Benefits of Open Distance Learning
Open and Distance Learning has proved to be an essential tool for the future. If properly planned, Open Learning could be the future of education. It has got many benefits for both students and teachers.
Accessibility is its most significant advantage. Higher or just standard-level education may be challenging for some people. With ODL, people can study what they want whenever they want. ODL has no preferential bias, and all students are welcome to take it on. All study resources are on the Internet, and there won’t be a need to carry heavy books.
Education does not come cheap. Higher education costs even more with growing standards, which is why Open Distance Learning helps a lot. ODL helps cut costs with more affordable tuition or none, with all secondary expenses removed.
Since you can take up classes anytime, it’s your pace. There is no need to rush your courses as you can easily take your time to learn topics, unlike in classrooms. Online Distance learning reduces social anxiety issues, and you’ll have more study time.
Challenges of Open Distance Learning
The world would have been so great if not for the challenges and consequences of things. ODL similarly has many challenges and issues that stop it from being something more significant.
The use of technology brings its issues. Bugs, hack threats, information misuse, forgetting credentials of websites, etc., all come under technical problems. These technical problems slow your pace and discourage you from using online media altogether.
One of the significant pros of physical Learning is physical presence itself. Bonding with friends and teachers and spending time with them is a unique part of the school/college experience. However, the bonds and interactions are not entirely possible with Online Learning. There’s always some missing feeling. The spice that physical Learning provides is special and unique.
Technologies are not only used for education but for entertainment purposes too. The use of multimedia enhances your studying, that’s for sure, but it can also distract you significantly. Playing games, surfing the Internet instead of studying, and using social media are all distractions students and teachers suffer from.
In a way, open education is also a topic not explored by many. People do not know its advantages and how much it can change one’s life positively. For this reason, it might also be linked to some negative stigma, considering it inefficient or a waste of time.
The Future of Open Distance Learning, Does it have one?
Change is inevitable. One cannot stop change. This is why we cannot control technological advancements. The more these advancements increase, the more we’ll be exposed to such learning methods. The invention of televisions encouraged and introduced more people to open Learning. These inventions hold especially true for the Internet.
The Internet is a massive resource of information available for all to view. Trying to discourage this will lead to adverse outcomes. Let alone any groundbreaking invention in the future. It is believable that the end of Open distance learning is bright.
Every advancement in human civilization is done as we progress and learn from our mistakes. The more we discover, the more we know. The more we learn, the more we should share with others to grow. Education was invented for this reason; to share knowledge with others and put it to good use.
The more we know, the more we realize that we don’t know. People can learn in many ways, and Open Distance Learning is one of them. Who knows, there might be even more advanced and different ways of Learning. We can’t say.
