Distance learning involves learning from a distance, where the learner often learns from their home or from another off-campus location. This can be of a number of reasons that include the student living too far away from a campus to come to campus, or a student needing very flexible study arrangements due to their work or family commitments.

Teaching distance learning students can be challenging as students often feel quite isolated from you as the teacher and from their fellow students.

When teaching distance students it is important to remember that:

• Distance students often have difficulty accessing material in a timely manner
• Many have slow internet access and downloading image heavy teaching material can be quite problematic for them
• Distance students can feel very isolated and your speedy response to their emails can make a huge difference to their student experience.

You can find out more about distance learning issues from the Hanginthere website. The site was developed to help distance undergraduate students succeed in their studies.