Societal and Cultural Factors Influencing the Distance Education Movement

Due to societal and cultural factors related to distance education, distance education is growing rapidly in most universities in the United States. Is it just another hype that is destined to disappear? Or is it here to stay?

Societal and cultural factors in distance education
Online education has brought revolutionary changes to the education sector. Due to overwhelming demand, the number of schools offering online programs and degrees is increasing every year. There are many societal and cultural factors in the movement phenomena of distance education. Here are the most obvious ones.

Faster lifestyle
In modern culture, time is money. It seems that our pace of life is accelerating every year. Unlike the majority of Orientals, Westerners do not seem able to sit down, relax and enjoy the present. They are always in a hurry to try to do more, get more and earn more. It is not surprising that fast food chains never seem to close their doors. Nor is it surprising that distance education has become so popular.

You can drink your coffee, eat your hamburger or frozen dish and read the conference online at the same time. Even if you are concerned about your health, you will still benefit from online courses, because you will be able to do your homework while your homemade roast baked. You can also connect to your class and read or respond to comments on the forum whenever you have a free minute. You do not have to drive, so you save a lot of time and money on gas.

The majority of people who opt for distance education have a full-time job. They can therefore study during the lunch break or when their boss is not at the office (this is not what I recommend).

If you have an Internet-enabled mobile phone, you can read a lecture or attend a classroom while waiting at the dentist, waiting for a bus to arrive or in case of a collision with the traffic. You can not beat the flexibility and convenience offered by online courses. If you are a typical Westerner, these societal and cultural factors in distance education would encourage you to choose online education over the traditional classroom.

Green movement
Traditional educational institutions waste a lot of energy, paper and water daily. Advocates of ecological life who care about what our Earth will be in fifty to one hundred years, now choose distance education for noble reasons. By taking online classes, you will not only help Earth, but you will save a lot of money on paper, ink and gas.

Different definition of culture
Technology is radically changing our lives, whether we like it or not. It’s good not to know who wrote War and Peace and to think that Beethoven is a movie dog. However, you can not be described as cultured if you do not know what Facebook or Google is or how to send a text message.

For many people, the Internet and technology have become saviors of their social lives because it is often easy to communicate and connect with people by hiding behind computer screens. For these people, distance education is a natural choice because they do not have to overcome their fear of public speaking to become good students. They can express themselves more freely in discussion forums than in classrooms. They can also email their teachers with questions and comments rather than raise their hands in front of the class.

Advances in technology
While some say technology is both a blessing and a curse, education is a blessing. The astonishing advances in technology are contributing to the popularity of the distance education movement.

Being able to access your classroom 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from almost anywhere (even if you are traveling abroad) has greatly facilitated the lives of many students and teachers. You do not have to wait for spring break to go to the beach for a week. You can easily access the Internet in all civilized countries and in most hotels. You do not have to worry about assigning your homework to the teacher, because there are e-mails, blackboards and many other educational platforms that can do it in seconds online.