Synchronous distance learning typically uses some type of broadcast instructional medium such as video teleconferencing, teletraining, or satellite. It is instructor-led and requires that trainees gather at a specific place, at a specific time, and for a specific time period to receive training (US Department of Education).
Published in Chapter:
Technology in Distance Learning
Fernando da Cruz Bandeira (University Fernando Pessoa, Portugal)
Copyright: © 2008
|Pages: 9
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-885-7.ch214
Abstract
The origins of distance learning (DL), as an alternative way of learning, can be traced back to the 19th century (Rumble, 1988) although it was only with the foundation of the Open University (1969 United Kingdom) that it won its reputation, not only as an alternative way of learning with its individual pedagogic and didactic model, but also as an academic discipline (Holmberg 1989). Since then, and although DL has developed in many ways, according to the different geographical, political, and social circumstances (Moore & Anderson, 2003), it converged into a common ground of practices, concepts, and theories that are widely accepted as its field of practice and theory.