Teaching and Learning by Satellite in a European Virtual Classroom

The recent literature of distance education contains a number of attempts (Garrison, 1985) to divide technologies used in distance education into generations. Although this type of classification has its values, it needs further development to show how first generation technologies can be both more popular and more successful than final generation. A more fruitful approach may be to analyse educational provision, as seen by the distance educator, into face-to-face provision, teaching at a distance, and teaching face-to-face at a distance, and then to show how each complements the others and enriches the provision of education and training.