REVIEW: Encyclopedia of Distance Learning

Although controversies over the impact and role of distance education continue (Duffy & Krikley, 2004), it has grown at an explosive rate especially during the last decade. A great number of older institutions as well as new ones have started to offer distance education to reach out more learners in all levels and domains of education. Many agree that the wide spread use of computer-mediated communications is one of the key forces for the explosion of interest for distance education. Computer-mediated communication has provided tools for one of the idealist educators’ dreams, extending the walls beyond classroom, come true. Distance education now dominates the discussion agendas for policy makers, administrators, researchers, faculty, and learners. However, it seems that some experts, policy makers, educators and even learners have not understood “the implications of the shift of focus from teachers to learners, implications for how is education conceptualized, how it is organized, what roles teachers should assume, and how financial and other resources are to be distributed” (Moore, 2003, p. ix) in today’s ever-changing society.
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