CG: n
CT: Both online learning and distance learning require similar online learning tools, but there the similarity ends.
Overall there are three major differences between online and distance learning:
- Location
- Interaction
- Intention
Differences in Location
The key difference between online learning and distance learning is location.
With online learning (sometimes called eLearning), students can be together in the classroom with an instructor while working through their digital lessons and assessments.
When using distance learning, students work online at home while the teacher assigns work and checks in digitally.
Differences in Interaction
Because of the differences in location, the interaction between you and your students differs as well.
Online learning will involve in-person interaction between you and your students on a regular basis. This is because online learning is used as a blended learning technique along with other teaching strategies.
Distance learning includes no in-person interaction between teachers and students. However, you’ll likely rely on digital forms of communication such as messaging apps, video calls, discussion boards, and your school’s learning management system (LMS).
Differences in Intention
The final difference between online and distance learning is the intention of the teaching strategy.
Online learning is designed to be used in combination with a variety of other in-person teaching methods. It’s a supplemental way of mixing things up in your classroom to provide a variety of learning opportunities for your students.
Distance learning is a method for delivering instruction solely online, not as a variation in your teaching style.
S: AES – https://www.aeseducation.com/blog/online-learning-vs-distance-learning (last access: 12 March 2023)
N: 1. – distance (n): c. 1300, distaunce, “a dispute or controversy, civil strife, rebellion;” early 14c., “disagreement, discord, strife;” from Old French destance “discord, quarrel” (13c.), with later senses directly from Latin distantia “a standing apart,” from distantem (nominative distans) “standing apart, separate, distant,” present participle of distare “stand apart,” from dis- “apart, off” (see dis-) + stare “to stand,” from PIE root *sta- “to stand, make or be firm.”
Meaning “remoteness of space, extent of space between two objects or places” is from late 14c. Also “an interval of time” (late 14c., originally distaunce of times). Meaning “remote part of a field of vision” is by 1813. The figurative sense of “aloofness, remoteness in personal intercourse” (1590s) is the same as in stand-offish.
– learning (n): Old English leornung “study, action of acquiring knowledge,” verbal noun from leornian (see learn). Meaning “knowledge acquired by systematic study, extensive literary and scientific culture” is from mid-14c. Learning curve attested by 1907.
2. a system of education in which people study at home with the help of special internet sites and send or email work to their teachers.
3. distance learning, also called distance education, e-learning, and online learning, form of education in which the main elements include physical separation of teachers and students during instruction and the use of various technologies to facilitate student-teacher and student-student communication. Distance learning traditionally has focused on nontraditional students, such as full-time workers, military personnel, and nonresidents or individuals in remote regions who are unable to attend classroom lectures. However, distance learning has become an established part of the educational world, with trends pointing to ongoing growth. In U.S. higher education alone, more than 5.6 million university students were enrolled in at least one online course in the autumn of 2009, up from 1.6 million in 2002.
4. An increasing number of universities provide distance learning opportunities. A pioneer in the field is the University of Phoenix, which was founded in Arizona in 1976 and by the first decade of the 21st century had become the largest private school in the world, with more than 400,000 enrolled students. It was one of the earliest adopters of distance learning technology, although many of its students spend some time in classrooms on one of its dozens of campuses in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. A precise figure for the international enrollment in distance learning is unavailable, but the enrollment at two of the largest public universities that heavily utilize distance learning methods gives some indication: in the early 21st century the Indira Gandhi National Open University, headquartered in New Delhi, had an enrollment in excess of 1.5 million students, and the China Central Radio and TV University, headquartered in Beijing, had more than 500,000 students.
5. Students and institutions embrace distance learning with good reason. Universities benefit by adding students without having to construct classrooms and housing, and students reap the advantages of being able to work where and when they choose. Public-school systems offer specialty courses such as small-enrollment languages and Advanced Placement classes without having to set up multiple classrooms. In addition, homeschooled students gain access to centralized instruction.
6. Various terms have been used to describe the phenomenon of distance learning. Strictly speaking, distance learning (the student’s activity) and distance teaching (the teacher’s activity) together make up distance education. Common variations include e-learning or online learning, used when the Internet is the medium; virtual learning, which usually refers to courses taken outside a classroom by primary- or secondary-school pupils (and also typically using the Internet); correspondence education, the long-standing method in which individual instruction is conducted by mail; and open learning, the system common in Europe for learning through the “open” university.
7. Four characteristics distinguish distance learning. First, distance learning is by definition carried out through institutions; it is not self-study or a nonacademic learning environment. The institutions may or may not offer traditional classroom-based instruction as well, but they are eligible for accreditation by the same agencies as those employing traditional methods.
Second, geographic separation is inherent in distance learning, and time may also separate students and teachers. Accessibility and convenience are important advantages of this mode of education. Well-designed programs can also bridge intellectual, cultural, and social differences between students.
S: 1. OED – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=distance+learning (last access: 12 March 2023). 2. OD – https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/distance-learning?q=distance+learning (last access: 12 March 2023). 3 to 7. EncBrit – https://www.britannica.com/topic/distance-learning (last access: 12 March 2023).
SYN: remote learning, tele-learning (rare).
S: GDT – https://vitrinelinguistique.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/fiche-gdt/fiche/26558280/apprentissage-a-distance (last access: 12 March 2023)
CR: education, e-learning.
