Distance Learning In and Out of Schools - Essay Example

As for internet usage, I have enjoyed browsing the World Wide Web and chatting with friends and family members through the instant messaging service. I have also made use of the popular website YouTube to watch video clips from all across the globe. I have used my email address to send and receive emails to my friends, family members, and business networking associates.

The advantages of pursuing a distance learning environment include the fact that a person can learn so many new things without actually being present in the location where the subject is being taught. This is indeed virtual learning which has helped students and professionals alike in the time and age of today. However, the distance learning environment has a disadvantage in the ideology that it is not education in the sheer sense of the word. If the student is not present virtually at the location, it would be very difficult for him to decipher the exact meaning of what is being taught to him. Thus he can miss out on several areas as well as the technical issues happening over the distance learning environment, in the form of internet and connectivity regimes can pose as serious troubling matters (Zhang 2005).

I do not have an experience with distance education as such; however, I perceive it to be a good learning regime, which can induce students into acquiring the education that they have been unable to get their hands on (Bradley 2003). They can explore different areas and tangents which have remained unexplored to date and thus seek better returns for their selves in the future. Also, distance education can cut down on their cost issues and budgets which they would have had to undertake once they were a part of the education processes happening within the universities and institutions in far-flung areas or even different countries.

The challenges or barriers that can arise in the wake of distance learning education remain the adoption and choice of courses that are aptly modified to the needs and requirements of the students. This would mean that distance learning education is geared to satisfy the requirements that the students are looking forward to having within their folds (Lentell 2003). Another challenge is to have proper network and technological assistance at hand which can ensure there would be no break-ups in the learning regime that has thus been established. It would also take care of the underlying issues with regard to the distance learning environments that might crop up at any time in the future.