Reading Distance Learning
Distance learning is being adopted in several countries to help children in remote rural schools, and it is also becoming increasingly popular with individuals as a means of obtaining higher or further education. While distance learning is a very different experience from attending a university or college, it does have several advantages and can be ideal for people in particular circumstances and with certain characteristics.

Distance learning students do not need to be in the same place as the course provider. They can even be in a different country. As a result, the cost is usually much lower than attending a university or college. Students can also take as long as they want to complete the course, so they can organize their study while they are working. Many distance learners even continue to do a full-time job.

Distance learning allows students the freedom to arrange their own study schedule, but the disadvantage of it is that many students tend to put off their study tasks and spend much longer on their course. Distance learners never meet the other students or teachers face to face, so they have to motivate themselves to complete projects without encouragement and advice from other people.

While students who attend college or university are able to acquire information from lectures, distance learners usually depend only on written materials. To be successful, distance learners have to be good readers. They must be able to analyse and absorb written texts with little help from a teacher.

Because distance learners are not in the academic environment of a university, they have to discipline themselves while studying. For example, students with children may be disturbed by their children from time to time. Other features of campus life that distance learners cannot experience are the lively social and sports activities. Therefore distance learning would not suit People who see further or higher education as an opportunity to make friends and have fun as well as to study.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR MEMORY
Have you ever heard anyone say "I have a terrible memory"? It is quite common for people to believe that their difficulties in remembering are just part of their personality. In fact, research has proved that human beings' memories are surprisingly similar and our ability to remember can easily be improved.

The German philosopher Hermann Ebbinghaus carried out one of the earliest studies of human memory, which resulted in the "Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve". His experiments were conducted in 1885, but his conclusions still apply to students today. Ebbinghaus discovered that when we learn something new, we forget most of it immediately. He found that more than 50% of the information is forgotten after one hour, and almost two-thirds within one day. The good news is that our rate of forgetting then declines, so the material we can recall after one day (usually about 20%) will stay in our memory.

Ebbinghaus then carried out experiments to see if reciting made a difference to our ability to remember. It is evident that reciting the information just once increases how much we can recall to about 66%, and we remember it for several weeks. This rate is even higher if the facts or ideas are "meaningful", and further reciting keeps the material permanently in our memories. As we forget most new information within one day, the first recitation should take place as soon as possible m no later than 24 hours after learning it.

Although Ebbinghaus referred to "reciting", many educators today prefer to use the term "to review". The reason for this is that learners frequently misunderstand what effective reciting involves. Take language learning as an example: students often tend to recite lists of single vocabulary items, rather than to review them in a context. If you try doing this, you will find that you do remember a lot of words, but you will not understand how to use them appropriately. A more useful method is to use the new vocabulary by describing or retelling the main ideas of the text, presentation or discussion in your own words. In this way, you "review" or "recite" the vocabulary in a context, so the information becomes "meaningful" and you will remember much more.
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