Quotes & Quotations About Distance Learning

Comments and observations on the importance of distance learning from politicians, educators and others

"Faculty are moving forward, technologies are improving, and student demand is increasing -- but few changes are taking place in the university structure as a whole to accommodate the special needs of the distance-learning student."
- Richard Bothel, Dean of Continuing Education and Distance Learning at Troy State University

"The earliest form of distance learning took place through correspondence courses in Europe. This was the accepted norm until the middle of this (the 20th) century, when instructional radio and television became popular."
- Lorraine Sherry

"The question is no longer IF the internet can transform learning in powerful ways."
- The Web-Based Education Commission

"[The] whole idea of being able to work on a computer and plot functions and stuff is a great concept. It's nice to be able to see what a function actually does rather than have to try and draw a mental image - or even worse, plot it out by hand - or even much worse, just accept the idea that something works just because some thick math book says so."
- Online student, quoted on a university website.

"Preparing students today for tomorrow's workforce has a lot to do with teaching about how to use and evaluate knowledge. The Internet is rapidly becoming the biggest repository of information we have ever known. The key will be our ability to find, evaluate and use the information it provides...Students must know how to evaluate data."
-- The Web-Based Education Commission

"Today's child is bewildered when he enters the 19th century environment that still characterizes the educational establishment, where information is scarce but ordered and structured by fragmented, classified patterns, subjects and schedules."
- Marshall McLuhan, 1967

"Online learning can be a lifeline to those who have obstacles, such as geographical distances or physical disabilities."
- Paul Levinson, author, "The Soft Edge"

"The virtue of a computer in the classroom is that it requires a user, not a watcher."
- Diane Ravitch

"Almost all types and sizes of institutions show a steady increase in the importance of online education in their long-term strategy."
- Sloan Consortium Study "Online Education in the United States, 2006

"The typical bachelor's degree recipient can expect to earn about 75 percent more over a 40-year working life than the typical high-school graduate. Average lifetime earnings for doctoral-degree recipients are between 2 1/2 and three times higher than average lifetime earnings for high-school graduates, and even higher for professional-degree recipients."
- Jack P. Calareso, President of Anna Maria College

"Distance learning students are committed to their coursework, usually for the purpose of advancing in their careers. For this reason, you can expect quality work and diligent participation from students."
- Academic Technology Center, Worcester Polytechnic University

"Distance learning and broadband access to the world wide web of knowledge and information is the great equalizer. Maybe some day it will even move us towards world peace, environmental balance, and personal fulfillment."
- Gordon P. Hanson , IT Management Consultant, DOA TEACH

"In my experience, it takes about twice as long — prep time, putting materials together — to actually deliver the online course than it does to deliver the on-campus course."
- Denise Keele, professor of environmental policy, quoted on npr.com

"It is virtually impossible to engage students in purposeful and meaningful inquiry without the Internet and communication technologies to precipitate and sustain discourse that is central to higher order learning. Well-designed blended learning can be a much more engaged and meaningful learning experience than sitting passively in a lecture hall."
- Dr. Randy Garrison and Norman Vaughan, academics authors of "Blended Learning in Higher Education: Framework, Principles, and Guidelines"

"They're right there. They're listening. And they like talking to each other, typing to each other. That, I think, is a big attraction, because they get to engage real time with the other students as much as with me."
- Sarah Cordell, professor, University of Illinois, quoted on npr.com

“Within five years, there will be lots of blended models such as students going to school two days a week, and working at home three days a week."
- Julie Young, the founder and president of the Florida Virtual School, speaking about K-12 schools

"...by the year 2016 about one-quarter of all high school courses will be online and that by the year 2019 about one-half of all high school courses will be online."
- Attributed to Clayton Christensen, Michael Horn, and Curtis Johnson, writers of "Disrupting Class: How Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns"

"The data collected in this current study supports that prediction and it is conceivable that by 2016 online enrollments could reach between 5 and 6 million K-12 (mostly high school) students."
- From Sloan Consortium Report "K-12 Online Learning - A 2008 Follow-up of the Survey of U.S. School District Administrators"

"...online and blended learning grew by forty-seven percent between 2005-2006 and 2007-2008."
- Comment on K-12 education from Sloan Consortium Report "K-12 Online Learning - A 2008 Follow-up of the Survey of U.S. School District Administrators"