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Purpose
of Distance
Education
Today
The meaning and
purpose of Distance Education is changing. Although distance
education still serves isolated learners, other reasons for
offering courses via distance education are emerging. Distance
education courses today make higher education attainable for
nontraditional students who have work and family obligations.
Faculty who responded to a recent NEA survey on Distance Learning
reported that most of their distance learning students live
within one hour of campus (13).
Universities and community colleges are offering distance education
programs to serve both on-campus and off-campus students. Today,
more higher education institutions are offering advanced degrees
through distance education courses. BA, MA, & Ph.D. available
through distance education programs are common.
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Rush
to Distance Learning
Sherron & and Boettcher (14)
suggest that universities and colleges are rushing to implement
distance learning programs for three major reasons:
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the convergence of communication
and computing technologies
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the need for information
age workers to acquire new skills without interrupting
their working lives for extended periods of time, and
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the need to reduce the
cost of education
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