Distance learning abroad has long been a habit. The principles of such education were first implemented in 1969. The Open University of the United Kingdom. Teachers and students communicated through correspondence and two-way radio. Technological progress has come a long way, and now communications are carried out through the Internet. In 2012 this format of education was legalized by the Federal Law in Russia. Since then, the number of those who wish to receive higher education by distance has been steadily increasing. Indirectly, the growing number of educational channels (YouTube) demonstrates the growth of willing and willing people to learn independently.
According to statistics in higher education, distance learning is attractive for the age group 18-35 years. It’s easy to explain. After all, these are the most active Internet users who are loyal to the remote format of communication. Its advantages are obvious:
- no territorial restrictions: you can study the same way in the hinterland, even in the capital;
- Solutions to social problems: graduates who leave for school rarely come back;
- Financial accessibility: the cost of “distance” is half to three times less than “normal” education, there are no costs associated with regular education;
- saving time;
- objectivity of evaluation: exams, scores, tests are conducted electronically, in special programs;
- no age restrictions. Now there are more and more opportunities to obtain higher education remotely in a public university. It is usually a form of distance learning implemented by means of special distance technologies. It’s almost always paid for. If they talk about free “distance”, they mean the classical “correspondence” with limited use of remote technologies: access to electronic resources, sending tasks, educational materials on electronic and others.
There is a special demand for obtaining a second higher education at a public university from a distance. A person already has experience of studying at a university, there are clear guidelines why he needs it. It is possible to study remotely at any level: bachelor’s/specialist’s, master’s, additional education, advanced training programs.
Many universities, taking the “distance” offer an exam in the form of testing. However a number of categories of citizens can receive higher education remotely without entrance examinations: arriving on the second higher, having average vocational training on a corresponding profile, having incomplete higher/medium vocational training and working on a profile minimum 2 years, and all those who have the right of free training on all forms (beneficiaries, winners of competitions, etc.).
When choosing distance learning, you need to know what to pay attention to initially:
- the university educational network should have unified access centers and common information space;
- availability of training materials, video lectures, Skype consultations, which are an absolute and equivalent replacement of paper media;
- lectures should be given by highly qualified teachers, not announcers;
- Programs, materials for profile subjects, developed directly by the university PPS, provide an opportunity to learn by unique methods;
- there should be excellent feedback;
- the knowledge control system should be electronic, this will ensure objectivity.