| Communication plays an important role in the learning | | | | enthusiasm for their course of study and enhance their |
| process. It enables the sharing of information, thoughts | | | | learning process. |
| and ideas which contribute to learning. Communication | | | | As physical separation can create a sense of isolation, |
| actually creates opportunities for learning to take place. | | | | many schools build communication channels to |
| Besides, it also helps in clarifying information, inducing | | | | decrease this feeling the learners may experience. In |
| enthusiasm in learning and building positive relationships | | | | distance learning, the modes of communication include |
| among learners. Good communication is essential for | | | | electronic mail, website forums, chat rooms and |
| successful learning. As there is no face-to-face | | | | internet conferencing. Their availability helps to increase |
| interaction in distance learning courses, communication | | | | interaction between instructor and student, as well as |
| is given a stronger emphasis by schools providing | | | | interaction among students. Interaction is important in a |
| these courses. Many of them have established more | | | | learning environment. It can enhance learning and |
| effective modes of communication in their distance | | | | promote individual growth. The communication channels |
| learning programs to compensate the lack of | | | | also allow the students to ask questions anytime about |
| face-to-face interaction. | | | | the course and assignments. During the course, |
| In distance learning, the course content can be | | | | students may not fully understand some topics and |
| communicated through audio tapes, videos, the web, or | | | | need to seek clarifications with the course instructor. |
| printed form. The student will be informed about the | | | | Sometimes, even though the course instructor has |
| course content and course directives. Most importantly, | | | | explained the assignments in the course content, |
| the information should be clearly communicated to the | | | | students may still have questions about them. Hence, |
| students as they need to know exactly what is | | | | the various communication channels are useful for |
| expected from them. Many distance learning course | | | | these clarifications. |
| developers make use of the internet to provide | | | | Distance online learning has expanded communication |
| up-to-date information to enhance learning. Besides | | | | options used by traditional classroom learning. For |
| course materials, course developers usually include | | | | example, some methods used by students in |
| other websites and online journals to create more | | | | classroom learning such as asking the instructor |
| depth in learning. With the internet, the course | | | | questions after class lessons, telephone |
| developer is able to provide online a great supply of | | | | communication, one-to-one or group discussions are still |
| current data to support the course materials. | | | | used in online learning. In addition to these, online learning |
| In classroom teaching, the course instructor is able to | | | | has electronic mail, mailing lists, chat rooms, message |
| show enthusiasm for a topic by the use of his or her | | | | boards and web forums. Thus, online learning has |
| tone of voice. However, with distance learning, the | | | | more communication options available for the students |
| displaying of enthusiasm through the use of voice by | | | | and instructors to interact. As there is a variety of |
| the instructor is not possible most of the time. In this | | | | modes of communication available, students can have |
| aspect, many schools which produce course content | | | | the freedom to select the type of mode they like to |
| through the web, make use of graphics, videos and | | | | use. |
| photographs to depict various types of emotions. By | | | | From the above, we can see that although distance |
| using these illustrations, the course instructor can | | | | learning may lack face-to-face interaction, many |
| communicate his or her emotions towards various | | | | schools have established various other modes of |
| topics to the students. This helps to build enthusiasm | | | | communication to increase interaction. With the use of |
| for the course content. On the other hand, students | | | | current technology, distance learning has a greater |
| can express their emotions on the course through | | | | variety of modes of communication than the traditional |
| communication channels such as web forums and | | | | classroom learning. Hence, distance learning is not |
| chat rooms. Thus, they can also have the ease of | | | | lacking in communication. In fact, students in distance |
| expressing their passion for certain topics. In this way, it | | | | learning programs have more communication options |
| would increase their involvement in the course, build | | | | to select from. |