Distance Learning

Distance learning Distance learning has been around for a long time in the form of correspondence, in which assignments were completed without supervision and submitted to an instructor via mail. Most courses were quite basic and did not allow for much, if any, teacher-student or student-teacher interaction. The introduction of the Internet, however, changed this model for delivering and submitting educational content. Computers allow more complicated information, more engaging instructional materials. This eventually results in meaningful online interaction between and among teachers and students. With the help of various technology advances, distance learning has been increasingly popular and become an important part of college education. Prior to the Internet era, distance learning could not have had the effectiveness it has today. Technology, especially technology used in distance learning, has become fundamental and beneficial in the sense that it has opened more options for people to have a college education. During the last few decades, the education landscape has changed profoundly. In the United States, formal education fifty years ago was basically the province of a privileged few in the society. However, as the American economy has changed from an agrarian mode, then to the industrial mode, through the information age, and now in the telecommunication age, formal education, which includes exposure to the liberal arts and technology, has become essential for the economic success of individuals, organizations, and countries. The undergraduate student population three decades ago was basically single, residential, full-time, and 18-23 years old. As we enter the telecommunication age, with its vastly expanded employment skill sets, the undergraduate student population has changed to include older (Beller and Or, 1998), married, employed, and non-residential students. For example, the rise of “full time part time students” is a phenomenon of recent years,

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