Distance Education

Why Distance Education?

Since 2000, NALA have been using television, radio, print, telephones and the internet to provide distance education opportunities to literacy learners.

The aim of NALA’s Distance Education Services is to provide high quality free distance learning opportunities targeted at improving literacy without regards to social, economic and cultural backgrounds and taking account of all levels of technical ability. It is useful at this stage to clarify what we mean by Distance Education. 

Definitions 

Distance Education is defined as occurring when learners and tutors are separated by either space or time. This is a broad definition, which reflects the fact that distance education can involve people studying in a range of personal contexts using a number of learning or communication technologies.

Distance Education programmes share characteristics applied in traditional forms of literacy learning provision, as identified in Guidelines for Good Adult Literacy Practice (NALA, 2005b). These include:

• Learners learn without having to be in the presence of a tutor or other learner.
• Learners can select where and when learning takes place.
• The pace and sequence of learning is controlled by the learner.
• Learning takes place in a non-threatening atmosphere.
• Learners develop their capacity for independence and self-reliance as a learner.

For more information, contact NALA’s Distance Education Co-Ordinator, Tom O’ Mara on 00353 (0) 21 427 8669 or via email on tomara@nala.ie