A Concise History and Future of Distance Education in Europe

Distance education, defined as pedagogical delivery involving teacher-learner geographic separation, has become a widespread educational model. Even modern face-to-face course delivery includes some asynchronous elements, which illustrates the extent of the influence of distance education on education in general. Distance education, which has evolved from correspondence courses to digitally mediated, interactive learning environments that span continents and connect us globally, is inextricably intertwined with today’s educational systems. The pace is accelerating by rapidly developing artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. How has the centrality of distance education happened? This paper addresses that question by examining the history and future of distance education in Europe. Subsequent papers can examine this question in other locations to form a global understanding.

Distance education, history of education, European education

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