Traditional correspondence courses fit under the definition of distance education, and many distance education programs have shown success long before the advent of new technologies like personal computers and the World Wide Web, “Distance education technologies have been primarily used, historically, to extend access to classroom instruction to rural or isolated sites. For the most part, adult education programs have done that with high levels of success long before the Internet or computer networks were cost effective” (Hopey and Ginsburg, 1996, 22). However, the advent of new technologies have greatly enabled distance education to expand the scope and reach of traditional distance education programs.
Many forces are rapidly driving the push toward increasing distance education program offerings. Interactive technologies like personal computers, the Internet, the World Wide Web, video-conferencing, digital cameras, Web-Cams and a host of others has fueled the growth. However, other factors have also been adding fuel to the fire. A decreasing enrollment in universities and institutions across the nation, an increasing number of adult learners, and the need for more skilled, better trained employees have also promoted distance education. The desire to increase market coverage on behalf of colleges and universities, the desire to offer access to education to those who are constrained by boundaries of time/place/cost, and the desire to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of education have all been push factors where the evolution of distance education and distance education technology are concerned. Today, many major colleges and universities offer degrees via distance education programs and many learners are taking advantage of this new mode of instruction, “There are currently more than 100 degree or certificate programs delivered by distance education at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada...