ABSTRACT
Keegan’s definition of distance education (1986, p. 49) separates not only the teacher from the learner, but the learners from each other. Distance education is characterised as an individual rather than a group activity: ‘the quasi-permanent absence of the learning group throughout the length of the learning process so that people are usually taught as individuals and not in groups, with the possibility of occasional meetings for both didactic and socialisation purposes’. This definition aimed to include as much of what went under the banner of distance education as possible. It therefore seems likely that this part of the definition provides an accurate description of most distance education courses. Distance learning is a lonely activity.
