Marketing E-Learning and the Challenges Facing Distance Education in Africa

Distance Education And E-Learning

Distance education started in the 1800s with individual pioneers using the latest technologies of the time such as the printing press and the post office, to reach distant students. The situation is no more different today whereby the technologies available are greatly enhancing the potential of distance education as well as the learner’s experience. What has changed is the nature and speed of communication brought about by the technology in use. Distance education has transformed itself over the years by incorporating new technologies such as the radio and the television as well as the video, and more recently the computer, the electronic networks, the Internet, the world –wide- web (WWW), videoconferencing and satellite broadcasting. (Barbara Fillip, 2000).However, this transformation has not in any way changed the purpose of education in any of the societies of the developed and developing world.