Trends and needs in distance education research : the death of distance

Abstract

Now that the University of South Africa and other South African universities are making full use of electronic media, we need to reflect, again, on some of the traditional trends and needs in distance education research. In developed countries, distance education has been mediated by different means, these being correspondence, telecommunications and computers. The fourth is now emerging: the virtual classroom, which uses a combination of merged media. In both the developed and developing world, distance education is the education of the future. The merging of the technologies will completely revolutionise the way distance education is designed. Distance education in South Africa still relies on correspondence and telecommunications, but is rapidly starting to make far more use of computers and, indeed, the virtual classroom. Many lessons can be learnt from the international experience and it is not necessary for South Africa to reinvent the wheel. This article summaries some of the trends and needs in distance education research.