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Students had to attend classes at a university to get credit once upon a time. If you had a time conflict, or the university was far away, you missed out. Now distance education has changed all of this. Distance education is also sometimes called distance learning, and it involves getting educational materials to students who aren’t physically attending a course. The education is offered via technology or correspondence.

Students from all over can get an education this way. One of the earliest users of distance education is the University of South Africa, started in 1946.

Individual distance education classes and programs have been around for far longer. Distance education can be traced back to Sir Issac Pitman, who also invented shorthand. Pittman thought it might be useful to offer courses via the mail. The idea was adapted by the University of Chicago in the early 1900s; they began what is likely the first department for correspondence courses. It was not the last such department. The idea caught on and other universities followed suit.

There were only a few countries where distance learning was a major component of the educational system, however, until 1969. This changed when the United Kingdom started the Open University. This changed distance education radically and encouraged other similar universities to be founded.

Today, it is easier than ever to deliver quality instruction across great distances. We have modern technology, and the Internet. Educational materials can be delivered via email, broadcast, CD-ROM, podcast, audiotape, online message board, and video conferencing to name just some of the possible media.

We can even use a virtual classroom to deliver materials. This means that a teacher gives a lecture in one classroom and it is broadcast via teleconference to students in other classrooms as well. Students benefit from remote technology in many ways. They can also get online video materials and course materials, chat with tutors online, email instructors, and so on.

Today, most of the universities in the United States have at least some courses that are offered via distance learning. You can find distance learning in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors as well.

Distance education does have a drawback. It is expensive. Still, every day there are more opportunities and technologies that make distance education more useful. In the future, it is sure that distance education will be an important component of learning.

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