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What is distance learning? Is it the educational revolution that some people proclaim, or is it just overblown hype of another learning method? Perhaps a good place to answer this question is with a dictionary definition. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines distance learning as "Education in which students take academic courses by accessing information and communicating with the instructor asynchronously over a computer network. Also called distance education."

O.K. that's a good start, but what exactly does it mean? How does "communicating with the instructor asynchronously" have anything to do with an educational revolution? To answer that, let's examine distance learning a little more closely.

Asynchronous is a word that means "out of sync" or "something that does not occur at regular or predetermined intervals." Applied to education, it simply means that teaching and learning do not happen at the same time. Therefore communicating "asynchronously" over a computer network does not require the simultaneous participation of instructors and students. With distance learning, teacher and students are separated by time and space-literally, "at a distance."

This is certainly a revolutionary departure from traditional education. Since students do not need to meet together with the instructor in the same location at the same time, they are not bound by the constraints of rigid class times and meeting places. Asynchronous e-learning communication gives students greater flexibility to study at a time and place that best fits into their schedules.