Long distance university learning is touted by many as the coming thing. Different forms of long distance learning have been in use for decades, including the use of television broadcasts, videotapes, telephony, radio broadcasts, and now the computer and the Internet as ways of connecting teacher and student over a distance. Such services can be in real time, as when a lecturer is transmitted by closed-circuit television to distant sites, or on-demand, as when a lecture is placed on the Internet to be accessed at the convenience of the student. The trend toward this type of learning system is growing because of the convenience and a reduction in expenses, but at the same time, critics point out that there is also a loss to the student in not having the classroom experience and the direct contact of the face-to-face system of a traditional classroom.
Probably the oldest form of long distance learning in America is the correspondence school, which sends lessons through the mail and then receives written materials from the student the same way. Before the widespread use of electronic communications, educators used print technology and the postal service for correspondence education. When broadcasting came into being, education turned first to the radio and then the television as a means of reaching distant students. The federal government issued the first educational radio license to the Latter Day Saints' University of Salt Lake City in 1921, and the University of Wisconsin and the University of Minnesota also received licenses to establish educational radio stations in 1922. A series of evaluation studies was conducted by Ohio State University and the University of Wisconsin as early as 1931 to demonstrate the effectiveness of radio in learning, and radio was very popular in this regard. Educational television appeared when Iowa State University applied to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) for an educational televi...