To examine a topic, click on one of the links below. When you are finish with a section, you may return to this Table of Contents or continue with the next section of the tutorial. Distance learning is defined as learning in which the instructor and student are separated by either time or distance. For example, if you were at your school and your students were at a school in another county, you would be in a distance learning environment because you would be separated by distance. Also, let us say that you were to tape a lecture and leave it for a substitute to play the next day, this would be distance learning because the time the you gave the instruction is different from the time the students actually receive it.
Distance learning is used for several different reasons.
To overcome this problem, schools may collaborate and have one teacher teach the course at a host site , while students at the remote sites tune in to receive the instruction. A host site is the site from which instruction is being delivered. The remote site is where instruction is being received. Another problem for schools is the lack of instructional expertise in all areas. Utilizing distance learning, districts can go beyond their immediate area to locate a qualified instructor and contract to offer the course.