The Role of Distance Education in Economic Growth andDevelopment

Introduction: In this is age of technology distance educationserves individuals by enhancing their knowledge, attitude, skills,and behavior; it can also be a significant driver of economicdevelopment. The purpose of this research was to examine the roleof distance education in economic development in Payame NoorUniversity (PNU).Methods: From a total population of 1238 PNU students, a sampleset of 184 was made randomly using Cochran’s formula. Datawere collected using a 33-item Distance Education Questionnaireand a 23-item Economic Development Scale, both of which weredeveloped by the researchers. Chronbach’s alpha determinationswere 0.857 and 0.825 for these 2 instruments respectively. Data wereanalyzed using the Pearson correlation in SPSS vs. 20 structuralequation modeling in LISREL vs. 8.53.Results: Results showed a significant positive correlation (0.438)between distance education and economic development. Distanceeducation was also significantly correlated with average (0.218) andhigh (0.441) economic development. Goodness of fit indices showedthat the model was a good fit to the data (χ2/df = 0.764; RMSEA =0.002; GFI = 0.97; AGFI = 0.93).Conclusion: Based on the present findings, optimal and culturallyadjusted ICT application in education can increase efficiencyin many important measures of economic development such aseffectiveness, productivity and capital deepening.

Keywords:

Technology , Distance education , Economic development , Factor analysis