Types of Distance Education Online Courses

Types of distance education courses

• Correspondence conducted through regular mail
• Internet conducted either synchronously or asynchronously
• Telecourse/Broadcast, in which content is delivered via radio or television
• CD-ROM, in which the student interacts with computer content stored on a CD-ROM
• PocketPC/Mobile Learning where the student accesses course content stored on a mobile device or through a wireless server
• Integrated distance learning, the integration of live, in-group instruction or interaction with a distance learning curriculum [14]

Distance Education has traversed four to five 'generations' of technology in its history.[15] These are print, audio/video broadcasting, audio/video teleconferencing, computer aided instruction, e-learning/ online-learning, computer broadcasting/webcasting etc. Yet the radio remains a very viable form, especially in the developing nations, because of its reach. In India the FM Channel is very popular and is being used by universities, to broadcast educational programs of variety on areas such as teacher education, rural development, programs in agriculture for farmers, science education, creative writing, mass communication, in addition to traditional courses in liberal arts, science and business administration. The increasing popularity of mp3 players, PDAs and Smart Phone has provided an additional medium for the distribution of distance education content, and some professors now allow students to listen or even watch video of a course as a Podcast [16]. Some colleges have been working with the U.S. military to distribute entire course content on a PDA to deployed personnel. [17]

Source: Distance Learning Education Online information at wikipedia.org