The Evolution of Distance Teaching in Higher Education: From Correspondence to the New Technologies

Abstract

In this conference devoted to the study of the consequences of the introduction of the new technologies of communication, I was asked to analyse most specifically their foreseeable impact on distance teaching systems, particularly at the higher education level. I decided to place this introduction of new techniques in a certain perspective which implies a retrospective of the evolution of distance teaching systems for higher education since the time when correspondence was the only method used. In fact, no matter what upheavals we can expect from informatics and telematics in this field, they already intervene and will continue, to intervene, without provoking a rupture, in the sense of the constant and progressive improvement of a specific educational system.