The story of distance education: A practitioner's perspective

In answering the journalistic questions involved in telling a good story (who, what, when, where, why, and how), this article's goals are to provide an historical overview of the issues and opportunities presented by distance education throughout the world and to offer some thoughts about what the future may hold. To meet these objectives, it very briefly highlights: (1) Those who develop and those who participate in distance education courses and programs; (2) what distance education is and what subjects lend themselves to this approach; (3) where distance education is currently used; (4) when distance education started and how it has evolved over time; (5) why individuals and institutions participate; and (6) how to implement distance education effectively. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.