 In 1982, the National University Teleconference Network used satellites to broadcast its
programs to 40 institutional members. In 1985, the National Technology University
(NTU) launched online courses using satellite signals in order to access, download, and
distribute course materials for both undergraduate and graduate education. In 1989, the
 University of Phoenix emerged on the stage as a for-profit online open learning
institution by providing courses to meet these needs (Casey, 2008).
 During the 1970s and 1980s, the increase in telecommunication satellites led to the
testing of many television programs (Saba, 2013).
2.3. 3rd Age: Computer-Based Distance Education
This age brought a revolution in the concept of distance education. Now people are interested to
replace the term ‘distance education’ with the terms ‘digital learning’, ‘elearning’, ‘lifelong
learning’ and ‘online learning’. Hundreds of thousands of students are now getting enrolled and
certified using their mobile phones, computer and tablets. Now teachers are conducting deep
learning based interviews and examinations with their learners. This elearning era is allowing
both synchronous and asynchronous opportunities for the learners. Businesses, governments,
corporations and organizations are now accepting the certifications and credentials (Daniel,
1996; Saba ,2000 in Bozkurt, 2019). From mid-90s we are enjoying the opportunities of getting
involved in the online learning (Sadeghi, 2019) and now the things are now getting more and
more sophisticated.

3. Theories and Philosophies of Distance Education

3.1. Models of distance education
Two leading models of distance education is Iowa Model and Norwegian Model.
3.1.1. The Iowa Model is theoricized by Schlosser and Anderson on the basis of Desmond
Keegan’s distance education theory. The ideals of this model are - artificially recreate the
teaching-learning interaction and re-integrate it back into the instructional process and the
distance education must be an experience as much like traditional, face-to-face
instruction, via intact classrooms and live, two-way audio-visual interaction. Keegan
(1986 in Fozkurt, 2012) classified theories of distance education into three groups: First,
theories of independence and autonomy; second, theories of industrialization of teaching;
and third, theories of interaction and communication.
3.1.2. Norwegian Model has a long tradition of combining mediated distance teaching with
local face-to-face teaching (Rekkedal, 1994 in Arimi, 2014).

