Students and instructors in distance learning programs must learn to use multimedia, such as audio, video, animations and pictures, to get the most out of the online classroom. In distance learning, teachers need to re-create the learning styles that students receive in the classroom by providing videos, films, animations, hands-on activity lessons and audio related to the subject.
However, instructors do not always know how to use all of the multimedia options available to them, and students may experience roadblocks in their quest to learn the information if they do not have the right computer system or Internet capacity. So, depending on the level of multimedia knowledge possessed by the student or instructor, the educational experience may suffer from lack of experience or is heightened because the teacher uses different multimedia in her online instruction.
Students learning online usually have lower tuition and no transportation costs. However, students in distance-learning programs do not readily have access to tutors, academic planners and schedulers like they do on campus. Additionally, students need to have a computer with a stable Internet connection to complete online assignments and tests. Distance learning programs that partner with local schools and libraries or provide a correspondence program might help reduce the cost of online programs.
Students pick and choose when to study and turn in assignments in most distance learning programs, offering flexibility around work and family schedules. However, they rarely have immediate responses from instructors if they have a question, such as they would receive in a classroom.
Students usually will not receive in-person help from a teacher with a distance learning program but can communicate with online messaging. In "Barriers to Learning in Distance Education," Jill M. Galusha reports that students may feel a sense of isolationism because the online format does not satisfy their need to discuss and learn important concepts with regard to their education.
In "Distance Learning: Promises, Problems, and Possibilities," Doug Valentine says a study in Community College Journal of Research and Practice reports that distance learning programs were either equal to or lower than regular education. The study also indicated that instructors often did not know how to use the technology, either computers or the online program, to teach the distance learner, meaning the program did not meet the needs of the student.