Attitudes towards Distance Higher Education: Levels, Influencing Factors and Implications

Abstract

Even though distance education is tangibly expanding all over the globe, its practice and experienced challenges are becoming the major concern of educational research. Among commonly faced challenges, poor attitudes towards the essence and effectiveness of distance education are being reported as commonly faced challenges of dual impacts. It was, therefore, aimed in this study at carrying out extensive literature survey so as to find out the level of attitudes of all respective bodies and come up with common influencing factors. It was also aimed to discuss the implication of those set of attitude and influential factors on the future of higher education institutions. As a result, it was found in many studies that distance institutions’ instructors, students and owners themselves have poor attitudes towards its essence and effectiveness. Some recent studies, however, revealed that respective stakeholders have already started to have a better feeling about it in some countries due to presence of relevant and flexible curriculum, utilization of adequate expertise and more interactive technological modes of instruction which enhance access of attaining global knowledge from world-class scholars.