Discussion of 'Why Distance Education?'

This past week we made an attempt to discuss some issues related to distance education and the changes that it has witnessed over the past decade. The first issue raised in the forum related to immigration and poverty that have certain implications for distance education. In my opinion, poverty may negatively affect students' technological skills and motivation to learn. As such, students coming from immigrant families with low income are more likely to fall behind their peers who have been exposed to technology since early childhood.

Another important topic mentioned in the discussion concerned the role of social networking in distance education. Some of the points raised during the discussion of this topic included the advantages of social networking for student interaction, the effect of social networking on face-to-face communication among students, as well as the potential dangers of social networks for education.