Distance Learning

Distance learning is a term that is often used interchangeably with distributed education, online learning, web-based learning, and e-learning. The label that is applied to learning that occurs in environments where the learner and the instructor are physically separated might not seem to matter; however, as higher education continues to endorse distance and blended learning in addition to face-to-face learning, the specific definitions of these terms can become important.

Activity

Before proceeding, stop a moment and reflect: "what do I mean by the term distance learning? Is my definition the same as my institution's definition?" Ask some of your colleagues what they think. Do they all agree on what is meant by the term, or did you find varitations that surprised you?

The Higher Learning Commission defines distance courses as those where more than 75% of the instruction and interaction occur as the instructor and students are separated physically. Further, it defines distance education as education where the students and instructors are separated yet maintain “regular and substantive interaction” (para. 6). These criteria are important because they can impact the status of students' financial aid as well as the fees charged by the learning institution.

Delivery Mechanism for Distance Courses

After a course has been determined to be a distance course, you can choose the delivery mechanism you will use. In web-based learning the course content is stored on a server (or computer) that is capable of delivering content after a request is made. Users make requests using a web browser such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, or Safari.

Each request is made using a uniform resource locator, or URL, that specifies which server contains the content, the path to its specific location, and the name of the specific file. Consider the example URL below:

http://nursing.iu.edu/development/online-courses/index.shtml

This indicates that:

• This is a web request: http://
• To a server: nursing.iu.edu
• With a path: development/online-courses
• To a specific file: index.shtml

Hybrid or Blended

Whereas in distance learning, learners and instructors are physically separated, hybrid or blended learning uses a mix of face-to-face and distance technologies, which include the web. Many experts believe that blended learning is the ideal environment for learning, particularly in professions that require hands-on application or in situations where learners need immediate guided interactions with an instructor.

In hybrid courses learners and faculty are in the same face-to-face environment while maintaining the benefit of flexibility of asynchronous communication and resources available online.

Distance learning, therefore, may be web-based or videoconferencing-based or based on other technologies.

In the next section, we will discuss the learning environment.