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Distance education courses involve two core activities by the learners:
- Independent study of course materials and resources—the courseware that
makes up the physical, mediated content of the course
- Interaction with other course participants
(tutors, instructors, other learners, resource people).
It is through a package of courseware, specifically designed for independent
study, that the teaching in a distance education course is mediated—using
text, audio, audiovisual, or electronic media. The form that an item of
courseware takes, and how it is studied by the learner, depends on the
technology used to support and deliver the media (for example, text can be
delivered on paper, as print, or by the Web, as hypertext files; video can be
delivered as broadcast TV, on cassette, or digitized, in a computer file). The
same technology—such as videoconferencing, audiographic conferencing, or the Web—might be used to both
transmit content and support interactions,
but in most cases different technologies are used for these purposes.
Print could be said to be the foundation of distance education. More than 85
percent of distance education programs use print either as the main delivery
technology for courseware or in conjunction with other media and technologies.
The importance and quality of print have increased as the ready access to
relatively low-cost desktop publishing and on-demand printing technology has
eased the tasks of preparing, updating, and revising textual and graphics
materials. Distance education programs use several different types of print
materials.
Recorded audio and video can be used in more flexible and effective ways in
distance education than can broadcast programs. Because this technology gives
learners the ability to stop the tape, reflect on a sequence, perhaps do a
self-test exercise or carry out a procedure, and then review the sequence again
before moving on to the next, it encourages more active listening and viewing
and thus increases the likelihood of retention and understanding of the
material.
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