Self learning materials in distance education system

The success and effectiveness of distance education systems largely depends on the study materials. Writing for distance education is a more challenging task and quiet different from that face-to-face teaching or writing for a book or a journal. Self-learning materials depend on exploiting the various means and ways of communication to suit it to the needs of learners. SLMs can perform the functions of a live teacher, and thereby how a distance learner may have all the learning experiences which a student may have in a classroom situation. SLMs include all the material prepared to stimulate independent study/learning. The learners in distance education have less contact with either the institution or the tutor, and depend heavily on these specially prepared teaching materials. Revision of SLMs is as important as the development of the materials for the first time because of two reasons. Every distance teaching course needs to be updated from time to time to incorporate the developments in the field of study or discipline. The other reason is to review the performance of the courses in the light of the feedback that you get from the students, tutors, counselors, experts and others in order to make the course more relevant, learner friendly and academically rich.