From correspondence to cyberspace: Changes and challenges in distance education

Abstract

Higher education has provided students with distance learning opportunities for over 150 years. This chapter traces the evolution of distance learning and provides an overview of some of the challenges inherent in learning in an online environment.

Increasing Access to Higher Education Through Open and Distance Learning: Empirical Findings From Mzuzu University, Malawi

“…Bower and Hardy (2004) postulate that "higher education has provided students with distance learning opportunities for over 150 years" (p.5). Modern literature is replete with definitions of ODL.…”

“…As already noted above, the introduction of the Internet has revolutionised the way institutions, especially universities, deliver credit and non-credit distance courses to students. Bower and Hardy (2004) and Kudryavtseva (2014) demonstrate that the Internet, through its ability to offer both asynchronous as well as synchronous activities, has become an excellent platform for conducting distance education through chat sessions and online discussions which can be used to engage learners in student-to-student, as well as, student-to-instructor interactions. This is perhaps the reason Kudryavtseva (2014) identifies the Internet as "one of the facilities necessary for the effective delivery of lessons in ODL programmes" (p .1217).…”

Faculty preparedness for transition to teaching online courses in the Iowa Community College Online Consortium

“…Although distance learning seems to be a recent phenomenon, some form of distance education has existed since the mid 1800's. Satellite technology became available for education in the 1960's and fiber optic systems became available in the 1980's (Bower and Hardy, 2004).…”

Adult Students' Perceptions in Distance Education Learning Environments Based on a Videoconferencing Platform – QoE Analysis

“…Over the years, the Internet has emerged as the latest vehicle through which institutions can deliver credit and noncredit distance education courses, while allowing a variety of asynchronous (two-way communication involving time delay between transmission and receipt) and synchronous (interactive communication) activities (Bower & Hardy, 2004;Bouhnik & Carmi, 2012;Murphy et al, 2011;Somenarain, Akkaraju, & Gharbaran, 2010;Yamagata-Lynch, 2014). In his theory of transactional distance, Moore (1997) hypothesized that, in the hands of progressive teachers, teleconferencing gives opportunity not only to reduce distance but also to increase autonomy of learners.…”