Friday 8 July 2011

Webcasting used in Distance Learning

LiveStreamPro, New Delhi (India), 9810999475, 9818406080

I am currently pursuing MBA from one of the premiere MBA institute in Delhi, India by way of distance learning. The institute has learning centres across each state in India and these centres have weekend classes to help students with their courses and difficulties. The classes are very useful if attended sincerely.

A few months back I had to move out of India because of my job. And as a result I was deprived of these weekend classes and any guidance. I knew I would be able to manage theory subjects on my own. The subject I was most worried about was Operation Research. And to my horror, when I opened the book all my fears turned real. I was not able to understand a thing. I sat with my book opened in front of me trying to make sense of what was written; I turned the pages for hours; and finally ended up closing it without understanding a word and with a severe headache. I was sure I am going to fail this exam.

In this desperate state, an idea stuck me. I opened youtube.com and typed the name of my first chapter. And Eureka!!! To my delight there came in front of me the entire lecture series of an IIM professor teaching his class. His live class was recorded by some webcasting company or video recording company and these recorded lectures were uploaded on the website for students like me. And so one by one I downloaded and learnt all the lectures and within a week I was able to solve each and every problem given in my course book. I was thrilled to use the Video on Demand service. 

Now a days, many colleges and many individual professors are uploading the live recording of their lectures over the internet. This gives them more credibility and wider audience. And it goes without saying that the students are benefited from this in a big way. 

Also, with so much competition and the cut off of the admissions into colleges reaching the 100 percent mark, students who otherwise would not get admission to the top colleges or to any college for that matter and therefore cannot even dream of experiencing the teachings techniques of NIFT or IIM or IIT professors, are able to actually learn from them by looking at these videos.