Distance learning: objectives and challenges
Thanks to digital, it is increasingly possible to train for degrees, to learn many different skills for jobs from home and remotely. Whether considered as a professional or an individual, video and audio are among the most popular techniques in “MOOCs” – these distance learning courses are accessible to all – and this process must be adaptable to everyone.
Universities offer remote courses and certifications
As you may have read it in another online article, courses are getting more and more accessible remotely from French universities. This enables students to get certifications and specific skills even if they have a disability, if they are foreigners or if they have any special constraint, preventing them from actually going physically to university.
But the thing is, it only applies today for a few diplomas and specialities. Indeed, distant learning diplomas and certifications from universities are not well known.
Frequently, these training must be completed with physical face-to-face training, courses and exams.
According to a 2018 interview from Jean-Marc Meunier, president of the French federation for distant learning for universities (FIED):
The tools have evolved but the question remains the same: how to ensure remote training quality, which is not just a document repository with a few exercises? It is necessary to manage the student’s commitment, to accompany him in his learning. Distance is a constraint, in terms of work organisation in particular. We must find ways to minimise these obstacles.
We can hope that universities will follow the companies’ example to create the university of tomorrow.
Companies offer training and online courses for their employees
Gathering many people in a same place can be very expensive, so more and more companies are considering today training and online courses for their employees.
In addition, and in a complementary way, many companies have set up their internal training, certifications and diplomas for their employees.
What are the motivations of distant learning for professionals?
According to topformation.fr, all types of companies can currently have access to distant learning solutions. Besides “MOOCs” (Massive Open Online Courses) phenomenon, we note that upcoming solutions -adapted to “PME”, small companies- are possible thanks to the Cloud and SaaS solutions (Service as a Software). This way, training in e-learning is accessible to all kinds of companies.
There are several motivations for professionals to adopt digital solutions for training. Mostly explained by time constraints, budget, transport and subsistence expenses.
Training content is accessible through many different supports such as smartphones, tablets, laptops; from different places (office, public transport commuting, home office). Reducing fees are also a major motivation for the company total training costs.
Distance learning works for all activity sectors.
For instance, in France, a great number of big companies such as Mc Donald’s, Tati, SNCF, Carrefour, Airbus Helicopters… provide their employees both internal certifications and distant learning training.
What is interesting with Airbus Helicopters example is that they offer both internal face-to-face training for their foreigner’s engineers and distant learning courses.
Tech giants and private startups offer online courses for individuals
Google, the Number One search engine, has launched a few years ago, online certifications on its specific web and digital marketing tools: Google Adwords, Google Analytics, etc. Anyone can follow the courses and take the tests at the end to get a recognised professional certification. It is very useful for developers and marketers to show and add on their resume that they can manage those techniques.
Moreover, for instance, Authôt works with “Open Classrooms”, a famous entity of online courses on various subjects such as data, design, web development, marketing, human resources…
As a transcription service, we add subtitles to their courses.
Using our tool or other similar technologies will be useful for the future. We align ourselves with worldwide evolution and we upgrade the traditional learning way and concept…
In conclusion, distance learning only brings benefits. We can easily imagine evolution in several languages, translating more and more courses in different languages so anyone in the World can have access to comparable training and education.
Thanks to Authôt, we reduce the difficulties related to disability, physical accessibility and language barriers in the learning process.
Authôt. You speak. We write.