It can help to create a seamless, lifelong process of education, with public and private agencies working together to provide an array of learning opportunities and a multitude of learning options. Teachers and students will learn together through sharing of resources and interacting with peers and experts in a variety of fields. Individuals from a variety of agencies will be able to work together on issues of common concern. Education will become an open road map for learners to explore rather than a one lane road that all must travel. They will contribute their ideas for solutions to those formulated by others throughout the country and world.
Distance learning brings a new model for teacher training, teacher support and systemic reform.
It can now provide easy access through television and computer conferencing to course work to prepare teachers in the use of instructional applications of technology, in moving into systemic reform, in developing new expertise in problem-based learning, in developing authentic instruction and assessment moving students toward lifelong learning outcomes, and to provide a support structure of and for teachers throughout the country. All of these are at hand. Now is the time to envision what is possible, unleash the power of the genie, and direct the use of technology toward the accomplishment of these ends. Distance learning has changed. It is being used more extensively by more organizations and learners.