GOAL 1.3

Open and Distance Education

Face to face education system is what we know and identify as the old traditional education.

Distance education was implemented in the early 1800‘s to the current day. So we are speaking approximately of 214 years of new inputs in education systems. In those days it was a distance education system used by media mail, the ones interested on an ongoing career got enrolled and pay a tuition to the Institution. And consequently they received their materials by mail and the instructions to get start. Nowadays there are new Medias that promote to continue education. The creation of the World Wide Web brought a new age in communication systems and has proposed new shifts in everyday lifestyles.

The following authors Lidner, Doodley, Murphy and Doodley have given the following definition to distance education “Distance Education occurs when the instructor and learner are separated by location and/or time (Lidner & Murphy, 2001). This separation requires communication channels, to bridge the “distance” between and among learner and instructor” (2005, page 2).

The users for this type of education have some limitations on taking face to face courses. Nowadays there are many changes on renewing old systems and making life easier, less costly and practical for the ones that have a truly interested on continue their studies.

 Open Distance Education has become an important way to continue studies and hopefully one day a degree. This population sector is compound majorly by: parents with family, people with some disability, financials problems, the ones who lives in a rural zone and occupational duties.

Nowadays the revolution on new technologies and communication media has taken an important place in different fields; education, business and entertainment.

(Lidner, Doodley & Murphy) A learner must possess certain knowledge, skills abilities, in order to complete a plan instructional sequence and be successful (Lidner, Dooley & Murphy, 2001, page 4).