Lesson 1: Open and Distance Learning

1. Lesson 1: Open and Distance Learning PRESENTATION BY : LWANDE OMONDI CHARLES PROJECT LEADER (e-Learning) ICT CENTER UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI email: lwande.omondi@uonbi.ac.ke Cellphone: 0721315118

2. OVERVIEW • There are educational needs that the conventional educational practices cannot meet easily considering time and place of offer in relations to the learners' location and commitment. • The cost of education has reached an alarming proportion in the National Budgets against the other essential social demands requiring state provision which makes it difficult for governments to allocate more resources to education.

3. DISTANCE EDUCATION • a Teaching-Learning situation where: • the Student/Learners and Teachers/Lecturers are separated from one another most of the time.

4. CHARACTERISTICS • Separation of teacher and students; • It operates in an educational/institutional setting; • Uses technical communication media; • More of individual learning with less group learning; • Involves privatization of learning; • It is cheaper for marginal increase in number and benefits from economies of scale;

5. RATIONALE • There are more people qualifying for tertiary education than conventional institutions can accommodate. • There is need to provide educational opportunities to members of the society who have been deprived of education. • There is need to provide educational opportunities to scattered communities who cannot economically sustain Conventional Institutions.

6. OPEN LEARNING • ‘Open learning’ suggests that anyone can enroll and start and finish when they like. • Open learning, • an organized educational activity, • based on the use of teaching materials, • constraints on study are minimized in terms either of access, or of time and place, pace, method of study, or any combination of these

7. OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING ‘Open and distance learning’ - educational approaches that: • reach learners in their locations • provide learning resources for learners • enable learners qualify without attending college in person • open up new opportunities for keeping up to date no matter where or when they want to study. • makes use of several different media. • Students may learn through print, broadcasts, the internet and through occasional meetings with tutors and with other students.

8. Issues/ concerns • institutions may accepted student fees, gave them poor service, and kept their costs down by encouraging students to drop out once they had paid all their money. • If teaching material gives all the answers then there is no room for an individual response while if it fails to do so the student may feel challenged but frustrated • Distance learning can be an isolated activity so that dropping out is more attractive than going on

9. Benefits of Distance Learning • It has been used to reach trainees in geographically challenging areas • it can be used to reach marginalized communities such as refugees • distance learning can provide access to courses on a much larger scale and wider geographical reach • It can overcome regional differences in access to education • In continuing professional development, distance education can help avoid the cost of replacing a staff who has gone to full-time education

10. Benefits of Distance Learning • It can open up access to training opportunities for people with family responsibilities who are earning an income and need to remain within their communities.