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» DISTANCE EDUCATION
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Distance education, or distance learning, is a field
of education that focuses on the pedagogy/andragogy,
technology, and instructional systems design that are
effectively incorporated in delivering education to
students who are not physically "on site"
to receive their education. Instead, teachers and students
may communicate asynchronously (at times of their own
choosing) by exchanging printed or electronic media,
or through technology that allows them to communicate
in real time (synchronously). Distance education courses
that require a physical on-site presence for any reason
including the taking of examinations is considered to
be a hybrid or blended course or program. |
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Types of distance education courses:
- Correspondence conducted through regular mail
- Internet conducted either synchronously or asynchronously
- Telecourse/Broadcast where content is delivered via
radio or television
- CD-ROM where the student interacts with computer content
stored on a CD-ROM
- PocketPC/Mobile Learning where the student accesses
course content stored on a mobile device or through a
wireless server
Origins:
Modern distance education has been around at least since
Isaac Pitman taught shorthand in Great Britain via correspondence
in the 1840s [1]
One of the oldest distance education universities is the
University of South Africa, which has been offering Correspondence
Education courses since 1946. The largest distance education
university in the United Kingdom is the Open University
founded 1969. In Germany the FernUniversität in Hagen
was founded 1974. There are now many similar institutions
around the world, often with the name Open University (in
English or in the local language), and these are listed
below.
There are many private and public, non-profit and for-profit
institutions offering courses and degree programs through
distance education. Levels of accreditation vary; some institutions
offering distance education in the United States have received
little outside oversight, and some may be fraudulent diploma
mills. In many other jurisdictions, an institution may not
use the term "University" without accreditation
and authorisation, normally by the national government.
In the twentieth century, radio, television, and the Internet
have all been used to further distance education.
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