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Distance Education Is Growing
from: Kyle BesserDistance education is structured learning in which the student and instructor can be separated by place and time. Distance education programs are particularly beneficial for the many people who are not financially, physically or geographically able to obtain education through traditional methods.
Distance education is currently the fastest growing form of domestic and international education. Although the ways in which distance education is implemented differs from country to country, cost effective distance learning technologies have enabled distance learning programs to flourish around the world.
Distance education was once considered a special form of education which used non-traditional delivery methods but has now become an important concept in mainstream education. The rapid development of distance education technology has allowed distance education to be delivered to students using a variety of media to remote locations in an effort to serve the educational needs of growing populations. Developments in distance education technology even allow distance education programs to provide specialized courses to students in remote geographic areas with increasing interactivity between students and teacher.
Distance education has experienced dramatic growth both nationally and internationally since the early 1980s. Distance education has evolved from the early correspondence education which used primarily printed materials into a global movement using a variety of technologies. The goals of distance education have been to offer degree programs, to battle illiteracy in developing countries, to provide training opportunities for economic growth and to offer curriculum enrichment in non-traditional educational settings.
Distance education relies heavily on a variety of distance learning technologies for delivery. Printed materials, radio, television, electronic mail, interactive video, satellite telecommunications and multimedia computer technology are some of the distance learning technologies used to facilitate student-teacher interaction and provide feedback to the distant learner.
Recent developments in interactive multimedia distance learning technologies hold more promise to facilitate individualized and collaborative learning thus making distance education and traditional education more similar. These distance learning technologies have the capability of creating new learning environments such as virtual communities.
Students in traditional settings are being given entire courses on CD-rom multimedia disks which allows them to progress at their own pace. Students interact with the instructor and other students through email or face to face according to their needs.
Through international collaboration, students around the world can participate in cooperative learning activities by sharing information using computer networks. Global classrooms can have participants from various countries interacting with each other from a distance. The explosion of information technologies has brought learners together by erasing the boundaries of time and place for both traditional and distance learners.
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