Distance learning, also called distance education or long distance learning, basically means that you study in a different place to the tutor or institution that is running the course. You are separated from the tutors, professors and other students on the course by being a distance away, hence the name. It means that you can learn from the comfort of your own home, or anywhere you like really, without having to go to a certain place at certain times.
This means that you can choose to study a certain course from a particular school even if you live in another country or indeed half-way around the world from that school. This is one of the great benefits of distance learning in that it gives people the choices to be able to learn what they want no matter where or how they live.
Distance learning courses can work by a number of different ways and can use a variety of media to provide students with the course materials and information that they need such as:
Perhaps the most common of these methods of distance learning is when the school or university that you are studying with sends out the course materials to you through the post, much like a correspondence course. Then you will have to complete the written assignments, sometimes by a certain date, and post them back to the school for grading by your tutor. The whole course will often be completed in this way and you will usually be assigned an individual tutor who you will be able to call or email to ask him/her a question or to discuss the course.
An increasing and popular way of distance learning that has emerged with the growth and accessibility of the internet is online learning. For more information about this type of distance learning please see 'What is online learning?'
Other distance learning courses can be run with audio tapes or through radio or TV broadcasts, phone lines, via satellite or a mixture of any of these medias.
No matter how the course is run the basic principle remains the same, to provide the same quality material as traditional courses but in an easy access, self-paced, remote form.