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distance learning A type of education where students work on their own at home or at the office and communicate with faculty and other students via e-mail, electronic forums, videoconferencing and other forms of computer-based communication. Distance learning is becoming especially popular with companies that need to regularly re-train their employees because it is less expensive than bringing all the students together in a traditional classroom setting.

Most distance learning programs include a computer-based training (CBT) system and communications tools to produce a virtual classroom. Because the Internet and World Wide Web are accessible from virtually all computer platforms, they serve as the foundation for many distance learning systems.