Prospects of Distance Education in Developing Countries Junaid A. Khan Salman A. Khan Reslan H. Al-Abaji Computer Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia. e-mail: {jakhan,salmana,raslan}@ccse.kfupm.edu.sa Abstract The limited resources and relatively dense population in developing countries is an obstacle for the availability of on-campus education for the whole population. Distance education is relatively a better solution to overcome this problem. In this paper, we explore interactive and relatively cheaper resources for high- class distance education system, suitable for developing nations. We have supported our work with few case studies of distance education programs in developing countries. The state-of-the-art web-based education system is also discussed and its prospects in developing countries is presented. Keywords Distance education, Web based education, Multimedia based education [1] INTRODUCTION Traditional means of education are not sufficient to meet the needs of relatively large populations, in terms of resources, even in developed countries. In most of the developing countries, education for all, at least past the primary level, looks like an unrealistic dream if conventional strategies are pursued [1]. Relatively dense population in developing countries increasingly encourages the need to explore alternative solutions for education. One solution to overcome this problem is decentralization of educational institutes. These decentralized units have to reach critical mass in order to justify their educational existence economically [2]. In developing countries, due to limited economical resources, it is not possible to build large number of above mentioned decentralized units. One way to overcome this problem is to utilize distance teaching or education wherever the decentralized support in terms of teaching and economic resources is not sufficient. Distance education allows students from anywhere in the world to study at home. This means that instructors and students may be separated by geographical distance. Communication between students and instructors are mediated by different communication tools employed in distance learning systems. Most of the time, no face-to-face communication is employed in distance education system. This paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, a brief history of distance education is given. Section 3 explores the available tools and resources including web based education. Section 4 discusses prospects of distance education and some case studies in developing countries using the tools and resources mentioned in Section 3. Section 5 gives the conclusion. [2] HISTORICAL BACKGROUND In order to evaluate the current status of distance education, a brief overview of its history is nedded. According to Schneider & Germann [3], history of distance learning is divided into three generations, given as follows: • First generation: “correspondence study”, where students and teachers communicate with each other through the mail. • Second generation: “multimedia distance teaching” or broadcast/teleconferencing”, where television and radio broadcasts are used by the students and teachers for communication. • Third generation: “interactive, web-based instruction”, where resources of the World Wide Web enhance communication, not only between students and teachers, but among students as well. The evidence of first generation is found at least in 1883 in Sweden; in United States the movement begin in 1890’s [4]. The start of second generation in the mid of 20 th century has speed-up the communication between instructor and International conference on Millennium Dawn in Training and Continuing Education 24-26 April 2001 University of Bahrain, Bahrain