Sunday 20 February 2011

Major benefits of use: an institutional perspective

Diana G. Oblinger,[17] writing specifically of the US context, has identified four broad reasons why educational institutions might embrace distance learning:

    * Expanding access: distance education can assist in meeting the demand for education and training demand from the general populace and businesses, especially because it offers the possibility of a flexibility to accommodate the many time-constraints imposed by personal responsibilities and commitments.
    * Alleviate capacity constraints: being mostly or entirely conducted off-site, the system reduces the demand on institutional infrastructure such as buildings.
    * Making money from emerging markets: she claims an increasing acceptance from the population of the value of lifelong learning, beyond the normal schooling age, and that institutions can benefit financially from this by adopting distance education. She sees sectors of education such as courses for business executives as being "more lucrative than traditional markets".
    * Catalyst for institutional transformation: the competitive modern marketplace demands rapid change and innovation, for which she believes distance education programs can act as a catalyst.

Casey and Lorenzen have identified another financial benefit for the institutions of the US, stating that distance education creates new graduates who might be willing to donate money to the school who would have never have been associated with the school under the traditional system

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