Advancing technology and changing social norms have left few social aspects recognizable from their shape twenty years ago. Education is no different. Today distance learning via technology, or what might be more definitively called interactive, computer-based learning, is rapidly transforming the shape of education from Kindergarten student to Ph.D. Distance learning has been a pillar of America’s educational system since the 19th century. Traditional correspondence courses may have provided access to education for many with distance or income barriers, but it never achieved interactive learning or rapid feedback that today’s hi-tech offers. In fact, today’s technology not only unites learners on a local basis, but it encompasses national and international boundaries. Geography and income barriers are overcome through education technology, but so is the scarcest resource of all-time. Social norms are evolving toward more personal autonomy and choice as well, from health care to education, “Today immediate interaction is a critical part of the distance learning opportunities made possible by the technologies that are the tools of the Information Age. The Internet, the World Wide Web, video teleconferencing, interactive computer software and e-mail all put the student and instructor in the same virtual classroom…Students want to learn on their own schedules, at times and locations convenient to them” (Merits B5).
Today’s teacher will be more of a learning manager than the conventional focus of learning. One of the biggest problems with education technology often involves teachers and administrators not students, “High school and college students are pushing for these innovations; in many respects it is the faculty and administration that are playing ‘catch up’” (Lyall 9A). However, since many of the education technology tools listed above did not even exist ten years ago, it is little wonder that tea...