Distance Education

Online degree and distance learning programs empower you to learn and earn at the same time. The advent of high technology has changed all that as more state universities are now delivering information through unconventional channels-by email, via interactive learning discs, and over Internet teleconferencing-directly to you, wherever and whenever you want. You can gain professional mastery with an online degree Distance education, or distance learning, is a field of education that focuses on the pedagogy and technology, and instructional systems design that aim to deliver education to students who are not physically "on site". Rather than attending courses in person, teachers and students may communicate at times of their own choosing by exchanging printed or electronic media, or through technology that allows them to communicate in real time. Distance education courses that require a physical on-site presence for any reason including the taking of examinations is considered to be a hybrid or blended course or program. The University of London was the first university to offer distance learning degrees, establishing its External Programme in 1858. Another pioneering institution was the University of South Africa, which has been offering Correspondence Education courses since 1946. The largest distance education university in the United Kingdom is the Open University founded 1969. In Germany the FernUniversität in Hagen was founded 1974. There are now many similar institutions around the world, often with the name Open University (in English or in the local language).