3.2. Educational Approaches

In the world of education, there are three broad educational approaches, namely, pedagogy,
andragogy, and heutagogy.
3.2.1. Pedagogy
Having Greek origins, the term pedagogy means ‘to lead the child’. Most of the assumptions
underlying pedagogy were made and developed based on observations by monks when teaching
simple skills to young learners. In the 18th and 19th centuries, these assumptions were adopted
for primary and elementary school level learners. The research conducted by educational
psychologists in the 20th century served to establish an empirical ground for pedagogy and
reinforced it as an educational approach. However, when adult education (e.g., distance
education, open and distance education) began to be developed in more a systematic fashion, it
was criticized by some educators because it basically emphasized transferring knowledge, and
the skills and assumptions developed for young learners were insufficient for adult learners
(Knowles, 1980 in Fozkurt, 2012).
3.2.2. Andragogy
Also having Greek origins, the term andragogy means “to lead the man [adults]” and is a system
used to explain adult learning (Knowles, 1990 in Fozkurt, 2012). It focuses on learner control,
self-responsibility, and self-directed and self-regulated learning processes. Andragogy further
asserts that adult learners should define their own learning needs and develop strategies
accordingly (Knowles, 1984; McAuliffe, Hargreaves, Winter, & Chadwick, 2008 in Fozkurt,
2012).
3.2.3. Heutagogy
Like the terms pedagogy and andragogy, the term heutagogy also has Greek origins and means
‘to lead the self”. This term emerged as an extension of pedagogy and andragogy. Heutagogy
explains adult learners in terms of lifelong learning and focuses on the internet and internet
technologies as the learning environment and learning tools (Blaschke, 2012 in Fozkurt, 2012).
Heutagogy is a “net-centric” theory, like connectivism (Anderson, 2010 in Fozkurt, 2012).
3.3. Learning Theories
Anderson and Dron (2011) proposed that learning theories for distance educaiton could be
categorized under three distinct generations, namely, cognitive-behaviourist, social-
constructivist, and connectivist. As a complementary approach to connectivism, rhizomatic
learning is also significant.
3.3.1. Behaviourism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism
Traditional learning theories, that is, behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism, are the three
most dominant learning approaches, and as such, they are widely known and have heavily
influenced the study of learning to date. Based on the operant conditioning, behaviourism
suggests that learning is observable and measurable, being simply a mechanical process with
repeated experiences. As a response to behaviourism, cognitivism focuses on internal learning
processes and argues that learners process information to learn, and that information can be
stored and retrieved when needed. As a response to behaviourism and cognitivism,
constructivism places value on experiences, claiming that learners build knowledge through their
own experiences. Carver (2012) stated, “Behaviourism challenged the idea that knowledge was
metaphysical. Cognitivism brought to light what could not be seen, [that is,] the inner workings
of the mind. Constructivism held that learning was shaped by individuals based on experience,
thoughts, and interactions”.
3.3.2. Connectivism and Rhizomatic Learning
Connectivism seeks to explain how learning occurs in the digital age through networks (Siemens,
2004; Downes, 2012). It argues that “knowledge is distributed across a network of connections,
and therefore that learning consists of the ability to construct and traverse those networks”
(Downes, 2012, p. 9).
While “connectivism focuses on where knowledge is derived from and how learners interact on
networks, rhizomatic learning focuses on how learners navigate through the network and pursue
knowledge as a creative quest for learning” (Bozkurt et al., 2016). Rhizomatic learning is further
thought to be a heutagogical approach, where learning is seen as an intrinsic process and
experience has a pivotal role (Deleuze, 1994). Rhizomatic learning rests on the assumption that
knowledge is resilient, nonlinear, and uncertain and applies these assumptions to the learning
process (Cormier, 2015).
3.4. Teaching-Learning Theoretical Approaches
3.4.1. The Empathy Approach
An essential part of this theory is presented already here as it constitutes the background and
inspiration of my overarching view of distance-education methodology. The thinking behind it
emerges from an understanding of empathy between on the one hand students, on the other hand
tutors and others representing teaching and counselling. The conviction that empathy in this
sense influences study favourably has, in fact, pervaded distance education since the very
beginning even though it was not stated expressis verbis until I articulated it in terms of theory
and hypotheses. I regard empathy and personal relations between the parties involved in the
teaching-learning process as central to distance education. These feelings are brought about by
real and simulated dialogue, i.e. personal, friendly interaction between students and tutors and
conversation-like presentations of subject matter. This thinking is based on the following
postulates:
1. Feelings of a personal relation between the learning and teaching parties promote study
pleasure and motivation.
2. Such feelings can be fostered by well-developed self-instructional material and
communication at a distance.
3. Intellectual pleasure and study motivation are favourable to the attainment of study goals
and the use of proper study processes and methods.
4. The atmosphere, language and conventions of friendly conversation favour feelings of
personal relation according to postulate
5. Messages given and received in conversational forms are comparatively easily
understood and remembered.
6. The conversation concept can be successfully applied to distance education and the media
available to it.
These six postulates attempt to describe a reality that gives rise to the idea of a kind of simulated
conversation brought about by course texts being written not as neutral hand-book pieces but as
personal communications to students including explicit advice and suggestions to the students as
to what to do and what to avoid, clear statements about what is particularly important, relevant
