ICT USAGE BY DISTANCE LEARNERS IN INDIA
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Anadolu University, Eskisehir
Abstract
Open Universities across the world are embracing ICT based teaching and learning
process to disseminate quality education to their learners spread across the globe. In
India availability and access of ICT and learner characteristics are uneven and vary from
state to state. Hence it is important to establish the facts about ICT access among
learners, their ICT usage patterns and their readiness to use ICT for educational purpose.
In view of this, a study was conducted with the objective to find out the access level of
ICT among distance learners. The analysis indicates that maximum learners have
desktop/laptops and most of them are accessing internet very frequently from their
home. The analysis also indicates that maximum respondents are browsing social
networking sites followed by educational and e-mail service providing websites. Findings
suggest that there is a need to generate ICT based tutorials complemented with social
networking tools and mobile applications. Study also shows that learners are equipped
with mobile phones and they are browsing internet through it and also availing support
services offered by the university. Hence possibility of integrating mobile phone services
may be used for providing learner support services and content delivery.
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Keywords
ICT, distance education, social media, ICT accessibility, mobile Learning