Impact of Media on Distance
Education Media is everywhere; it has become a part of our
daily life. The media plays a dominant role in the learning process and has
opened new dimensions in learning. Now education is no longer a constraint (约束)
for anyone. Media has brought education to the doorstep of each and every
individual. All forms of media—the newspaper, radio, television and the Internet
are equally important in imparting education. As the technology is progressing,
the different educational modules (模块) are being channeled through certain
community access centers like community radio system, televisions, internet,
community multi-media centers, etc. Media literacy or education does not only
mean to be entertained by media but to learn something from it.
Distance education is often defined as institution-based, formal education
where the learning group is separate, and where interactive telecommunications
systems are used to connect learners, resources, and instructors.
The original distance education by correspondence has been upgraded by
twenty-first century technology. Distance education has vastly benefited from
the media boom with telecasts and broadcasts limiting the dependence on the
written word. In the past, distance education was primarily delivered through
mail and was called correspondence course. The medium of instruction was mainly
through books, paper documents and other printed materials. Contrary to
classroom learning, instructions provided by professors or teachers were
delivered in print to the learners who didn’t have the opportunity to have
interactive classes. Queries and notes were interchanged between teachers and
students and vice versa. But now the trend is fully replaced by
colourful computer-based graphic resources. Computer-based education has changed
the traditional offerings of correspondence education. This medium of education
converts the traditional static resources into interactive and interesting
online modules for the learners. Moreover, online-learning retains most of the
characteristics of the classical form of distance learning, while offering more
sophisticated learning materials at a much reduced rate. At
present, the concept of distance education with the help of media has gained
wide popularity. The media boom with telecasts and broadcasts has to a large
extent limited the dependence on the written word. Moreover, with the emergence
of the Internet as a global media, the concept of distance learning has been
revolutionized. From the age-old days, distance learning was mainly provided
through correspondence. But the introduction of the Internet has changed the
concept of distance learning to a great extent. Nowadays,
distance learning programmes are increasingly being delivered through computer
technologies but the traditional media is not totally useless as it helps in
effective learning. We can define quality online education as a people-oriented,
instructor-led activity, where the level of communication should be comparable
with on-campus education. Due to the connectivity of the Internet, distance
education is often called online learning because the Internet-connected
computers bring the teacher and learner face to face, which substitutes/replaces
classroom learning. Moreover, the Internet has also facilitated the students to
study online from any location and at any convenient time. There
are numerous factors which have contributed to the increasing popularity of the
distance education through media. With the introduction of online learning in
universities, distance learning has gained immense importance. Online learning
has assumed the role of an important media for imparting distance education. It
also went to the extent of providing quality online courses which have become
almost comparable to the traditional classroom learning. Now students can get
access to a broad range of disciplines from any location. With the mingling of
online learning and distance education, education is no longer a constraint for
any class of the society. Distance education can also be termed
as Interactive Telecommunications system. Interactive telecommunications systems
broadly mean that the instructors and the learners use a variety of
technological resources while teaching and learning from a distance. Nowadays,
many universities have come up with the idea of transferring its on-campus
learning into online learning. Now we see an excessive use of
media in education. Media has made its presence felt everywhere, be it by
television, radio or computers, the most popular medium of imparting education.
Unlike the past, education and examination is no longer monotonous (乏味的). With
the introduction of media, education has assumed a different role. We can see
that before the board exams or any competitive exams, different medias like
television, radio, etc. come out with different education-related programs to
help students to deal with their study materials. These media channels rope in
different intellectuals, professors and teachers of different institutions to
guide the students with their valuable suggestions and give them necessary moral
boost to cope up with their burden of studies. The most
important advantage of online distance education is to earn a degree from one’s
home or workplace. In traditional distance learning, interaction is limited to a
certain point and feedback from the other side is often delayed because of slow
postal systems. It has helped a large number of people to pursue education, who
don’t even have the time to enroll for regular courses. Moreover, it is usually
easier and less competitive to obtain admission for the online
courses. In case of online distance courses, learning is more
fun and interactive. It is also flexible. It is possible to incorporate charts,
maps, graphs, moving images, slides, video clippings and even audio recordings
with the course material. It helps to understand the entire syllabus without the
help of a teacher. The students are able to interact with their peers through
online class projects, e-mails and also with the help of online conferencing.
This interaction with the help of media using e-mail, conference calls and chat
makes learning easier and entertaining. It substitutes the face-to-face
experiences of traditional learning. The availability of online libraries with
their huge collection of books has also made the learning process easier and
worthwhile. Speaking about the economic side of online distance
learning, it is seen that most of the time, the expense of a regular course is
much higher than the online courses. The media-related online distance learning
is relatively economical than the traditional class-room learning. Nevertheless,
keeping in mind its positive effects on individuals, these computer-based
distance education continues to grow. Students can turn to methods such as online class projects, e-mails and online conferencing to fulfill ______.