What is Web Conferencing

The term distance education is used to describe educational initiatives designed to compensate for and diminish distance in geography or distance in time. The introduction of technology to distance education has fundamentally changed the delivery, scope, expectations, and potential of distance education practices. Technology and electronic communications are becoming exponentially more embedded in every facet of daily life, including business, the professions, and education, a normalization which continues to facilitate and enhance distance education delivery. Ubiquitous advertisements for online courses and degree programs are a testament to an expanded audience and increasing enrollments. Components of e-learning first adopted by distance education have since been adopted by the traditional education community. So pervasive are the application of new information and communication technologies to education delivery that the terms distance education, e-learning, and blended learning have become conflated. It is important that the clear distinctions between them are understood. Distance education represents an environment where the student and the instructor are separated; blended learning is any combination of electronic media or tools that supplement but do not replace face-to-face learning; e-learning is the application of technology to an instructional module or lesson. The relationship between these approaches is dynamic and may further blur, but distinctions will always remain. Distance education programs are offered at all levels, including primary, secondary, higher, and professional education. The earliest antecedents of distance education at all levels are found worldwide in programs described most commonly as correspondence study, a print-dependent approach prolific in geographic areas where distance was a formidable obstacle to education. As each new technology over the last century became more commonly available, it was adopted by educational practitioners eager to improve communication and remove barriers between students and teachers.