Continuing Education In The 21st Century

One of the most trivial problems facing the 21st century is fulfilling the educational needs of children and adults in different parts of the world. Education is in the highest order human needs due to a many reasons that include the empowerment of people to change their life situations, the enhancement of national economic growth, and the concept of sustainable development. In the developing world, Increase in population of especially children, makes it hard for governments to successfully meet these educational needs. Also, the skills and knowledge that are now required for the working population have changed rapidly in the last few decades. The need for continuing education or adult education adds to the already swarming agenda facing educational

Conceptually the media are carrier of information; empty channels and raw tapes, films, and paper. The basic complex problem is to select the most appropriate modes of communication for learning strategies and put these into combinations. The selection of media involves the matching of the characteristics of the media to the demands of the instructional situation – the characteristics of the instructor, the content, the student and the environment. Media is now being used as an aid to the presentation process. This has traditionally been the usual point of entry for new devices and techniques into the process of teaching and learning. The use of audio-visual materials seems to add clarity and precision to the way the content of a particular lecture or teaching session is presented. Another benefit of using media is accuracy. It has been observed that a carefully drawn diagram using media is preferable to a hastily drawn and sometimes inaccurate blackboard sketch. It is not only the efficient presentation of the material to the student that is involved here; the lecturer also derives considerable convenience from having high-quality materials at his fingertips. He saves time in the class, and undoubtedly saves preparation time in the end. Media can be used as a help to demonstration, grabbing attention and enhanced learning. Once educational

In a broader way, educational media include not only texts, work-books, programmed books and other print materials but also tapes, records and other audio materials, filmstrips, motion pictures and other photographic materials. Also, it includes games, some devices, charts, signs, maps and other graphic materials; bulletin boards, as well as other resources which serve as the carriers of messages. The individual learner in his classroom accesses many of these media based messages, others are obtained in a college resource centre, and still others may be obtained from remote locations. This list does not exhaust the possible means and methods that may be needed for designing the complex requirements for optimally stimulating academic