This paper is an examination of the impact of web technology on distance education, especially as it pertains to the field of healthcare. The Internet has had a profound impact on the ways in which many different tasks are accomplished. It has significantly changed the exchange of information, allowing anyone with access to a personal computer with on-line capability the opportunity to gather substantial materials from diverse and wide-ranging sources. Distance education, which has been an option for decades for those unable to physically join classes separated by geography, has been limited by existing delivery systems. This paper explores the history of distance education and the changes brought about in its effectiveness, availability, and applicability.
Advanced education was once considered a luxury, available primarily to those with the resources to build private libraries and hire personal tutors. The general public learned as much as was needed to perform the jobs required by society, and only the upper class could afford the luxury of learning for the sake of acquiring knowledge. The establishment of colleges, formal gathering places for teaching, helped build an established curriculum but kept the sharing of knowledge among those who could afford to attend. Dan Corrigian (1996) writes, ôFrom the earliest days of formalized education, the academic process has meant travel and lodging . . . The early universities were armed and barricaded to give carefully selected students relative freedom from want and worry while they carried out their studiesö (p. 4).
With the development of the common school movement came a more democratic understanding of the importance of education as being a universal right rather than an individual privilege, but learners were still restricted. Corrigan (1996) observes, ôEven in the days after WWII, when the countryÆs colleges were opened by the GI Bill, accessability was limited to...