references to what the student has already learnt, reasons for stressing certain points etc. The
course text may say, simulating a conversation: ‘This is tricky. You may well draw the
conclusion that…, but look out! In course unit x we discussed …. And hen found that ….
Consider this and ask yourself ….’.
This is what at elementary levels a self-contained course text may say. Similar comments are due
in guides to complicated scholarly presentations, which cannot at university level be replaced by
such discussions but may well supplement and help students to read and understand them. This
personal, conversation-like way of writing may include attempts to involve the student
emotionally, to make him/her develop a feeling of belonging, inviting personal comments,
questions etc. The empathy-encouraging presentation, which simulates conversations, must then
be followed up in the real interaction, i.e. in the tutor comments on assignments submitted and
other contacts between students and tutors.
My theory implying that the approach described is attractive to students, supports study
motivation and facilitates learning has been duly operationalised and rigorously tested by three
empirical investigations. It has not been possible to falsify it; the tendency apparent in all three
studies favoured the theory. The students taking part in the investigations felt personally
involved by the conversational presentations and they did marginally better in their assignments
than a control group studying without them. I cannot claim, however, that a statistically
significant corroboration emerged. The few objections to my approach from students taking part
in the study were expressed by a couple of German students who seemed to feel that it lacked
academic dignity, whereas the English and Swedish students taking part were unanimously in
favour. While a great number of scholars have expressed their acceptance of my theory two have
expressly criticised it, (cf. Peters 1998, pp. 20-23), whose objections may be based on a
misunderstanding (see my uncontested comment of 1999), and Rumble, who is categorical in his
rejection, stating that it is ‘clearly unconvincing’
(Rumble, 2004, p. 120). This theory will be discussed more in detail in Chapter 10.
Independently of my work similar approaches have been developed by other scholars, thus by
Lewis (1975), who equals ‘conversational activity with more solitary activities such as private
reasoning and silent reading (Lewis, 1975, p. 69), by Nation and Elliott (1985, p. 12) and
Swanepoel (1987, p. 185). Some more or less parallel approaches are of particular interest, thus,
e.g. the following approaches.
3.4.2. Shin’s Transactional Presence
A late example is the construct of ‘Transactional Presence’ presented by Shin (2002) and
described as being ‘concerned with the degree to which a distance student perceives the
availability of, and connectedness with, teachers, peer students, and institution’ (Shin, 2002, p.
132), i.e. feelings of social presence, ‘the dynamics through which media users construct their
own subjective perceptions of other people’s presence’ (ibidem, p. 126). The connection with
learning achievement, on which Shin refers to Hackman and Walker (1990) only, a study of
communication ‘in the televised classroom’, has been more clearly shown to exist by Rekkedal
(1985) and Stein (1960).
3.4.3. Harri-Augstein’s Learning Conversations
Learning conversation is a designation used by Harri-Augstein and her group of scholars to
denote a form of dialogue about a learning experience in which the learner reflects on some
event or activity in the past. Ultimately, it is intended that people will internalize such
conversations so that they are able to review learning experiences systematically for themselves,
but at the beginning, the learning conversation is carried out with the assistance of a teacher or
tutor ...
It must first of all be said that a learning conversation is not idle chatter, nor is it an exchange of
prescriptions, instructions or injunctions. Instead, it is a dialogue on the process of learning: the
learner reflects on his or her learning with the assistance of a teacher or tutor. (Candy, Harri-
Augstein & Thomas, 1985, p. 102)
There can be little doubt that this approach is less directive and has more of a metacharacter in its
relation to learning than mine. It is concerned with bringing ‘to a level of conscious awareness
the [learning] strategies and values which were previously implicit’ with a view to putting
students ‘in a position to modify them’ (ibid. p. 115). This, to quote from another paper, requires
three parallel dialogues. Together these reflect the learner's cognitive process back to him,
support him through painful periods of change and encourage him to develop stable referents
which anchor his judgement of the quality of his assessment. The three dialogues can be
described as:
(a) commentary on the learning process;
(b) personal support of the learner's reflection; and
(c) referents for evaluating learning competence.
Each of these three dialogues can become internalized, but people differ in the ease with which
they can sustain each of them. Effective internalization of the complete learning conversation
produces the self-organized learner and the fully functioning man or woman. Such people learn
from experience and continue to learn through life. Frozen internal conversations disable us as
learners, and it is only when the external conversation is re-established that the frozen process
can be revived. Living then becomes an ongoing opportunity for learning. (Thomas & Harri-
Augstein, 1977, pp.101-2)
3.4.4. The Tutorial-in-print
A more directive approach primarily relevant to subject-matter presentation strongly
characterises what Derek Rowntree has called a tutorial-in-print. Like any tutorial it has a
conversational character but it seems to be concerned more with knowledge acquisition than with
discussing problems, more with down-to-earth suggestions and exhortations than with reflection
on the learning. Rowntree advises course developers to imagine that they are tutoring one
individual learner, thus providing a substitute for individual face-to-face teaching:
Everything you might want to say to this individual will need to be written down, forming what I
have called a tutorial-in-print. This is what you will need to do in your tutorial-in-print if you are
to teach your individual learners:
