distance education

Distance education (also called distance learning or virtual learning) is the use of electronic information and commu-nication technology to link teachers and students without their being together in a physical classroom.

Distance education in the form of correspondence schools or classes actually began as early as the mid-19th century with teaching of the Pitman Shorthand writ-ing method. Later, correspondence classes became part of Chautauqua, a movement to educate the rural and urban working classes, taking advantage of the growing reach of mail service through Rural Free Delivery. In correspon-dence schools, each lesson is typically mailed to the stu-dent, who completes the required work and returns it for grading. A certificate is awarded upon completion of course requirements. A few universities (such as the University of Wisconsin) also began to offer correspondence programs.

By the middle of the 20th century, radio and then tele-vision was being used to bring lectures to students. This increased the immediacy and spontaneity of teaching. The invention of videotape in the 1970s allowed leading teachers to create customized courses geared for different audiences. However, the ability of students to interact with teachers remained limited.

In the 1960s computers also began to be used for edu-cation. One of the earliest and most innovative programs was PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations), which began at the University of Illinois but was later expanded to hundreds of networked terminals. PLATO in many ways pioneered the combining of text, graphics, and sound—what would later be called multime-dia. PLATO also provided for early forms of both e-mail and computer bulletin boards.

Meanwhile, with the development of ARPANET and eventually the Internet, a new platform became available for delivering instruction. By the mid-1990s, courses were being delivered via the Internet (see World Wide Web).

Modern Distance Education

As broadband Internet access becomes the norm, more Inter-net-based learning environments are taking advantage of video conferencing technology, allowing teachers and stu-dents to interact face to face. This helps answer a common objection by critics that distance education cannot replicate the personal and social dimensions of face-to-face education. Another way this objection is sometimes addressed by uni-versities is by having a period of physical residency (per-haps a few weeks) as part of the semester.

New platforms for distance education continue to emerge. Class content including lectures has been format-ted for delivery to mobile devices such as iPods (see pda and smartphone). Another intriguing idea is to establish the classroom within an existing virtual world, such as the popular game Second Life (see online games.) Here students and teachers can meet “face to face” through their virtual embodiments (avatars). It seems only a matter of time before entire universities will exist in such burgeoning alternative worlds.