Bill Gates praises distance learning

29 Jan 2010

Bill gates is a believer in the power of online learning.

Bill Gates has praised online learning as an educational tool in his charity''s annual letter.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has pumped money into some educational initiatives in the US and the Microsoft founder, one of the richest men in the world, has talked up the benefits learning over the internet.

In the letter, which covers a wide range of the charity''s interests, he said that, with online learning, "the internet will surprise people in how it can improve things".

[Mr] Gates also wrote about making the learning experience more interactive online, through the use of videos and dynamic feedback and tailoring to the needs of students.

A study by the Sloan Consortium recently found that there was a 17 per cent surge in enrolments onto online courses in the US in 2008, with 4.8 million students now learning online.

With many of the courses offered by ICS, including GCSEs and A Levels courses, it is possible to stay in contact with a tutor, as well as with other students in an online community.

Posted by Christopher Comfort