The fundamental outcomes of education – whether in a distance or "traditional" setting – are the same. We want students to succeed, to understand the content, and (hopefully) to apply it in a variety of employment and social settings. Distance and traditional education methods just differ some on how to get to those outcomes.

Because most of us were taught in a traditional classroom setting for our grade- school and college years, we're used to this format. We're used to being in the same room with an instructor, in a face-to-face setting. We feel comfortable in this environment, so the distance education setting may seem a little strange to you, if you haven't taken distance courses in the past or if you haven't been involved in developing distance education courses.

Michael Moore, professor at Penn State University and editor of The American Journal of Distance Education, provides more insight into this area of differences between traditional and distance education.

Michael Moore on differences between traditional and distance education (1:58)

During this destination, you'll learn the following driving skills (objectives) relating to the differences between distance and traditional education. These fall into three major areas:

• The use of technology to "bridge" students and instructors.
• Students are not time-bound or place-bound to take courses.
• Learners don't necessarily share the same characteristics as "traditional" higher education students.

Let's start by focusing on technology in distance education.

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