Week 7- Being a Distance Learner- Part 2

Saying this, there are also disadvantages to distance learning, many which I have come accross personally since starting this unit:

• Feedback. Like mentioned in the reading about higher education in China (http://www1.worldbank.org/disted/Technology/broadcast/tv-02.html) tutoring is necessary as the presenters of radio and television programmes cannot answer students' questions directly and no immediate feedback for the presenters to adjust their teaching. Luckily for me, I can email Dave if I am struggling, but again, it is much more difficult to recieve feedback or help over the internet, and I also find it harder to understand feedback sometimes, when it's in writing as opposed to being told it f2f.
• Lack of help, or having to wait a while to get help. I suppose this links in with feedback. Although we all help each other, and our tutors are on hand if we need them, I find myself panicking slightly if I don't understand a particular topic. Yes, I can read other people's blogs, but this doesn't always help me understand the thinking behind it and sometimes I miss how easy it is to ask a lecturer to go over something again, or explain it in easier terms. Plus, even if I send an email asking for help, it's not like a tutor is by their computer every minute of every day, and I may have to wait a day or two to get the answers I need. Maybe this is just me though, as everyone else can always meet up f2f if they like, to help each other or go through a topic in detail, something which I am not able to do... what are your views?
• Discussions. Yes I know our blogs and the forums are all 'new' ways for us to discuss things. But do you really feel like you are getting into the depths of a conversation, and getting to the root of a topic? I find that we are limited in what we discuss on our blogs, maybe because it takes too long to write, or maybe because it's too difficult to put into words, but I found that our real-life seminars contained much more of the smaller detailed information that sometimes is what I needed to understand the topic.