One of the most significant developments in education in the past century has been the expansion of distance education. This course will familiarize students with the historic and conceptual foundations of distance education and will provide students with opportunities to examine theories and applications of distance education in educational and training settings. The course will introduce participants to key concepts and principles that drive the design of effective distance learning and students will experience participating in online instructional events. A variety of distance teaching technologies will be utilized to demonstrate the possibilities and implications of their use for distance instruction. The course will incorporate both synchronous and asynchronous technologies for the delivery of course content, presentations and class activities. Students will explore tools for online collaboration including blogs, wikis, eportfolios, Web pages and open source content management systems. Topics covered include communications, technology, delivery systems, instructional development for distance education and program quality assessment.