Organizational and reference tools including digital calendars, dictionaries, translation devices, and journals allow both instructor and student to manage their time more efficiently. Digital calendars can be set with alarms that help students manage their time better: setting intermediate goals for completing large research projects or reading lengthy tomes. Also, digital calendars help distance learning students who have heavy course loads. The calendars allow students to input due dates and other deadlines. Students and instructors have at their fingertips a whole range of resources that would otherwise require large learning spaces and numerous reference materials like dictionaries, thesauri, and other reference guides including atlases. Students who are learning in languages that are not their native tongues can avail themselves of technological translation tools, and professors need not worry about translating each course reading into multiple languages. The Web makes research potentially more accurate because of the wealth of information contained online but also because the Internet makes it possible also for students to conduct fact-checking immediately. Instructors can use organizational technology tools to better manage their student rosters, grades, and deadlines and to communicate with other instructors.
Another advantage of technological tools for distance learning is improved assessment. Instructors can create novel assessment measures utilizing multimedia content. Timed exams as well as take-home questions can also be administered online. Students may be asked to present what they have learned in a Web page or other creative, multimedia format. Technology makes collaborative learning possible with easy ways for students...
If an assessment method demands oral presentations then technology enables teleconferenced classroom environments.
Technologies for learning at a distance create an egalitarian educational environment. Students who would be too reticent to speak up in an intimidating classroom environment feel freer to express themselves in the more anonymous online setting. Courses themselves are less about teacher authority and more about collaborative knowledge, in which students and especially adult students can contribute their perspectives and prior knowledge to the course content. Some universities promote collaborative course preparation and planning, if not fully team-led classes. The burden of teaching is shared among faculty members, each of whom can contribute from their areas of expertise. The result is a much more organic, multidisciplinary learning environment. Student feedback is also instantaneous because of new technologies and so instructors can adapt their approach and their content to suit the needs of each semester's students.
The Internet also helps students see how their course applies to and integrates with the real world, the world outside of academia. Students can search for jobs within the field, can read about professionals in their course of study, and apply for internships and scholarships online with the aid of instructors and guidance counselors. Technology makes adult learning possible, as students can work and attend school at the same time because of flexible scheduling. Self-directed learning becomes natural when course material is delivered online, hyperlinks leading to tangential areas of research the student might never have encountered otherwise.
