Online Distance Education Degree Program

Online Distance Education Degree Programs - What Do You Study?

Distance Education is the study of the instructional systems that aim to educate students that are not physically in the classroom as well as the technologies that make this possible. While the concept of distance education dates as far back as the mid-1700's, it has become extremely relevant in today's Internet-driven society. With educational budgets rising and technological costs falling, distance education has become an important method for educational institutions to cut costs. At the same time distance education has opened up many new opportunities for individualized attention that were impossible or unpractical in the traditional classroom setting. Furthermore, it can expand the reach of education to those who are unable or unwilling to study in a traditional classroom.

There are two major types of technology used in distance education. Synchronous technology is a mode of online delivery where all participants are "present" at the same time (e.g. webconferencing or live streaming classes). Asynchronous technology is a mode of online delivery where participants access course materials on their own schedule (e.g. CD-ROM's, message board forums, e-mail, or recorded video).

Related Online Distance Education Degree Programs

Online colleges and universities that teach Distance Education focus on giving you comprehensive and practical knowledge to help lead this continually changing field into the future. As technology is such a major player in the growth of distance education, most programs will teach you about the various technologies that have been tried so far and the relative success each one has had. Distance Education programs will also teach you about how to deal with the many challenges presented by this untraditional learning method. Since this field is evolving so quickly there are many accreditation issues and classroom control issues (e.g. how to control cheating) which still need to be addressed as the field continues to grow.

Typical skills that these programs will try to impart on their students include, organizational and management processes, leadership and change management, Information technology, business development, strategic action planning, problem solving, ethics, and social responsibility.

Related degrees include a Masters of Distance Education and a Masters of Science in Global and International Education. In some cases you can specialize in areas such as Technology, Teaching and Training, or Policy and Management.

Career Options in Distance Education

This is an exciting field to enter at this time as it is continuing to grow rapidly and see higher levels of demand. If you specialize in technology you can become a Technical Director who helps to actually set up the technology necessary for distance learning or a Technical Consultant who helps evaluate how well the technology is helping you reach your educational goals. You can also be a Support Specialist who supports faculty with the technology behind online courses

If you specialize in Distance Education Teaching and Training you may find opportunities as an Online Librarian/Resource Manager who helps set up resource centers for distance education institutions or a Program Evaluator/Educational Consultant who prepares distance education programs for accreditation. You can even become a subject matter specialist and teach masters students yourself!

If you specialize in Distance Education Policy and Management you can find opportunities as a Director of Distance Learning who is  responsible for the overall planning and management of a distance education institution, a Financial Advisor/Account Manager who draws up budgets for distance learning programs or a Coordinator of Online instruction who helps design, implement and market online courses.