Essay on Distance Education

Published: 2021-07-16
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University of California, Santa Barbara
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Case study
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California stands out as one of the world States that have invested a lot in education regardless of the age of individuals. It has created all the available opportunities to ensure that the Citizens within the State access and afford education. With the advent of technology, the State of California has ensured that higher education is not only accessed by the high school graduates but also the working professionals (Lewin, 2013). The motive is to keep the nation abreast to educational matters and improve their competence in the various areas of expertise. Since the year 2005, the population of California has been on the rise and as the business law of demand holds; increase in demand of goods and services results to increase in prices since the public will still be forced to but despite the rise (Hinrichs, 2012). A similar principle applied in California as the cost of education doubled since then. It has therefore placed a challenge to the citizens hence the need of State intervention into the matter.

To ease the complexity of college funding among the Students, the State of California has persistently embraced technology innovation to provide an opportunity for more students to access higher learning institutions. It has created a community of schools that provide online education for the higher learning institutions across the State. The motive is to incorporate all citizens without a particular focus on the age to increase the enrolment rate, reduce classroom congestion and at the same time elevate the quality of learning.

Notably, not all courses of interest can be provided through an online platform as emphasized by the State. Expertise involving the acquisition of bachelors of Science, the Business administration is in greater demand as technology favors it and it is provided in most of the Universities within the California community. The population that needs to advance in education is high, and so is the demand. The advantage is that the online platforms manage a large number of people compared to the classroom (Moore, & Kearsley, 2011). Most of the working professionals prefer to take the online platform because studies are in accordance to their pace. It is not restricted compared to the regular mode of study since the majority are those advancing and sharpening their skills implying that they learn as they practice at the same time. It is realized that the working professionals attend their classes mainly on the weekends. Most of their classes are organized in the evening after their daily duties. Also, this kind of learning is more of self-regulated as the instructors will not be available at all times, their duty is to post the required information as the students attend to them. It may, therefore, occur on a daily basis, twice or thrice in a week.

Among the working professionals, there is a group of age 25 to about 40 years. This group is still young, and majority prefers to undertake part time studies with a bit of online, on the other hand, the age of 41 and above prefers to conduct their education online with lots of personal consultation as their level of studies is quite high (Irvine, Code, & Richards, 2013). Online does not imply that the entire educational programs are done online, but it is by the needs of the instructor and also the students. Over the weekends, when the regular students are not available, the online students usually meet to receive guidance and necessary instructions from the tutor to enable them to proceed and to ensure that they are all at the same level.

Individual income is a major factor that determines whether one will enroll in a particular course or level of studies. Even though finance may be an issue, the State has tried its best to subsidize education costs to enhance access and affordability, and this explains why the majority are currently studying despite being employed.

A good number of the professionals in schools work for a maximum of 6 to 8 hours depending on the agreement with the bosses. Colleges that they attend studies on are usually closer to either their residential areas or work places and for that reason, it is easier to access not necessarily by car. It is much easier for those who are in the teaching profession and are driven to advance in same institutions, as their tutors are the colleagues that they keep interacting with along the departmental premises.

Currently, gender tends to have no place in education though differing interests of male and female makes it an issue. Regarding school attendance, females tend to be focused and motivated to undertake higher learning education in California compared to males according to my analysis. On a different note, a good percentage of the professionals are taking their masters and Ph.D. programs. A few of the working population are doing their degree and majority are those shifting from one area of interest to the other. Interests change, and that is normal but on rare occasions since majority prefer advancing instead of switching to a different profession.

The Universities making the California community are competent and known for various courses (Lewin, 2013). As a matter of fact, among the current generation especially for those taking the online mode of study, duration has been an issue that also determines the choice of the course but since it is a master or any advanced Bachelors course, the minimum time is 24 months. It does not mean that programs taking lesser duration do not exist. Most of the working population are engaged in courses involving management, Entrepreneurship and the management information system. Every University has known for a particular level of expertise that it delivers well hence the disparity in choices among the working professionals. Online mode of education provide by the State, and the fact that business technology is highly valued in the United States makes individuals to also focus on Entrepreneurship and Information system, management. Furthermore, the working population understands the challenges raised by the increase in population especially about unemployment cases and therefore others tend to expand their knowledge regarding entrepreneurship. The motive is to be competent enough, gain the right leadership skills, develop the art of creativity and innovation to absorb the young generation into an employment platform.

In conclusion, at around 1960, the California State government created a master plan project to make education accessible and affordable to all the Citizens with particular attention to the higher learning institution (Douglass, 2010). The motive was to ensure that all the graduates from high school, colleges, and even the working professionals receive an opportunity to advance in their studies. Concerns related to payments existed where the majority of the students from the low and middle-income areas were never close to affording the fees, but the State intervention changed the concerns to the expected. Currently, the majority of the working population are undertaking online classes, regular as well as hybrid based on their interests.

References

Douglass, J. A. (2010). From chaos to order and back? A revisionist reflection on the California master plan for higher education@ 50 and thoughts about its future. Center for Studies in Higher Education.

Hinrichs, P. (2012). The effects of affirmative action bans on college enrollment, educational attainment, and the demographic composition of universities. Review of Economics and Statistics, 94(3), 712-722.

Irvine, V., Code, J., & Richards, L. (2013). Realigning higher education for the 21st century learner through multi-access learning. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 9(2), 172.

Lewin, T. (2013). California bill seeks campus credit for online study. The New York Times, 13.

Moore, M. G., & Kearsley, G. (2011). Distance education: A systems view of online learning. Cengage Learning.

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