 Help the learners find their way into and around your subject, bypassing or repeating sections
where appropriate.
 Tell them what they need to be able to do before tackling the material.
 Make clear what they should be able to do on completion of the material (e.g. in terms of
objectives).
 Advise them on how to tackle the work (e.g. how much time to allow for different sections,
how to plan for an assignment, etc.).
 Explain the subject matter in such a way that learners can relate it to what they know already.
 Encourage them sufficiently to make whatever effort is needed in coming to grips with the
subject.
 Engage them in exercises and activities that cause them to work with the subject matter,
rather than merely reading about it.
 Give the learners feedback on these exercises and activities enabling them to judge for
themselves whether they are learning successfully.
 Help them to sum up their learning at the end of the lesson. (Rowntree, 1990, pp. 82-83)
The conversational character of the ‘tutorial-in-print’ is stressed more clearly in other contexts,
for example by Donnachie in a discussion of history teaching at a distance, in which it is said not
only to involve ‘the teacher in a one-to-one relationship with the student’ but allow to challenge
‘the student in a dialogue with the tutor’ (Donnachie, 1986, p. 55). This implies stressing the
importance of simulated communication in a way closely resembling my teaching-learning
conversation.
The same applies to a presentation by Cooper and Lockwood:
The simulation of a ‘tutorial in print’ (Rowntree, 1975) is the procedure whereby an author
regards the student time spent working on his material as time spent by the student in the
author’s company. In such a situation it is unlikely that an author would expect a student to
simply read an exposition from start to finish without reacting to it in some way or producing
anything themselves. They may, for example, be asked to recall items of information, define
concepts, draw together arguments, justify particular statements, consult other sources, interpret
data, compare different interpretations of the same data, work out examples, and so on. In short
to exercise certain study skills by which they can construct their own picture of a subject and
integrate what they have just been taught with what they had learnt before. (Cooper &
Lockwood, 1979, p. 253)
3.4.5. Cybernetic Conversation Theory
A sophisticated conversation theory has been developed by Gordon Pask, who applies a
cybernetic approach to networks of concepts and interaction with a computer; he describes his
theory as ‘an attempt to investigate the learning of realistically complex subject matter under
controlled conditions’ (Pask, 1976, p. 12).
Pask’s theory is complicated, indeed. Entwistle, who recognises its difficulties, provides the
following presentation: Essentially this theory describes learning in terms of a conversation
between two representations of knowledge. In the most familiar situation these
representations reflect the cognitive structures of two people, the teacher (or subject-matter
expert) and the student. Learning takes place through a dialogue between the two and, in
conversation theory, understanding has to be demonstrated by applying that knowledge to an
unfamiliar situation in a concrete non-verbal way (often using specially designed apparatus).
Reproductive responses based on memory are not accepted as evidence of understanding.
Learning need not, however, involve an interaction between the cognitive structures of two
people. The student may converse silently with himself in trying to understand a topic, or he may
interact with a formal representation of the knowledge structure and supplementary learning
materials which have been specially designed to facilitate understanding of the chosen subject-
matter area. Such a ‘surrogate tutor’ is described as a conversational domain in a standard
experimental condition. (Entwistle, 1978, p. 255)
Pask’s thinking has been very fruitfully applied and further developed by
Kathleen Forsythe.
Forsythe considers instructional design primarily as design for learning interactions and has
developed a ‘learning system as a new paradigm for the information age’ (Forsythe, 1985), in
which the learner, the learning partner (the teacher) and ‘the knowledge that may be the
substance of their conversation’ (Forsythe, 1985, p. 10) are the basic components. She elaborates
this system to facilitate the understanding of the effectiveness of media.
Forsythe’s identification of the evocative, provocative, and convocative functions characteristic
of ‘interactions for learning’ can be seen as something of a guideline for a conversational
approach to distance education:
Evocative.
The conversation with another, or the conversational agent, evokes or calls forth a reaction
within the participant that is often based on a feeling of awakening or of experiencing. This often
comes from experiencing one thing in terms of another – the isophor. In designing systems that
evoke interactions for learning, use of isophor is particularly helpful.
Provocative.
The conversation with another, or the conversational agent, rouses forth a reaction from the
participant that is often unsettling or disturbing, often because it represents a perspective or state
significantly different from our own. The feeling of provocation is experienced as we feel we
must reassess our own point of view in light of the new perspective.
Convocative.
The conversation or the conversational agent gathers participants together for a shared
experience mediated by the conversational agent. (Forsythe, 1986, pp. 22-23) (Holmberg, 2005)
4. Characteristics of Distance Education
The most important characteristic of Elearning (distance education in another form) is it the
ability to transform itself into new contexts (Arimi, 2014). Distance education brings new ideas
and newer approaches in terms creativity in the minds of learners.
To characterize distance education and open education, this table will help to see the boundaries
considering teaching strategies:
Traditional learning Distance or open learning/elearning
Controlled entry Free access
Directly taught classes Student focused
High proportion of attended time Possibly resource based
Timetabled activity Less strictly timetabled
On-campus Based on information rather than structured
teaching
On-campus
Independent learning
Resource-based learning
Collaborative learning

