Multimedia and the Future of Distance Learning Technology

Distance educators have always used new media technologies to facilitate the dialogue between learner and educator. From correspondence to radio and television, the proliferation of communications avenues has helped to make distance education available to more students. In recent years, rapidly accelerating advances in both computer and video technologies have merged to produce the multimedia format. Videodiscs and CD‐ROM provide almost instantaneous access to thousands of still images, text and full‐motion video. Personal computers can now provide control of both interactive video and computer‐mediated teleconferencing. Multimedia combined with online telecommunications capabilities can provide enormous information access to learners on a global scale.