The first distance education program was offered in 1728 in America with schools in Europe (Gilbert 2001, 18). I would imagine that sending papers over the Atlantic would take months. Boy has distance learning come a long way!
In today’s information age, online classes for specialized certificates, four year degrees, and masters programs are plentiful. Now students and instructors can live and work in different regions, but can still attend class together in “real-time.” Online learning is evolving and is no longer available only to college level students. Many online schools and courses are now available for the K-12 student population as well as through corporations for the continuing education of their employees.
Distance learning through an online program is gaining in notoriety and is much more accepted as a viable alternative to the regular classroom setting. Frank Mayadas, president of Sloan-C, a consortium of online institutions states: “Last year we found that a majority of academic leaders said online learning was just as good as traditional, face-to-face classroom instruction. This year’s results confirm the finding and show that schools offering online courses believe their online students are at least as satisfied as those actually in the classroom.”
Oxford, Harvard, Stanford and hundreds of other colleges and universities offer online education courses and degrees. In some cases you can earn a degree from a prestigious university without ever stepping foot on one of their campuses. Taking online courses is not necessarily easier than going to a regular classroom. An online learner needs to be self-disciplined and able to work on their own as well as in online groups as assigned by the instructor.
I finished my degree in Business Administration after attending a traditional college campus for several years. I found the coursework to be more challenging than that of the regular classroom, and also had more access to the instructors via email and the classroom blackboards (chat type rooms). The online classroom dictates the need for more writing, which helped me to increase my skills in that area. On the downside there is little possibility for socializing outside of the classroom or getting together at the campus coffee bar to discuss an upcoming test, but for working adults, homeschoolers, single parents, and people living with disabilities the online classroom is an excellent way to gain an education.
Also see the Families.com Homeschool Blog for more information on online courses for elementary and secondary students.