Distance Education

Distance learning, also called distance education, e-learning, and online learning, is a form of education in which the main elements include physical separation of teachers and students during instruction and the use of various technologies to facilitate student-teacher and student-student communication. Distance education was born and founded with the aim of democratizing access to educational practice. For many years, it was a meeting place for trainees who needed flexibility or were unable to physically attend the lessons.

Through the years, globalization, the spread of knowledge and ideas, and the development of the internet and digital means have made e-learning a most important tool for education. Especially nowadays, during a global pandemic, the demands for so-called “social distancing” have led to the search for solutions at a distance. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought huge transformations in the way we communicate and act worldwide.

The educational process could not be left unaffected. Distance education seems to be the only answer, so that students could communicate and interact both with the teaching material and with their “important others”, their classmates. Nevertheless, distance learning is more than a temporary solution through the pandemic· it is a modern and powerful tool for the development of education and the spread of knowledge in the global community. A distance learning program can be completely distance learning, or a combination of distance learning and traditional classroom instruction (called hybrid or blended). While skilled educators will continue to be an integral part of every student’s life, technology will bridge the physical spaces between teachers and learners. In this context, the purpose of this course is to acquaint teachers with the basic principles of distance education in practice, help them realize its importance, and make them creative and competitive for the needs of an everyday developing world.