definition

Definition of Distance Learning

What is Distance Education?

Distance education includes courses that are conducted by videotape (telecourses), given over the Internet using computers (on-line courses), or conducted via the CUNY private network (MDS) using specially equipped classrooms (distance learning classroom courses). In the case of video and Internet courses, students are required to attend few or, perhaps, no classes in person. Distance learning classroom courses require students to attend scheduled classes on the campus nearest to them.

Video and Internet courses are attractive options for individuals who are self-motivated and can work independently in a less structured learning environment. Distance education courses are fully credited college classes. There is no difference in WHAT you are expected to learn. It is the WAY you learn that is different. With distance education courses, you study independently.

Telecourses

Telecourses combine the viewing of videotapes borrowed from your campus library with independent assignments and five (or more for lab courses) required on-campus sessions. A professor coordinates videotaped instruction with teaching the on-campus sessions and creating and grading assignments. The video portion of a telecourse is distributed on a videocassette on loan from your campus library, but these are library reserve copies and cannot be checked out.

On-line Courses

On-line courses are instructor-designed courses that are only accessible over the Internet. You must have access to a computer with a modem and have an Internet provider. On-line courses are neither time nor place bound. You may work at any time of the day or night. Keep in mind that you need to pay attention to course deadlines in order to complete the course successfully. The mechanism for receiving assignments, for turning in assignments, for discussion with your instructor and your fellow students is built into the software and is integral with the course content itself. These courses are sometimes termed "asynchronous".

Hybrid Courses

These courses combine features of th typical on ground traditional classroom experience with elements of the "On-Line" course. The instructor may be providing students with information, lessons and exercises that are contacted through a computer accessing an internet site.

Distance Learning Classroom Courses

Synchronous courses are those that are offered in real time, simultaneously at different sites in specially equipped distance learning classrooms. The instructor will be teaching over live video from one of the CUNY campuses while you take the course at any one of the CUNY campuses. Your access to courses or sections of courses that might ordinarily be canceled due to low enrollment at any one college in the CUNY system will be increased.

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ITC DEFINITION

DISTANCE LEARNING

Instructional Telecommunications Council

"the process of extending learning, or delivering instructional resource-sharing opportunities, to locations away from a classroom, building or site, to another classroom, building or site by using video, audio, computer, multimedia communications, or some combination of these with other traditional delivery methods."

Why do Students Take Distance Learning Courses?

As educational institutions extend their campuses, as the population ages, and as the advance of technology requires a greater need for worker retraining, colleges increasingly have to cater to a different type of student in order to stay ahead and serve their communities.

These students are older (over 26 years) and most will work during traditional classroom hours. They require flexible learning schedules. They demand professional development opportunities and classes to help them keep up with today's ever-changing work environment.

Students come to college for various reasons. They could be interested in changing careers or they might simply want to expand their knowledge base for work or personal reasons. They might want to expand their cultural background, learn a new language, or start a degree program that was postponed due to family or career needs.

Their main reason for choosing distance education as a delivery method is that they want to learn at their own pace, and at a time and location that is convenient to them.

A majority of distance learning students are female and many are single parents who want to stay close to home for various reasons. They might not be able to afford child care or must care for a confined relative at home. Other students are physically disabled and cannot easily travel to campus.

Some do not have the time, money, or educational background to come to campus. Distance education can capture an audience that has been virtually untapped for many years. It makes education accessible and available.

Contact the ITC Executive Director: cdalziel@aacc.nche.edu

Distance learning can also serve younger, K-12 students. By using technology, a school can offer classes that are not offered in the district due to low enrollments, a lack of qualified teachers, insufficient funding, or rural location.

For example, many high school principals in Texas find distance education courses extremely convenient. The school can use telecommunications to deliver courses to high school campuses in order to offer "concurrent enrollment classes" to juniors and seniors who want to obtain advanced college placement from the Dallas County Community College District.

There are not enough students at any one location to justify hiring another high school faculty member, neither does the principal want to bus his or her students across town to another high school.

Similarly, teachers in Iowa can easily target small groups or offer rural high school students career programs, honors courses, and classes for at-risk groups from Kirkwood Community College. Likewise, small groups in Wyoming can take courses via satellite that were never before offered in the district or state, from a teacher in Oklahoma or Texas.

Excerpt from New Connections: A College President's Guide to Distance Education.