The Main Purpose Of Distance Education.

If one of the purposes of distance education is to provide open, accessible adult education (open to traditionally excluded individuals and groups; providing access to educational resources for those disadvantaged, and social as opposed to individualized education), and if the purpose of education generally includes encouraging critical reflection and practical democracy (such as workers’ self-management), then the “barrier” of distance education itself needs to be overcome. Distance education has been characterized as individualized learning delivered via “instructional industrialism” and possibly as a “contradiction in terms” (Sewart, 1983). If it is to serve democratic social purposes, these barriers (to the extent that they are real) must be reduced. More importantly, distance adult educators must consciously engage with the external social conditions of students and link with other educational and community projects to achieve hope.