Women s desire and participation in distance education helped the growth of distance education in the 1980s and 1990s. The research activities of Britain s Open University provided new directions and emphasis for more research in this field. Publication of Research in Distance Education in 1989 provided great opportunity to collect information about ongoing research projects and the results of current research in the field of distance education. Educational researchers are rarely present during the design of distance learning systems. There is no clear paradigm for research in distance learning, and it is difficult to attract funds to develop one.
Some institutions are averse to defining boundaries and variables clearly.
Educational researchers often ask questions of no practical or even theoretical relevance. Technology makes the process of research, collection of data, analysis of data, and generation of reports easier and faster. Even with the growth in the amounts of distance education in our higher educational institutions, few studies examined students learning experiences, effectiveness of instructional methods, and strengths and limitation of this model of teaching and learning. Her finding was a strong display of the objectives of participants in the adult continuing education. Most students participating in TV programs found their courses to be challenging and had favorable experiences with technology.