5. Difference Between Traditional and Distance Education

Traditional education refers to a standing teacher in front of the learners where distance
education means and helps experiencing the education tools and his own future vision or learning
ambition is in front of the learners. Keegan (1990 and 1998 in Holmber, 2005) draws a line of
demarcation between traditional and distance education
Indicator Traditional Distance
Learner-teacher separation No separation at all Quasi permanent separation
Mode of study Private study with less Teach-yourself study with
planned and less student highly planned and profound
support student support
(individualized)
Use of technical media in Only the standing teacher Many more media is used –
lesson delivery and print, audio, video, tab,
interaction mobile, computer
Two-way communication Less emphasize Emphasize higher
interaction
Group dynamics Group dynamic during the Group discussion can be
class hours only held any agreed time and for
agreed duration

6. Conceptualizing Course Design

6.1. Methodical approaches to course design
Two major methodologies are included here in designing course materials for distance education.
The first one is one developed by Rustinsches Fernlehrinstitut in Berlin in 1903:
1. Subject-matter presentation in a self-instructional form.
2. Conversation about the subject matter, in which the main points of the subject-matter
presentation are repeated by questions and answers.
3. A summary.
4. Revising questions with references to the sections of the subject-matter presentation
where the answers to the questions are to be found.
5. Exercises in the form of questions developed in such a way that the students must be able
to answer them on the basis of what has been learnt through the preceding parts of the
course unit. The correct answers to these questions are provided at the beginning of the
following course unit.
6. Individual correspondence teaching aimed at developing autonomous thinking by means
of a comprehensive assignment to be performed in writing. (Holmberg, 2005)
6.2. The course materials should encounter the essential categories given below for
better output:
1. To arouse attention and motivate; the presentation of objectives that are within
2. To close reach appears to be of particularly great importance in this respect.
3. To make students aware of the expected outcomes of the study.
4. To link up with previous knowledge and interest.
5. To present the material to be learned.
6. To guide and structure, offering guidance for learning.
7. To activate.
8. To provide feedback.
9. To promote transfer.
10. To facilitate retention. (Holmberg, 2005)
6.3. Why course design so important?
Courses should be developed to meet the requirements, needs and interests of students or
learners. A well constructed course could guide the students throughout the learning and at the
end of the it would give the chance to review the course. In addition to this, the designed
materials could be kept for future recapping and rewinding learning outcomes. (Holmberg, 2005)
 6.4. Content and Structure
 Contents: Defining content includes some major facts. Continuity with previous and next
topic, smaller in size, brighter in terms of combination. Those ideals are the bone of
contents.
 Naming the contents: Content contains a very sprightly headline with smaller but
eyecatching subheads.
 Learning objectives: Every contents contains some learning objectives. Objectives are
defined in the nature of the course topic and limitized into 3 to 5 for each content.
 Presentation of the main content: Main content presentation is a continuous process with
some intermission after small chunk of the content to ask feedback questions from the
learners or questions for the presenter.
 Summary: Summary is to give the learners a flashback on the delivered lessons.
 Key terms and definitions: It can be a part of the content to allow the learners in diving
into the delivered subject in a quick manner.
 Questions and quzzes: Questions can be in many forms and types. It depends on the type
and nature of the course content.
6.5. Course Character
In most cases, distance teaching and learning are based on courses pre-produced for the purpose
(Holmberg, 2005) and for online or elearning audios, videos, chat bodies, webinars are used as
modalities of lesson delivery. As text is the dominating medium for the presentation of learning
matter in distance education, not only in print but also as scripts for recordings etc., the relation
between distance-education courses and other text presentations is of prime interest. A printed
study course is basically different from a textbook with questions. A textbook gives all relevant
facts and, if it is a good textbook, does so in a clear and logical way, but it does not guide or
teach.
7. Lesson Delivery Modalities
Lesson delivery includes a variety of dimensions to get the lesson outcome successful. Lessons
can be delivered as a printed form, picture, video, audio message or dialogue, mobile message,
and so on (Holmberg, 2005). The media of communication can be – mail, internet, radio or
television shows, CD-ROM, Pocket-PC or mobile phone (Arimi, 2014).
Arimi (2014) presents four basic pedagogic model for lesson delivery in distance education:
  Distributed classroom model – synchronous and asynchronous
 Group conference model - tutor and off campus groups and individuals are interactive
 Individual learning model - tutor manages individual content with student and their study
programmers
 Independent learning model - based on materials, self-direction and group interaction.
Least contacts with tutor.
8. Interaction in Distance Education
Interaction is one of the greatest criteria of lesson delivery or educational systems. Can distance
education provides active interactions? Fantastic to say that, distance education provides more
interaction than the face to face education. As students are free and empowered to ask any
questions and they could multiple way of interactions.
Student-tutor Interaction: This interaction has three dimension prescribed by Baath (1980, in
Holmberg, 2005); these are prviding feedback (‘help them to correct their mistakes
and control their progress’), motivation (‘supported by submission assignments
serving as sub-goals’) and formative evaluation based on the experiences made
of students’ difficulties. The interactions can happen through a wide range of interactive
activities like - questions, problems, tasks, assignments, quizzes, puzzles, audio-video films, and
a regular feedback mechanisms to make the learning synchronous and asynchronous by giving
on demand experiences.
Student student interaction: Student student interaction is equally possible in distance education.
Instructors could facilitate the interactions or even the interactions can be in absence of teacher
or instructor. Only thing is important in this regard, a well designed methodology for having
interaction fruitfully and in a controlled environment.

9. Supervision in Distance Learning

Supervision in distance learning is critical and also tough. To make it happen, considering its
natural challenges, educator should track the learners participation and follow the learners
behaviour online. A self checking system could help it better and educator could understand how
the learner is acting clearly on the basis of his own learning attainment. Educator needs to take
the learners into various learning topologies to help them travel through the learning journey
with authentic experiences.
 10. Monitoring and Evaluation in Distance Education
Having said that education is an experience and in distance education a learner could experience
her education as her own. It provides the opportunity for the learners to make sure that she has
real time chance to get the real experience of educating herself. So monitoring and evaluation
should be less important here (Arimi, 2014). On the other hand, monitoring and evaluation is a
part of certifications, assessment and conferring credits after a certain period of study. Evaluation
refers to the assessment of students for the purpose of awarding marks, sometimes to the
judgement of complete educational systems. Evaluation can be both formative and summative.
Monitoring and evaluation also should happen on the courses and programmes, how it works,
what are the implications and limitations posed during the learners taking the courses or
participating in the programmes (Holmberg, 2005).
11. Role of Different Actors in Distance Eucation
11.1. Role of Learners in Distance Education

In distance education programmes, learners are vital as they are the receivers and users of the
learning contents. It needs a well motivated learner group that intends to learn with their own
motivation and dedicated pace. How could it be doen? It depends on the way the providers of
distance education, programme design and structures, design of learning materials, the way
educator interacts with them and finally the understanding between the leaners and educators. So
learners’ role in distance education is quite passive and educators’ role active and game
changing.

