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Distance education allows students to receive education from home through audio-visual lectures, objective exams, and planned meetings with instructors. Correspondence schooling has limited programs and accreditation. Modern courses feature real-time lectures with remote communications and regularly scheduled online exercises. Distance education is generally geared towards older or returning students who cannot afford to commute.
The traditional model of higher education often involves the student traveling to the same physical campus as their educators. With the advent of videotapes, CD-ROMs, closed-circuit television, and the Internet, however, a student can now receive pertinent information from the classroom without leaving the home. This is the basis for what colleges and universities call distance education. This uses a combination of audio-visual lectures, objective exams, and planned meetings with human instructors.
A form of distance learning called correspondence schooling has been available for decades, but programs are often limited and accreditation is often questioned. Students who take these distance learning courses will receive a package of study materials, worksheets and objective tests. A correspondence school representative would periodically grade these mailed tests and eventually award a certificate of completion. There is very little interactivity between student and instructor in most of these classes, and practical lab work is almost impossible.
Traditional colleges and universities have improved distance education through some trial and error. Previous attempts have involved little more than a series of videotaped lectures and a single final exam. Low test scores revealed a need for more interactivity between off-campus students and their on-campus instructors. Modern courses now feature real-time lectures with remote communications and regularly scheduled online exercises. Teachers are encouraged to treat email inquiries with the same respect as those posed in a traditional classroom.
Distance education programs are generally geared toward older or returning students who cannot afford to commute and support themselves financially at the same time. Many of the lessons are recorded on video or CD-ROM, allowing students to select the best time in their daily routine to study. As distance education classes fall under the same auspices as face-to-face classes, they are considered accredited. A student enrolled in a video-initiated English 101 class receives the same number of writing assignments as a traditional student on campus. The difference is that the distance education program may allow for email submissions or a slightly modified grade turnaround time.
Those looking for a basic education cannot necessarily find it through a distance education program, especially one offered by a large college or university. Enrollment fees for many distance education classes are comparable to those paid by traditional on-campus students. The main financial advantage is significantly lower travel expenses. Meeting with a virtual instructor a few times during the semester is much cheaper than going to campus every day or paying for room and board on campus.
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