The adage “there are two sides to every story” applies, also, to e-Learning. This, relatively new mode of courses delivery provides opportunities for knowledge distribution to persons residing even to the most remote geographical areas. At the same time, the implementation of this reform creates problems, which should be given the necessary attention, if it is to be effective, as it will be explained and supported in this paper. The globalization concept prevailing in our times has revolutionalized many sectors of our everyday activities, which have become more demanding. It is generally agreed that certain deficiencies in education and training have delayed and deferred developments in many countries. Economic realities have been changed resulting to significant impact on enterprises. To cope with the emerging demands, businesses have to change their strategic plans in regard to their training programmes and adapt to the requirements of knowledge-based and skill-based economy. This means that the qualifications of workforce have to be upgraded, whereas prospective employees should be educated in a way to meet their current market demands. In the present state of our civilization people have time off work, which, however, is not adequate to give the workforce the chance to upgrade their qualifications or to individuals to pursue educational courses through classroom attendance. Besides, economic problems are an additional problem for educational/ training courses delivery on campus. The advent of e-learning will facilitate the implementation of educational and/or training courses to everybody interested. In this paper discussion will be focused on two dimensions of e-learning, the sociological and psychological, based on empirical research carried out among educationists, sociologists, psychologists, teachers and endusers. In the sociological sector focus will be given to the relationship between educational planning and economic, political, cultural and social forces of the society. Additionally, the relation between teachers and students and the role of behaviors of the participants in the e-learning educational systems will be analyzed. In an e-learning environment emphasizing learning-centered activity and system interactivity, the impact of psychology promotes self-management focused on the enactment of learning goals, self-monitoring, and motivation of students to achieve quality educational outcomes. Learners are no longer the object of educational guidance and obligations but the subject of their education and learning autonomy. Finally, the conclusion part will provide recommendations on how sociological and psychological dimensions of e-learning can influence the most effective implementation of the system.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors which affect the school teachers in getting the further professional qualifications through the distance mode of Allama Iqbal Open University. For this purpose, 300 in-service secondary school teachers who completed M.Ed from Allama Iqbal Open University and 100 heads of secondary schools were taken as the sample of the study. The main objectives of the study were, to explain the status of teacher educations through distance-learning in Pakistan, to identify the obstacles in getting in-service professional training through distance education. The major recommendations of the study were, Allama Iqbal Open University should design fee-concessions and scholarship polices for the experienced teachers, the promotion policy of teachers should be made professional based not seniority based and M.Ed qualified teachers should be given propriety for the next scale, facilities and support services should be provided to the students so that objectives of M.Ed program be fully achieved, the departmental obstacles and restrictions be eradicated by reshaping the policies and advance increments should be reinstated after the completion of M.Ed program, Higher Education Commission (HEC) which is the body of preparing policy for Higher studies scholarship, so M.Ed level programs should be included in the policies of HEC, and the admission criteria of AIOU should be changed, experience teachers should be given priority in the admission.

Open and Distance Learning (ODL) system has been correctly identified as a panacea for the myriad of problems in the educational systems throughout the world. The pressing socio-economic compulsions, new multi-media teaching- learning system and globalization of education have paved the way for the growth of distance education at the national as well as international level. Education is a fundamental pillar of democracy for sustainable development and socio-economic justice. The rationale of distance education is to ensure equal opportunities of education to disadvantaged sections of the society who, because of financial, geographical or time constraints, are not in a position to upgrade their education, knowledge and skills. Education being a dynamic process, the need of the hour is to use it in a positive direction with the changing demands of the society and thereby improve the living standards of the people. Keeping this in view, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the issues like: democratization of education through open and distance learning system, higher education and distance education system, and development of strategies for the autonomy of Distance Educations institutions (DEIs)working under conventional university set up. The objectives of distance education make it clear that this system was expected to play a key role in democratization of higher education in a country. However, one of the major problems in our country has been that distance education has to operate within the framework of a conventional university under hostile circumstances. The transition from conventional system to hi-tech model of open learning is still not digested by the advocates of the formal system within the conventional universities. The transition, therefore, will have to be slow until the administration and the academicians gradually start appreciating the ODL system and prepare itself for a change from conventional to non-conventional or open system. In order to shoulder social responsibilities the DEI's will have to respond not only to regional educational needs but also globally rooted challenges.