11.2. Role of Teacher or Educator

Schlosser and Anderson (1993, cited in Arimi, 2014) identify the new skills which teachers must
learn as they assume the role of distance educators:
􀁸understanding the nature and philosophy of distance education
􀁸identifying learner characteristics at distant sites
􀁸designing and developing interactive courseware to suit each new technology
􀁸adapting teaching strategies to deliver instruction at a distance
􀁸organizing instructional resources in a format suitable for independent study
􀁸training and practice in the use of telecommunications systems
􀁸becoming involved in organization, collaborative planning, and decision-making
􀁸evaluating student achievement, attitudes, and perceptions at distant sites
􀁸dealing with copyright issues. (See Sherry and Morse, 1995, for rankings of these skills by
Denver educators.) Bogdanovic (2012) suggests to use student centered devices and modalities
to allow maximum and uninterrupted access of the learners.
11.3. Role of Technology and Assistive Devices
Technology and assistive devices play a vital role in delivering distance education. The design
and delivery method of technologies and devices must look at the usability by the learners.
Appropriate and inclusive methods and delivery system can ensure large number of participation
and completion of courses.
There is overview of technologies and assistive devices that enhances distance education:
Technologies used in distance education – information communication technologies,
broadcasting technologies, transportation technologies, communication technologies etc.
Softwares used for distance education – apps, apulates, CD-ROM, DVD, cassettes etc.
Distance education platforms – Moodle, Legos, and so on.
Distance education providers – Coursera, EDX, Udemy, Khan Academy, PhilU, DisasterReady
etc.
Devices – mobile phone, tab, television, radio, computer etc.

12. The Positive of Distance Education

The distance education has benefits over traditional classroom education, the obvious benefits
are the flexibility and the cost saving (that spend in travel and be out of work). There are also
benefits also that might not be obvious, for example:
- The students don’t have to travel to attend a course: attend your class in what time are
stable for you day or night and that will be so flexible to many students
- The hard subjects can be easier and interesting.
- The students will have more experiences can be achieved, because learn from the content
as well learn from using online communities and networks. In this way, e learning can
support "learning through reflection and discussion".
- Distance education empower learners to manage their way of learning and the way he
like to learn. Because each one has his way of learning.
 - Distance education so help full to the companies because it saves time and costs when the
learner or the employees learn at job and it also improve their performance and help the
organizations to be active.
- It's less expensive to produce
- It's self – paced
- It provides a consistent message
- It can work from any location and any time It can be updated easily and quickly
- It can be easily managed for large groups of students – Information (such as health and
safety) can be kept current by updating the intranet site.
- Staff can train as and when they want to, and can break the course up into section as they
see fit (removing the problem of concentration loss).
- Avoids timetabling constraints
- Enables 'just in time' learning.
- Money is saved by reducing the need to book venues and trainers. Staff is released from
their desks for a minimum amount of time.
- One could download the course and save for future recapping.
13. Disadvantages of Distance
High Chances of Distraction: In distance education, there is high chances of distraction as there
is no teacher and classmates to interact with, someone needs extreme and regular motivation and
should be focused for completion of the course but it doesn’t go with human minds and no
chance to take help from any bystanders. (Bijesh, 2017; Nagrale, 2013 & Brown 2017 in
Sadeghi, 2019)
Complicated Technology: Brown (2017, in Sadeghi, 2019) complains that the technology is
complex and the types of technology used in distance education can interrupt normal process of
teaching learning process. If there is any technological miseries the class gets stuck somewhere
in the midst of the session.
No Social Interaction: Isolation from social physical environments in a traditional classroom is
another big issue in terms of distance education (Dyrud, 2000 in Sadeghi, 2005). Brown (2017 in
Sadeghi, 2005) held the idea that distance learning limitized the movement of the learners to
their practical world as it is based on the materials presented online or at home but life is larger
than a chatroom or computer. In distance education, learners can understand less and working at
night or alone can cause depressing experiences (Hara & Kling, 2000 in Sadeghi, 2019).
Difficulty Staying in Contact with Instructors: In the case of distance education, a learner can
only send an email, chat in the chatbox, send a message or other platform, but Hutt (2017 in
Sadeghi, 2019) complains that this is not helpful for the learners as they need the answer
immediately but in distance learning answering immediately is not possible where it can be
possible in sit down session with the instructors face to face.
Job Markets Do Not Accept Online Degrees
Nagrale (2013 in Sadeghi, 2019) believed this is could be quite dangerous if you are totally
relying on distance education for a degree. You might get a degree but that is not going to be
recognized by private companies in the job market and the same problem in government jobs.
Still employers prefer a degree from a regular college over online or distance education. They
think that distance education is still not a serious form of education.
In addition to these, as distance education solely depends on the media (communication,
technology, transportation, presentation media) so it can bring interruption between the learners
and educators as they are not present in the real physical spaces. A list of negatives or limitations
are (Arimi, 2014):
- May encounter language barriers/translation problems.
- Can be obstructed by time zones.
- Requires forms of institutional support to be projected to distant students
- Is complex in relation to copyright issues?
- Often requires establishment of regional centers
- Can be costly for students to obtain equipment
- Staffs are resentful, as they feel obliged/are encouraged to do the training in their own
time
- It may be difficult to gage whether or not staff are actually completing the training
fully/benefiting from it as much as they would from a classroom based training session.
- Staff may need support to use the technology.

