Distance learning, a fairly recent trend in educational systems, suffers from a basic handicap – communication between mentor and student. Not that this kind of learning system shuns the more vital and dynamic interaction between teacher and learner, it is just that the very nature of distance learning poses limitations in implementing the full and beneficial process of communication.

Learning is a dynamic concept that needs constant sharing of information, many responses, cooperative analysis, and collective conclusions and resolutions, even if it is just between a student and a teacher. The process of learning can be less interesting and mechanical if it only involves the transfer of information from the teacher and the corresponding receipt of it by the student, as well as the issuance of test questions by the teacher and the corresponding accomplishment of the tests by the student. The learning process becomes mechanical and impersonal.

Communication is a two-way process, most especially in the field of teaching and learning because of the imperative factor of student feedback. In the environment of classroom learning, there is more that can be accomplished over a given period of time since learning is a complex structure of information, feedback, and analysis.

Learning that happens inside a classroom, in the company of other students, becomes more vibrant and interesting because the element of interaction happens quicker and more frequently between student and teacher, and among students themselves – all under the same roof and within a specific time. Communication is more varied, complete, and richer. Because communication is more dynamic in non-distance learning environments, the goals of learning are met better and sooner because a big part of learning is analysis and synthesis.

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Via Technical and Vocational School Guide