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Online Education (OE) refers to a mode of education and a system where the interacting learner and the teacher are separated by space where the interaction can
be done through high speed internet. It
is an alternative method of instructional process to the traditional or conventional method. It enables a large segment of the learners with necessary aptitude to learn more knowledge and professional competence. Since OE is a form if instruction, which is capable of catering for large number of students, it is impossible to deliver the instruction and teaching without the help of a PC and an internet connection. The easily available internet connectivity is helping to distribute the content and teach the same to the distance learners. This is an effective media and has been extensively used for educational purposes to spread literacy or to give formal and non- formal education all over the world. In the present decade, the online media is dominating in distance education in the developed and developing countries.
In India, continuous efforts are being made to improve the quality and quantity of distance education and several educational commissions have examined and made recommendations for bringing about the required innovations to meet the needs of the distance education system. Moreover, several research studies have indicated that the effective use of new instructional strategies through communication and information technologies, which provide individualized instructions like Learning Module, Programmed Learning Material (PLM) and Computer Based Instructional (CBI) materials. These methods together with its allied communication technologies reach a large number of learners and also help in improving the quality of teaching-learning process in distance education. Now, with the introduction of digital technologies like telecommunication, Interactive television (I-TV) and Virtual conferences (Video
conferencing, teleconferencing, audio conferencing and computer conferencing ), the virtual learning was established in distance education for teaching, learning and evaluation. In that regard, recently developed online experimentation is playing an important role for online education in
India.
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