Distance Education in Bhutan: Improving access and quality through ICT use

Since 2004, the National Institute of Education (NIE) in Samtse, Bhutan, has made systematic efforts to introduce information and communication technology (ICT) for learning support into its distance teacher education program. This article describes the early experiences of using ICT for distance education in Bhutan by teachers and students with relatively limited ICT background. It discusses the challenges of providing student support for a distance teacher education program in Bhutan and it explores the use of ICT for student support. The article also reports an assessment of student perceptions and readiness for ICT use, the introduction of a learning management system and regional study centers as ICT access points, and the experiences and challenges encountered in the process of ICT introduction in its early stages. The use of ICT by distance students based on log data from the learning management system Moodle™ and regional study centers are discussed, as well as the challenges of ICT use under infrastructure and technological support limitations.