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Distance Learning Statistics Article
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Distance Education
from: Kyle BesserDistance education, or distance learning, is a field of education that focuses on the methods and instructional systems designed to deliver education to students who are not physically on site. Instead of attending classes in person, teachers and students may communicate at times of their own choosing by exchanging printed or electronic media or through distance learning technology that allows them to communicate in real time. Distance education courses that require a physical on-site presence for any reason, including the taking of examinations, are considered to be hybrids or blended courses or programs.
Distance education is not a new idea. Modern distance education has been around since at least 1840 when Isaac Pitman offered shorthand in Great Britain through correspondence courses. With the development of the postal service in the 19th century, the growth and reach of commercial correspondence colleges became nationwide.
The University of London was the first distance learning university to offer distance learning degree programs. Its distance learning degree program, External Programme, was established in 1858. The University of Queensland in Australia established its Department of Correspondence Studies in 1911. The University of South Africa has been offering correspondence education courses since 1946.
The Open University, which is the largest distance education university in the United Kingdom, was founded in 1969. In Germany the FernUniversität in Hagen was founded in 1974. There are now many similar distance learning universities and institutions around the world, and more than a dozen of them have grown to become mega distance learning universities with more than 100,000 students.
Charles Wedemeyer of the University of Wisconsin at Madison is considered the father of modern distance education in America. From 1964-1968, the Carnegie Foundation funded Wedemeyer's Articulated Instructional Media Project which implemented a variety of communication technologies aimed at providing education to off-campus students.
In the 20th century, radio, television and the internet have been used to further distance education. Computers and the internet have made distance education easier and faster.
Online distance learning is rapidly increasing among mainstream universities in the United States. By 2006 more than 96% of the largest colleges and universities in the United States offer online distance learning courses. Even online distance learning doctorate programs have been developed at some prestigious research institutions.
Today many private and public, both non-profit and for-profit institutions, offer distance learning college courses and distance learning degree programs through distance education. Their levels of accreditation vary, however. Some institutions offering distance education in the United States receive little outside oversight. Some are just fraudulent diploma mills offering distance learning fake degrees. Students will have to exercise some care before choosing the institution from which to receive distance education to not waste their time and money on courses and degrees that are distance learning fake degrees that will not be recognized.
Distance-Education Online News
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