Distance education has experienced dramatic growth both nationally and internationally since the early 1980's. It has evolved from early correspondence education using primarily print based materials into a worldwide movement using various technologies . The goals of distance education, as an alternative to traditional education, have been to offer degree granting programs, to battle illiteracy in developing countries, to provide training opportunities for economic growth, and to offer curriculum enrichment in non traditional educational settings. A variety of technologies have been used as delivery systems to facilitate this learning at a distance. In order to understand how research and research issues have developed in distance education, it is necessary to understand the context of the field.
Distance education relies heavily on technologies of delivery.
Print materials, broadcast radio, broadcast television, computer conferencing, electronic mail, interactive video, satellite telecommunications and multimedia computer technology are all used to promote student-teacher interaction and provide necessary feedback to the learner at a distance. Because technologies as delivery systems have been so crucial to the growth of distance education, research has reflected rather than driven practice. Research in distance education has focused on media comparison studies, descriptive studies, and evaluation reports. In such cases, global classrooms may have participants from various countries interacting with each other at a distance. In fact, the explosion of information technologies has brought learners together by erasing the boundaries of time and place for both site based and distance learners.