Advantages And Disadvantages Of Open And Distance Learning

Open and distance learning is one of the most rapidly growing fields of education, and its potential impact on all education delivery systems has been greatly accentuated through the development of ICT-based technologies, and in particular the World Wide Web. In distance learning system, learners are remote to the institution and are in large scale. It is difficult for a learner to visit the institution every day to get a service/support as available in a conventional system and at same time, it is even difficult to the institution itself to provide various services to the learners at different phases of a student learning life cycle, due to limited human resource available. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a prime resource

The various phases are the admission phase (progamme details, fee structure, admission procedure and registration), the learning phase (learning schedule, programme delivery (lectures through video conferencing, webinars, audio & video programmes, multimedia presentations and case studies), the evaluation phase (examination schedule, internal &external assessment, examinations, improvement, valuation, revaluation and result declaration) and the certification phase ( marks/grades updates, certificate printing & issuing and convocation schedule). The promotion of developing knowledge society through open and distance education is increasingly adopted in past years globally resulting in encouragement of economic development at the local, state and national levels. The distance or open education comprises separation between teachers and learners. Thus it includes printed edited materials, teleconferencing, telephone and other tools of ICT to bridge physical gap between the teacher and the student. This type of education has given opportunity to those who otherwise would have been denied from the formal