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The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is to date the most visible and successful experiment in "open-access" -- that is, free -- academic philosophy.

The Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL) was set up for the purpose of providing higher educational facilities to persons above 18 years of age with relevant basic qualifications, in Sri Lanka. It is the only recognized university in Sri Lanka where students are able to pursue further education by distance education techniques in keeping with the philosophy of open and distance learning. The main focus of this lecture would be to identify and evaluate the impact of online learning on the students. This lecture would essentially discuss the findings from a research done using random sampling method with a questionnaire technique. According to the findings, most students prefer forums as the best online teaching/ collaboration tool. They like this method because they can contact their coordinator at any time and at any place, and can also network as well as discuss their queries. Students pursuing their studies at post graduate level prefer this method more than other students. However, the students have identified this method as a complement and not as a substitute for traditional face to face learning. As far as barriers for Online Education are concerned : Lack of resources (computers as well as experts in the field), infrastructure, no proper training on Moodle, and low awareness level of e-Learning are considered as main problems. This Lecture would be more of a discussion on impact of Online Learning and lessons learned from it in a developing country. I will present our findings and then we can have an open house to discuss this further.