Distance education (DE) has evolved over centuries and its one distinctive characteristic was, and still is, the physical separation between the delivering institution and students (Heydenrych & Prinsloo, 2010; Moiler, 1998; Moore & Kearsely, 2012, p. 1). DE is first and foremost a movement that sought not so much to challenge or change the structure of higher learning, but to extend the traditional university and to overcome its inherent problems of scarcity and exclusivity (Dianne, 1999). Among reasons cited for introducing DE are: increasing access to learning and training as a matter of equity, providing opportunities for updating skills of the workforce, improving the cost effectiveness of educational resources, improving the quality of
The reasons individuals identified for not attending on campus institutions include time constraints, professional obligations, physical handicaps, and students who are averse to the traditional classroom (Guillemet, 2005). The policy for the provision of DE in South African universities emphasises that the role of DE is to provide access to students for whom-either because of work commitment, personal social circumstances, geographical distance, contact base education context is either inappropriate or inaccessible (Government Gazette,
This kind of learning was based on sending the printed material and audio and video taped through the postal mail and broadcasting through the radio, television and telephone conferences (Moore & Kearsley, 2005). This generation featured more interaction. Evans and Nation (2003) declared that “The emergence and success of the British Open University in the 1970s signalled that distance education could hold a preeminent place in higher education nationally and internationally” (p. 789). The fourth generation was based on the teleconferencing technology that appeared in the United States in the 1980s. One-way video and two-way audio communications were used at this stage. In the 1990s, two-way video-conferencing was used broadly to enhance live interaction in distance learning. This generation featured three types of interactions. The three types of interactions are learner-content interaction, learner-instructor interaction, and learner-learner interaction. These three types of interaction are believed to develop effective teaching (Moore & Kearsley, 2005). The latter two generations were characterized by using both methods of communication, synchronous and asynchronous. In 1992, online virtual classes started. This is considered the fastest growing method of education. This generation created more chances for