Distance Education

Distance learning, also called distance education, e-learning, and online learning, is a form of education in which the main elements include physical separation of teachers and students during instruction and the use of various technologies to facilitate student-teacher and student-student communication. Distance education was born and founded with the aim of democratizing access to educational practice. For many years it was a meeting place for trainees who needed flexibility or where unable to physically attend the lessons.

Through the years, globalization, spread of knowledge and ideas and development of internet and digital means have made e-learning a most important tool for education. Especially nowadays during a global pandemic, the demands for so-called “social distancing” have led fatally to the search for solutions at a distance. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought huge transformations in the way we communicate and act worldwide.

The educational process could not be left unaffected. Distance education seem to be the only answer, so that students could communicate and interact both with the teaching material and with their “important others”, their classmates. Nevertheless distance learning is more than a temporary solution through the pandemic· it is a modern and powerful tool for the development of education and the spread of knowledge in the global community. A distance learning program can be completely distance learning, or a combination of distance learning and traditional classroom instruction (called hybrid or blended). While skilled educators will continue to be an integral part of every student’s life, technology will bridge the physical spaces between teachers and learners. In this context, the purpose of this course is to acquaint teachers with the basic principles of distance education in practice, help them realize it’s importance and make them creative and competitive for the needs of an everyday developing world.

The aim of the course is to provide knowledge on contemporary educational approaches that draw on the principles of distance education and promote equal learning, participation and learning opportunities for all students. The course aims to be practical and with the use of digital tools to enable teachers to create their own educational material and apply participatory techniques in order to complete the needs of the modern education and make the lesson more flexible and attractive for young learners.

After the completion of the course participants will be able to:

• Realize the importance of digital expectancy and creativity in Modern School.
• Recognize the differences between synchronous and asynchronous distance education.
• Adapt their teaching according to the audience to which they will address.
• Select and utilize digital tools and platforms.
• Create educational material for online environments.
• Develop video lessons.
• Gain the basic principles of gamefication and game-based digital learning.
•  Be able to schedule and apply hybrid lessons.