While I was reading Institutional Challenges in the Creation and Delivery of an Online Degree Program by Karen Kaminski and William D. Milheim, the scene from India came to my mind. Some 8 years back when I passed my M.ED, there wasn’t any website of the university I took the program from. But, I can see a website of the same university now. The state universities usually have fewer budgets, so developing an online course would be the last thing any state will do. But with the passage of time and the increasing demand for online courses, state universities are offering a few online programs. The private universities always have good budgets so they came into the online course development comparatively early. The university from which I completed my M.ed has a website but doesn’t look like that updated. Only the pages those are updated are- the deadlines page or the result page. The student support services are not that adequate on website. This clearly shows poor maintenance. The websites once build is not updated frequently. There can be numerous reasons such as insufficient staff, absence of new software and support from the government. Although, the history of distance learning goes back in 1970s, the online course management is still budding. The IGNOU i.e. Indra Gandhi open university is one of the biggest university providing distance learning opportunities to millions, in India as well as outside it. The online courses seem to emphasize the passing along of information rather than promoting learning. Thus, Indian online education system still to develop more so as to have an effective online environment.
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