Distance learning can be broadly defined as an educational process wherein the instruction is given to students who are physically far-off from the main campus or the primary resources that support instruction. When we talk about distance education, it mainly works around teaching methods using the telecommunications technologies and this may include transmitting or receiving various materials through video, voice and data. Some examples of such analog technologies that are being increasingly used for distance learning include audio telecourses, closed broadcast, video teleconferences and cable television systems, interactive videodisk, compressed and full-motion video, audiographic systems, satellite-based just to name a few.
History of Distance Learning
The origin of distance learning education traces back to the mid-19th century in parts of the United States and Europe. The people who actually brought distance learning as an option for those who were physically unable to attend conventional course programs made use of the best technology available then, namely the postal system. Over the years, this educational option has most benefited people with physical disabilities, stay at home mothers, those who had taken up regular jobs or for those who stayed in place where schools did not exist. The credit for bringing distance learning is given to Isaac Pitman, an Englishman who in the year 1840 started teaching shorthand at Bath, England. He taught the students to copy short passages from the bible and send them to him for grading through the penny post system.
By the 1900, with the help of correspondence or distance learning, a number of academic as well as vocational courses became quite popular. The educational radio came into picture in the 1920s and then with the arrival of television around the 1940s added new forms, which came in very handy for distance education programs. This enabled the teachers to telecast educational programs to many students, which helped them to educate even those not sitting in the conventional teaching institutions.
Further in the early 1900s, with the development of dependable long-distance telephone systems, many distance educators could teach student populations but what should be noted here is that only newer teleconferencing technologies, introduced in the 1980s and 1990s helped the teacher to interact with the students in real time with no transmission delays all around the world.
As time passed by, the distance education system made use of all kinds of numerous communications technologies, enhancing the students and teacher communication. Also, as people had an increased access to the computer network communications students could now easily interact with their teacher sitting miles away via the computers linked to telephone lines.
Today, distance learning programs give a wide range of options to the students to get in touch with their teachers. Mediums like education chats, email, audio and video conferencing form an integral part of distance education. Such an education option is very feasible for people who are on the go and also for such individuals who want to save their money and time on traveling to the colleges to get a degree. The best part is that such a degree obtained is useful and can help working individuals enhance their job prospects without having to leave their current job. You save money, you get a degree, you can study from any corner of the world just by sitting in front of your laptop, you don’t have to match your pace of studying with others, what more a reason you would you would need to enroll yourself for a distance learning program. This method of correspondence study has definitely changed the way education is conducted today.
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