Distance learning allows students to access educational content from remote locations using technology. It has evolved from early correspondence-based models to incorporate video, audio, and internet tools. Students can now learn subjects and take virtual field trips that may not otherwise be available in their local schools. Interactivity between students and instructors is emphasized to make distance learning engaging.

1. Technology and Distance LearningTranslation: How classrooms are no longer bound within school walls and how the once more extraordinary learning opportunities now seem accessible.

3. Technology and Distance LearningDistance Learning is education which is delivered and accessed from a separate location. Various technological hardware and software make this possible.Delivery can be through a combination of writing, audio, video, and internet tools.Distance Learning allows students to access content that would not be normally available to them.

4. Technology and Distance LearningHistory:By the turn of the last century, technology made it possible for people to educate themselves mainly through correspondence.Later, the television was credited as being one of the most valuable distance learning tools of the 20th centuryWith the advent of the World Wide Web, people now have tremendous access to distance learning technology.

5. Technology and Distance LearningWeb based learning is just one feature of distance learning.An increasingly popular distance learning option for teachers are virtual field tripsThis is accomplished through H.323 Internet Protocol

6. Students are able to interact with a host in real time!Technology and Distance LearningMaking the distance between New York and Texas smaller!

7. Technology and Distance LearningDistance Learning allows students to learn a subject that they may not have been able to normally access.This can be an effective teaching tool for rural areas that do not have the resources of larger school districts.For instance, a high school student in Kansas could learn German from a teacher in Ohio!

8. Technology and Distance LearningAt minimum, television monitors, speakers, and microphones must be involved to make this learning method possible.Other components (document camera, computer, videos, demonstrations, etc) are added to make the experience more compelling for students.Of course, in order to tie it all together, the teacher must interact lively with the students to make it seem that they “seem” to be inside the same room with their students.

9. Technology and Distance LearningPopular providers of interactive distance learning tools:

10. Technology and Distance LearningSummary:Distance Learning is an increasingly popular form of classroom enrichmentIt is now easier than ever for students to access high quality instructional information from a distanceInteractivity is the key!