What is distance learning?
To define or describe e-learning, it is best to first define learning. Learning is the act of developing skills or obtaining knowledge. So e-learning just means that you develop skills and obtain knowledge electronically, hence the "e" in "e-learning!"
You may have heard phrases such as distance learning, distance education, online learning, or a variety of other terms used to describe methods of learning outside the traditional classroom-based method.
Distance learning refers to any education that is conducted outside of a traditional classroom setting. Generally speaking, distance learning follows one of two models: the correspondence course or the online course.
Correspondence course students receive and submit their class materials physically, through postal delivery. Online students receive their materials electronically, via the Internet.
e-Learning is a type of distance learning.
At eLearners.com, we'll use the term e-learning to mean distance learning delivered through information technology, especially the Internet.
Distance learning has become a popular method of teaching and learning.
Online learning has become the most common and popular delivery method of distance learning. The majority of colleges and universities offering distance learning courses or degrees use e-mail, the Internet, and related technologies to:
- Facilitate the learning process
- Communicate with students
- Promote access to educational programs
- Provide and distribute information using multimedia
How much of my class is completed using the Internet?
The amount of time students are required to be on the Internet differs from course to course. Some instructors provide information and course materials using only e-mail. Other instructors will require students to go to a designated Web page or Web site to log into a virtual classroom environment.
e-Learning may also describe course work which uses a computer network as part of a class, whether guided by an instructor or utilizing an independent method of learning.
eLearners.com deals with all types of learning that fall within this broad definition of e-learning, as well as correspondence courses.
Did You Know? According to an October 2008 report from the Center for American Progress, "Almost 70 million adults in the current workforce between the ages of 25 and 64 do not have a postsecondary credential: Forty-eight million of these adults have a high school degree or less, and 21 million have some college experience but no degree."
