Abstract:

Distance education is basically acquisition of knowledge where the learner is geographically separated from the institute. The learning materials are communicated to the learners either through traditionally used printed textbooks or a variety of media including audio recording, videotapes, webinars, computer software, and web-based programs, videos, CDs, DVDs, and other online technologies. There is a number of universities around the world that have been offering distance education programs. This phenomenon has gained much attention due to initiatives were taken globally to enhance the quality and access to education. Distance education has been effective in eliminating the barriers in the field of education. Distance Education is an excellent way to provide easy access, cost-effective and quality education to people of all walks of life. This paper will provide analyzes of the 10 distance education (DE) approaches that are being used by distance learning institutes in Pakistan and across the world. It will further discuss the problems and challenges faced by these distance education (DE) institutes. Finally, it will suggest an enhanced distance learning model suiting to the demands and needs of the education sector of Pakistan. This will minimize the problems and challenges that have been hindering in its way of provision of quality and quantity knowledge to its masses.

Keywords:

Distance Education, Learning material, off-campus model, organization structure, dual mode model.