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Distance Education Today has Advantages and Benefits, as well as Disadvantages and Challenges. Russell Poulin, associate director of the Western Commission for Higher Education, addressed some growing pains facing Distance Education in a 1/01 Chronicle of Higher Education interview about Distance Education. He acknowledged that there is still a legitimacy issue and misconceptions about distance education in higher education. Some people argue that distance education cannot achieve the same learning outcomes as on-campus courses. But, how to measure learning in distance education is another problem. He notes that due to the proliferation of distance education players, some fly-by-night distance education providers are hurting the reputation of distance learning. Some institutions have the misconception that they will make lots of money in distance education, and that it is a way for institutions to save money. (2) |
Advantages & Disadvantages from a student's perspective "I love distance -- what you want to learn at a convenient time and place. This degree will prepare me for the career I want." "Finding the discipline to sit down and do it!" is a challenge of taking classes at a distance according to Marti. (10) |
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Advantages & Benefits The Asynchronous nature of many distance education programs offer the important benefit of providing access to higher education to more students. Both traditional and distance learning faculty who responded to the NEA survey reported that is is extremely or very likely that distance learning will reach many students who could not take traditional college courses. (13) In addition, the flexibility of distance education is very important to nontraditional students who may have work and family obligations which may prevent them from attending an on-campus course. The University of Iowa's Distance Education Web Site states "For those of you whose location and/or family obligations do not allow them to attend classes on campus, distance education courses can be ideal." (5) Other advantages & benefits of distance education include:
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Disadvantages & Challenges
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