This study aims at revealing whether language teachers use online resources to teach pronunciation to their students or not, what they think of using online pronunciation teaching resources, whether there is a correlation between age and using online pronunciation teaching resources, and whether there is a correlation between teaching experience and using online pronunciation teaching resources. 109 language teachers working in preparatory schools of five different universities in North Cyprus participated in the present study. The results of the study exhibited that 36 (%33) of language teachers made use of online resources to teach pronunciation to their students. However, 73 (% 67) of the language teachers responded that they did not use online resources to teach pronunciation to their students. It was also revealed in the study that language teachers who are seniors and more experienced had never used online pronunciation teaching materials, and that they needed training as to how to use online pronunciation resources. However, those who are young and less experienced stated that online pronunciation resources were beneficial for both students’ pronunciation development and language teachers’ professional development. Moreover, it was clearly seen that while language teachers who are seniors showed a reduced tendency towards using online pronunciation resources, those who are young were more enthusiastic about using online pronunciation resources. Furthermore, it was overtly seen that while language teachers with more teaching experience showed a reduced tendency towards using online pronunciation resources, those with little teaching experience were more enthusiastic about using online pronunciation resources.

Education is a social activity that plays a critical role in enriching the living standard of people and libraries are the essential tools for promoting educational activities. The internet changes the whole world into a global village. Still educational institutions and libraries work hand in hand toward promoting knowledge. Libraries play a key role in developing reading habits among students. In Pakistan’s educational setup, libraries are not functioning in the true sense due to many reasons, and students get no opportunities for reading additional books apart from their course books. These poor reading habits continue at the college level or even in university. The present study was designed to find out the factors conducive for the effective use of library among university students in Pakistan. It was planned to achieve the objectives, i.e. to identify the conducive factors for library use, library resources motivating students, the impact of teachers’ motivation for students toward the use of libraries, importance of physical facilities for attracting students toward libraries. To investigate these objectives, two questionnaires were developed each for teachers and students on five point Likert scale. The study concluded that university teachers motivate students through library related tasks for the use of library. Students’ own interest, library environment, librarian and other staffs’ attitude and availability of necessary facilities are various important factors for the use of library.

One cannot say that a particular method is the only method of teaching a particular concept. The teacher, who is a researcher as well, used traditional method of teaching i.e. explaining the content from the textbook. However, students did not fail to respond to the method used but felt difficulty in learning and applying the concept. Then Teacher realized through oral and written feedback the difficulty faced by students and changed his mode of teaching. First, he explained the concept of content from the textbook and discussed the same with the help of an example. He divided the students into groups and gave other examples along with a question related to the concept, which was useful for the subject of the course and asked the students to apply and give the answers (result) after thorough discussion. He moved round the classroom and interacted with groups clearing the doubts of students. In this way, he prepared the students for the class. He started teaching the content/concept from the textbook. Students understood the concept and felt very happy in learning and applying the concept. The teacher realized the happiness of students regarding the concept learning through oral and written feedback. Later he surveyed the literature and understood the use of diary writing. Now he started writing diary and noted down his experiences for guidance in the future. He has taken three tasks and guided students successfully. The answers in internal exam papers of students confirmed that it is the best way of teaching. Thus he found a new and effective method of teaching through reflective practice.

This paper attempts to evaluate the competencies of teachers trained through distance mode in Pakistan. For this purpose 200 teachers were selected who had got B.Ed qualifications from Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU and working under Rawalpindi region of Federal Gov Educational Institutions (FGEI). The opinions on the competencies of these selected teachers were collected by their peers. A 26 items questionnaire of 5 point Likert scale was constructed for peer teachers of FGEI were considered the sample of the study. The study found that teachers trained through distance mode were good at modern techniques of evaluation and supervision, curricular activities, presenting the lesson, creating a conducive environment for learning, communication skills, and setting the priorities. The teachers were always coming to the class well prepared, they knew the discipline very well, involved the students in different learning activities, attended the meetings with the parents properly, completed the syllabus in time and explained the difficult topics clearly.