Distance Learning

The present paper aims to review distance learning in the context of present definitions,rntechnologies, opportunities, challenges, concepts and contributions as it is fast becoming an essentialrnpart of educational systems in both developed and developing countries. By virtue of new technologiesrnthe ways of teaching and acquiring new knowledge aren’t confined by space and time any more. Newrntechnologies offer great flexibility in when, where and how to distribute teaching and acquiringrnknowledge offering flexible learning opportunities to individuals and group learners. Distance learningrnis one of the most rapidly growing fields of education and its potential impact on all educationrndelivery systems has been greatly accentuated through the development of Internet-based informationrntechnologies and in particular the World Wide Web. In order to meet the needs of the changing worldrnfuture distance learning must be time flexible, lacking geographical barriers, competitive cost/value,rnand learner centred. The chapter is intended for all educational institutions and their academicrnpersonnel. Modern economic and social achievements at the end of the 20th century initiate the transition ofrnglobal economy from old into a new virtual economy. Virtual economy is highly related tornglobalization and economy networking. This fact emphasises the importance of knowledge. Today itrnhas become the fundamental economic resource. For this reason knowledge enriched workers are thernmost wanted input and output. Education is necessary to achieve and supplement new knowledge.rnBecause of geographical distance and level of development, education, in classical sense, is notrnavailable to a large number of world’s population. Worldwide 796 million of people reported notrnbeing able to read and write; 64% of them were women. Adult literacy rates were lowest in Southe Asia - 62%, Saharan Africa - 63%, Oceania – 66% and Northern Africa – 67% (UNESCO, 2010).rnEducation has to be considered in its relation to global, economic, social and cultural development. Byrnincreasing the number of educated population global economy can achieve: sustainable GDP growth,rndecreasing of global unemployment, better quality of livingrnAs in every other aspect of modern life, the answer to the challenge of education for development willrninclude the use of information and communication technologies, provided the necessary organizationalrnand policy changes that can be implemented to make the technologies effective. Rapid development ofrninformation technology contributed to the creation of new methods in education i.e. teaching andrnlearning. Based on this claim, the ways of teaching and acquiring new knowledge aren’t confined byrnspace and time any more. There are many technologies that can offer great flexibility in when, wherernand how to distribute teaching and acquiring knowledge. In particular, technology-mediated distancernlearning is more and more in use. Roughly the used technologies for this purpose can be divided intornfour categories including: print, audio (voice), computer (data) and video. Particularly, the expansionrnof the World Wide Web, coupled with constant fall in the cost of processing, storing and transmittingrninformation contributed significant shifts in how distance learning is perceived by educators and howrnit is designed, delivered and managed. Distance learning can be summarized as teaching and learningrninvolving implementation of various technological applications. This term also reflects both the factrnthat all or most of the teaching is conducted by someone removed in time and space from the learner.rnAs a force of contributing to social and economic development distance learning is today one of thernmost rapidly growing fields of education and training. The mission of distance learning includesrngreater dimensions of openness and flexibility, whether in terms of access, curriculum or otherrnelements of structure. Therefore this chapter aims to explain the terms and definitions of distancernlearning making reference also to its advantages and disadvantages, its accompanying technologies,rnmethods and implementation. The chapter will also give recommendation and future researchrndirections, and is intended for all educational institutions delivering distance learning, institutions whornwill deliver distance learning in the future, and their academic personnel.rn2 The concept and historical development of Distance LearningrnDistance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aimrnof delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in arntraditional educational setting such as a classroom. It has been described as "a process to create andrnprovide access to learning when the source of information and the learners are separated by time andrndistance, or both” (Honeyman & Miller, 1993, p. 68).rnModern distance learning initially relied on the development of postal services in the 19th century andrnhas been practiced at least since Isaac Pitman taught shorthand in Great Britain via correspondence inrnthe 1840s (Moore & Kearsley, 2005, p. 235). The University of London claims to be the firstrnuniversity to offer distance learning degrees, establishing its External Program in 1858. This programrnis now known as the University of London International Programs and includes Postgraduate,rnUndergraduate and Diploma degrees created by colleges such as the London School of Economics,rnRoyal Holloway and Goldsmiths. In the United States William Rainey Harper, first president of thernUniversity of Chicago developed the concept of extended education, whereby the research universityrnhad satellite colleges of education in the wider community, and in 1892 he also encouraged thernconcept of correspondence school courses to further promote education, an idea that was put intornpractice by Columbia University (Levinson, 2005, p. 69). In Australia, the University of Queenslandrnestablished its Department of Correspondence Studies in 1911 (White, 1982, p. 262). More recently,rnCharles Wedemeyer of the University of Wisconsin–Madison is considered significant in promotingrnmethods other than the postal service to deliver distance education in America. From 1964 to 1968, thernCarnegie Foundation funded Wedemeyer's Articulated Instructional Media Project (AIM) whichrnbrought in a variety of communications technologies aimed at providing learning to an off-campusrnpopulation. According to Moore's recounting, AIM impressed the UK which imported these ideasrnwhen establishing in 1969 The Open University, which initially relied on radio and televisionrnbroadcasts for much of its delivery. Germany's Fern Universität in Hagen followed in 1974 and there are now many similar institutions around the world, often with the name Open University (in Englishrnor in the local language). All "open universities" use distance education technologies as deliveryrnmethodologies and some have grown to become “mega-universities” (Daniel, 1998, p. 15) a termrncoined to denote institutions with more than 100,000 students.rnDistance learning is used for a wide range of purposes. Today, by virtue of new technologies fastrndevelopment and constant cost fall in processing, storing and transmitting data, many private andrnpublic, non-profit and for-profit institutions worldwide offer distance learning from the most basicrninstruction trough the highest level of degree.rn3 Distance Learning and its significancernThe term distance learning represents approaches that focus on opening access to education andrntraining, freeing learners from the constraints of time and place. It offers flexible learningrnopportunities to individual and group learners. This is the most rapidly growing segment of education.rnThe potential impact of distance learning on all education has been emphasised by the development ofrnInternet-based technologies, particularly the World Wide Web. It can be described as learningrninvolving implementation of information, computing and communications technology applications inrnmore than one locationrn