Education throughout the years has changed tremendously. Technology has offered an entire new side to education, thanks to distance education. Distance education has been offered for several years, and it has just kept spreading and keeps on improving. Distance in education is offered in many ways:.
1) Voice- Through instruction audio tools like audio-conference, tape, and video.
2) Video-Instructional video tools such as slides, and real time moving images.
3) Data-Computers allow us to send and receive material electronically and fast.
As distance education becomes more popular more universities and colleges have been offering many more online classes. "According to the report 54,470 different distance education courses were offered. These were primarily college-level or credit courses and represented more than 1.5 million students".
While looking for information regarding distance education I encountered an article, which explained how distance education is not new. Distance education has been a part of the educational experience for well over 100 years, with the introduction of print-based correspondence study in the late 1800s. "The University of Maryland, University College has been one of the primary educators of the U.S. armed forces around the world for decades using a myriad of technologies. In same period, the University of London sent its "correspondence" courses by boat and rail to all parts of the British Commonwealth, while the Open University in the UK, since the '60s, has exploited spare time on television, awarding degrees all over Europe". www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/distancelearning.html1 .
Many people wonder whether or not distance education is effective. "Research comparing distance education to traditional face-to-face instruction indicates that teaching and studying at a distance can be as effective as traditional instruction, when the method and technologies used are appropriate to the instructional tasks, there is student-to-student interaction, and when there is timely teacher-to- student feedback" http://www.
