Introduction

TeleEducation is a type of education system in which the students and instructors are separated spatially, temporally, or both. TeleEducation has evolved through several phases before reaching the state it is at today, which is continuously changing as well.

This type of learning has been used since very old times because it proved to be more suitable for particular situations than traditional learning. The idea began with systems like those that have been used to teach children in Australian Outback, the British Open University, and other similar organizations which were based on the idea of correspondence courses. In correspondence courses the learning materials were sent by post on regular basis and they made use of radio and television communication. Until the 1980s the major medium for distant education material was in print form.

The 1990s are regarded as the time when leaps of growth of TeleEducation took place owing to the considerable technological advancement that happened during that period. Today, an increasing, very large number of universities are developing courses that are either web-based or web-supported. Those are being implemented for school, university undergraduate and post-graduate education in the various disciplines. A marked explosion of virtual universities is seen in third wolrd countries.

Examples of virtual or open universities include Africa Virtual University, Open University of Tanzania, China Central Radio and TV University, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Sukhothai Thammanthirat Open University (Thailand), Universidad Nacional Abierta (Venezuela), University of South Africa, and many others. 

TeleEducation is a type of learning that invloves the use of technology for student-instructor communication; be this technology a telephone, broadcast video, internet chat, video conferencing, net meeting, or other.

Media used for TeleEducation are diverse in order to suit different needs and have changed with time according to the technology available. Currently, different institutes use printed matter, videotapes, projected graphical material, World Wide Web, CD-ROM, DVD, satellite as educational media. Each of these media has its characteristics that make it particularly beneficial in delivering a certain type of information and to a certain type of learner. The evolution of the media used for the process has to coincide with the evolution of the process itself which displays a trend towards becoming more interactive.

TeleEducation can be either synchronous or asynchronous. In both cases, individuals involved in the process can be in different geographical areas, however, the difference is that synchronous systems require them to meet at the same time while asynchronous systems do not. Asynchronous systems are the relatively simpler and they are the ones where the educational institute publishes the material online in HTML format so students read on the screen instead of textbooks. Synchronous systems are those for which real-time interactive virtual classrooms have to be held. At the time that the asynchronous systems seem more advantageous due to the increased flexibility they offer; the live interaction and attention-catching in synchronous systems seem to give them an edge.



The debate about whether TeleEducation has an overall positive or negative effect on society has been going for long since the pros and cons for TeleEducation as an educational system are numerous.

References

Savukinas, Robert & Jackson, Gregg. "Open Universities: A Revolution in Lifelong Learning" Techknowlogia, September/October 2000. Knowledge Enterprise, Inc. http://www.techknowlogia.org/

Edge, Daniel W. & Loegering, John P. "Distance Education: Expanding Learning Opportunities" Wildlife Society Bulletin. Vol.28 No.3 Autumn 2000. pp.:522-533. JSTOR, AUCLibrary.

Lizardi, Anthony. "Planning for Technologies; ICTs and Non-Formal Education: Technology for a Brighter Future?" Techknowlogia, July-September 2002. Knowledge Enterprise, Inc. http://www.techknowlogia.org/