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Distance education was originally developed to serve students who found it inconvenient to pursue undergraduate or graduate degrees within the traditional college or university classroom structure. Many of the distance learning programs that are common today (like the University of Phoenix and Capella University, for example) were started as private business colleges by savvy businessmen who identified a "need" and filled it.
These early educational entrepreneurs often collaborated with local businesses and corporations with offices in their communities. If the businesses would provide some tuition assistance and job placements, the school would provide programs geared toward their business needs, and schedule the classes during evenings and weekends so they would not conflict with working hours.
Correspondence courses were a way to expand the student base (and revenues) without greatly expanding expenses, since no additional classroom space needed to be rented. These courses were the precursors to today's distance degrees, and date back at least several decades. Back then, homework assignments and feedback were exchanged via surface mail which could take weeks. But with today's technology, live interactive classes can be held so that students and teachers can interact in real time. And with the advent of cheap video cameras and broadband connections, students can now watch the instructor (and each other) as they interact while attending a class.
Since distance education (sometimes called “e learning”) can be delivered and received at any time during the day or night, it has become increasingly popular with adult learners who are well equipped to work independently. People who work full time and are also raising families appreciate being able to further their careers (or train for new ones) without having to move to a location that offers a degree in their field. And many people work for employers who would not be flexible about them taking time from work on a regular basis, even if it’s for work-related classes (and definitely not for training in a new career).
It’s true that in-person interaction with faculty and other students can be helpful when questions about the course work arise, and for building a professional network. But with the technical advancements that have occurred on the internet, like the availability of social networking, and broad band’s ability to easily deliver video, it is now almost effortless to make similar connections online.
Today, Big 10 Universities like the Universities of Wisconsin and Illinois offer professional Master's and Doctor degrees delivered completely online, as do Ivy League institutions like Columbia University. Even Harvard has broken with tradition to offer an increasing number of for-credit classes via distance education. For students, this means there is now an opportunity to take classes from institutions that would never before have been available to them.
And from an education provider's standpoint, distance education has become big business. It requires relatively low overhead, since there is no classroom space to provide. The number of potential students can be expanded to include learners from around the globe. And faculty can be recruited on an as-needed basis (keeping expenses down), since no one has to relocate in order to teach the newest class.
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