Fifth Generation Distance Education

For many years, universities with a significant commitment to distance and open education institutions have been at the forefront of adopting new technologies to increase access to education and training opportunities. Distance education operations have evolved through the following four generations: first, the Correspondence Model based on print technology; second, the Multi-media Model based on print, audio and video technologies; third, the Telelearning Model, based on applications of telecommunications technologies to provide opportunities for synchronous communication; and fourth, the Flexible Learning Model based on online delivery via the Internet. Although many universities are just beginning to implement fourth generation distance education initiatives, the fifth generation is already emerging based on the further exploitation of new technologies. The fifth generation of distance education is essentially a derivation of the fourth generation, which aims to capitalize on the features of the Internet and the Web. To place the fifth generation Intelligent Flexible Learning Model into a meaningful conceptual framework, it is first worth reviewing briefly certain features of the previous four generations of distance education. Some of the characteristics of the various models of distance education that are relevant to the quality of teaching and learning (Taylor, 1995) are summarized in Table 1, along with an indicator of institutional variable costs (Taylor, Kemp and Burgess, 1993).