Distance Learning via e-Books / Online Education with e-Books
The internet has dramatically changed distance learning as nowadays most of the teaching is done online. In the early days distance learning was all paper based but this started to change when the internet made it possible for students to interact with their teacher. In recent years it has become more and more common to offer all of the course materials online. E-books are now commonplace instead of traditional textbooks, the main reason being cost.
The great advantage that e-books offer is that they are much cheaper than traditional books. This is a huge factor when it comes to distance learning because text books are extremely expensive. In the past most online degree programs required that students have traditional textbooks, they got lecture notes and interacted with their professor online but the bulk of the learning came from textbooks. This significantly increased the cost of getting an online degree since most texts cost more than a hundred dollars. E-books have massively decreased this cost since they don't have most of the expenses that are involved in actually printing a book they can be offered for a much lower price.
E-books also have the advantage of being much more convenient than a traditional textbook. Normally students would purchase their textbook at the school bookstore, this obviously presented a problem to the distance learning student who doesn't have access to the college bookstore. In these cases they normally had to order their books online and wait weeks for delivery, this often put them behind in their studies. This isn't a problem with e-books since they can be downloaded quickly and easily. E-books also don't have to be carried around, a distance learning student with a laptop can use e-books to study anywhere they want to without having to lug a bag full of heavy books around with them.
Not everybody loves e-books and there are some tradeoffs involved in using them. The biggest issue is that it is difficult to flip around, many textbooks have the answers to the practice questions in the back of the book, students often answer the question and then flip to the back to see if they got it right. This isn't really practical with an e-book since you will need to scroll through the whole book to find the page you are looking for. Another issue is that many people find that it is uncomfortable to spend to long reading off of a computer screen and that they need to take more frequent breaks. For most people these are small inconveniences that they are willing to put up with because of the amount of money they save by using e-books, but when you're reading thousands and thousands of pages of e-books in pursuit of an online MBA degree, sometimes you just want to have a real book to read, no?
More Internet Resources
The web has a lot more information about e-learning and internet degrees. Listed below are some of our absolute favorites; pay them a visit!
- The Internet Education Homepage
- Why Choose for Online Education?
- Citizenship N-400 Application
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