14. Challenges and Solutions of Distance and Open Education

The challenges in terms of technology is not only regarding the electronics but also
methodologies and approaches. Challenges in terms of availability of materials (like a suitable
tab or a mobile phone, network of internet or intranet, a television set or radio, radio or television
frequency) and affordability of materials or media or sources (like a tab or other devices and
internet or intranet devices or expenses) by both users and providers (in some instances NGOs or
institutions in development sector). Also problems exists in the delivery and feedback
mechanisms. Common challenges are cheating in exams, teacher’s feedback in real time,
uniform questionnaire that helps the bystander to copy, and so on. Some solutions could be –
building advanced technology:- an advanced technology (and methodology) is needed to help
the instructors or administers to minimize cheating in exams (Kim & Shih, 2003) alongwith a
healthy amount of investment. Instance hints and intelligent tutoring:- while a student is
navigating an online course, an intelligent agent may analyze her behavior, and provide useful
suggestions in real-time, for example, by guiding her through different learning topologies. FAQ
summarization and automatic reply:- it is time-consuming for an instructor to answer students’
e-mails. An auto-reply system should be able to use information retrieval techniques to
summarize frequently asked questions, and reply to new questions with answers to past
questions. Unbiased examination:- it is difficult to ensure proper behavior of students when
administering online examinations without a human monitor. A surveillance tool can randomly
take a snapshot of students’ screens. Individualized quizzes:- some distance learning systems are
able to generate different test questions for different students according to difficulty levels. This
type of system should ensure unbiased examinations. Online supervision of chat room
discussions:- chat room discussions can be assigned points in student’s performance. An
intelligent agent can be implemented to grade chat room participations. Misleading or irrelevant
conversations can be reported to the instructor. Universal and mobile accessibility:- students and
instructors should be able to access distance learning websites from any location with any of a
variety of different devices, such as PDA or cellular phone. Wireless communication techniques
may be incorporated into distance learning systems. Remote lab and simulation: domain-
specific remote labs connected to the Internet need to be developed to support online
experiments. If remote labs are not available, online simulation tools (i.e., virtual lab) should be
provided.
Recommendations
1. The quality of the teaching is an important factor influencing student satisfaction. This is an
especially important consideration for distance education managers and decision makers, who
can organize distance learning in a way that allows them to provide ongoing guidance and
improvement strategies for teaching staff.
2. Communication with students on distance learning programs requires special attention, due to
the fact that this type of study involves the increasing use of asynchronous video communication,
as well as a lack of personal contact, which is essential for the development of trust. Some
teachers delay responses to students’ messages without apparent reason, and communication is
sometimes not enough.
3. Students find that some teachers do not upload enough learning and testing resources suitable
for distance learning. The Moodle platform, which is nowadays used in many countries, offers a
wide variety of content, applications, and forms of communication available in the e-learning
environment, with a detailed description of option.
4. Teachers set deadlines for the preparation of tests, mid-terms, and finals, which do not fit all
the students. As a matter of fact, the students should be informed in advance and teachers should
provide more support to the students when they underestimate the time and effort required in
online learning, since the lack of support is shown to be one of the main reasons for dropping out
of university.

Conclusion

Distance learning is getting a worldwide momentus as world is facing COVID 19 pandemic. It

happens never before. This is the first time whole world is missing the opportunities of distance
education specially for the school goers and others working in the education in emergencies
sector. Meanwhile we can not also deny the fact that in a busy 21st century life people are getting
less time for budgeting for on campus education and as the means of self development is now in
peoples finger tip so corporations, companies, organizations and governments are not bothering
in accepting online certifications and credentials. Because this is the reality and productive.

