Distance Education, the Internet, and Formal Education

Abstract

Computers and Internet gradually become familiar objects at school and in the education field. New communication technologies slowly become part of the educational activity. But they are basically used as "support", something added to an educational practice that maintains its traditional dynamics and perspective. On the other hand, the processes and practices they induce contradict the nature of the traditional activities of education. What we will do in this article is to point out the kind of transformation Internet and new information technologies bring to education, as well as to briefly introduce some of the main characteristics that demonstrate that these dynamics and processes have consequences which are in fact much more radical than it may seem at first sight.