Virtual Institutions in Colombia against an Analysis of Comparison of their Products, Services and Procedures

Abstract

Virtual education in Colombia, has had a remarkable growth in recent years. The national government has promoted policies that expand coverage and train the population mainly in technical and technological fields that respond to the needs of the labor market. There are numerous reasons why people do not have access to higher education programs, including economic factors, lack of time to attend a regular classroom, located in remote regions of the country, among others. Through the Ministry of Education MEN and ICT (Information and Communication Technology) virtual education in Colombia has provided a constant evolution. This has allowed that in a harmonious connection between pedagogy and technology, exists the creation of appropriate areas in higher level education. This paper presents a comparative evaluation of products, services and procedures in virtual mode offered by institutions of higher education in Colombia at the undergraduate level. The process of analysis of the results focuses on three aspects: 1) Overview of virtual training programs 2) Services offered in virtual modality by institutions of higher education 3) Presence on the Internet and social networks to support effective communication