- Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education
- Vol: 15 Issue: 3
- ICT Usage By Distance Learners In India
ICT Usage By Distance Learners In India
Authors : Ashish Kumar Awadhiya, Anshu Miglani, K. Gowthaman
Pages : 242-253
Doi:10.17718/tojde.52135
View : 9 | Download : 5
Publication Date : 2014-09-01
Article Type : Other
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.Keywords : ICT, Distance Education, Social Media, ICT Accessibility, Mobile Learning.