Distance education or distance learning is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school. Courses that are conducted (51 percent or more) are either hybrid, blended or 100% whole instruction. Massive open online courses (MOOCs), offering large-scale interactive participation and open access through the World Wide Web or other network technologies, are recent developments in distance education. A number of other terms (distributed learning, e-learning, online learning, etc.) are used roughly synonymously with distance education.
Distance education is different than traditional classroom-based programs. If you study in a distance education program you will be taking a course, continuing education or degree program online.
Distance education is often self-directed, which means that most of your work will be done alone at your computer, and you will not have in person interactions with fellow students and professors. You must be have very strong time management and organizational skills to keep up with your studies. You also will need to be comfortable working with technology since many distance education programs have moved online.