References
Arimi (Al), Amani Mubarak Al-Khatir. (2014) Distance Learning, aIbra College of Technology, PO Box No.
327, Postal Code: 400, Ibra, Al-Sharqiyah North Governoate, Sultanate of Oman.
Bogdanović, Milena. (2012) Growing Importance of Distance Education, International Journal of Modern
Education and Computer Science, 2012, 3, 35-41
DOI: 10.5815/ijmecs.2012.03.05
Bozkurt, A. (2019). From Distance Education to Open and Distance Learning: A Holistic Evaluation of History,
Definitions, and Theories. In S. Sisman-Ugur, & G. Kurubacak (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Learning in the
Age of Transhumanism (pp. 252-273). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Holmberg, Börje. (2005) The Evolution, Principles and Practices of Distance Education, Carl von Ossietzky
University of Oldenburg, Center for Lifelong Learning
Kim, Won. & Shih, Timothy K. (2003) Distance Education: The Status and Challenges, Vol. 2, No. 6, November-
December 2003, Journal of Object Technology
King, Frederick B., Young, Michael F., Drivere-Richmond, Kelly. & Schrader, P. G. (2004) Defining Distance
Learning and Distance Education, submitted paper to The Educational Technology Review, Neag School of
Education, The University of Connecticut
Sadeghi, Manijeh. (2019) A Shift from Classroom to Distance Learning: Advantages and Limitations, International
Journal of Research in English Education 4:1

For further reading:

Baath, J. A. (1982) "Distance Students' Learning - Empirical Findings and Theoretical Deliberations"
Holmberg, B. (1995) Theory and Practice of Distance Education
Moore, M. &Kearsky, G. (1996). Distance Education: A Systems View.
Rowntree, D. (1986) Teaching through self-instruction: A practical handbook for course developers
Michael simonson and other 2003.teaching and learning at a distance .Second Edition
Ali, A., & Ahmaed, I. (2011). Key factors for determining students’ satisfaction in distance learning courses: A
study of Allama Iqbal Open University. Contemporary Educational Technology, 12(2), 118-134.
www.cedtech.net/articles/22/222.pdf
Anderson, T. (2011). The theory and practice of online learning (2nd Edition). Edmonton, AB: AU Press.
Anderson, T., & Dron, J. (2011). Three generations of distance education pedagogy. International Review of
Research in Open & Distance Learning, 12(3), 80-97. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v12i3.890
Aydemir, M., Özkeskin E, E., & Akkurt, A. A. (2015). A theoretical framework on open and distance learning.
Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 174(2015), 1750–1757. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.833
Bijeesh, N. A. (2017). Advantages and disadvantages of distance learning. Retrieved from
http://www.indiaeducation.net/online-education/articles/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-distancelearning.
html
Birnbaum, B. (2001). Foundations and practices in the use of distance education. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellon
Press.
Brown, C. (2017). Advantages and disadvantages of distance learning. Retrieved from
https://www.eztalks.com/elearning/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-distance-learning.html
Brown, C. (2017). Benefits of distance learning. Retrieved from https://www.eztalks.com/elearning/benefits-
ofdistance-learning.html
Chen, C. W. (2010). Brief introduction of new instruction – network learning. Living Technology Education
Journal, 34(4), 10-16.
Clegg, S., Hudson, A., & Steel, J. (2003). The emperor’s new clothes: Globalization and e-learning in higher
education. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 24(1), 39–53. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3593303
Conrad, D. (2009). Cognitive, instructional, and social presence as factors in learners’ negotiation of planned
absences from online study. International Review of Research in Open & Distance Learning, 10(3). doi:
https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v10i3.630
Dembo, M., & Lynch, R. (2004). The relationship between self-regulation and online learning in a blended learning
context. The International Review of Research in Distance Learning, 5(2).
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/189/271
Dennen, V. P., Aubteen Darabi, A., & Smith, L. J. (2007). Instructor–learner interaction in online courses: The
relative perceived importance of particular instructor actions on performance and satisfaction. Distance Education,
28(1), 65-79.
Dyrud, M. A. (2000). The third wave: a position paper. Business Communication Quarterly, 63(3), 81-93.
https://doi.org/10.1177/108056990006300310
Feasley, C. (1983). Serving learners at a distance: A guide to program practices. (ASHE-ERIC Higher Education
Research Report no. 5). Washington, DC: Association for the Study of Higher Education and ERIC
Clearinghouse on Higher Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 238 350).
Firat, M. (2016). Measuring the e-learning autonomy of distance education students. Open Praxis, 8(3), 191–201.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5944/openpraxis.8.3.310
Gagne, M., & Shepherd, M. G. (2001). Distance learning in accounting: A comparison between distance and
traditional graduate accounting class. T.H.E. Journal, 28(9), 58-60. Retrieved March 13, 2019 from
https://www.learntechlib.org/p/94130/
Garrison, D. R., & Shale, D. (1990). Education at a distance: From issues to practice. Malabar: FL: Robert E.
Krieger.
Garrison, G. R. (1985). Three generations of technological innovation in distance education. Distance Education,
6(2), 235-241. doi: 10.1080/0158791850060208