The Research On The Role Of Distance Education In The Process Of Popularization Of Higher Education

Modern distance education is a form of education with the learners as the principal and with computer technology, multi—media technology, communication technology, network technology and other modern technologies as the main means of teching. The distance higher education adopted the new form of distance education into higher education, which is characterized as the time-space seperation between teachers and students, and is different from the traditional face to face education, is a form of accepting higher education through the network technology. The research on the role of distance education has special significance, it will not only achieve the popularization of higher education more rapidly, but also promote its own healthy and orderly development. The distance education has the feature of separation, openess, flexibility, interactivity, and shareness. The interdependent relationship between the popularization of higher education and the distance education is that the former provides the stage for developing the distance education and the latter is one of the efficent way to promoting the popularization of higher education. In the process of popularization of higher education, the distance education has played the following six role: promoting the reform of higher education, achieving the cross-sharing of education resources, meeting the public demand for higher education, developing the rural higher education, realizing the personal education, buiding a life-long education system. To play the role of distance education in promoting the popularization of higher eduction fully, we must further the reform of enrollment of distance education, further its personnel training mode reform, teaching reform, reinforce its management, and accelarate its establishment of public service system.