Distance education - education's new frontier

"Distance education may be seen as one of those innovations which was forged on the frontier of European expansion, ... the history of distance education is to a considerable extent an example of the process by which ideas and techniques developed on the periphery have gradually been accepted and absorbed into the old heartland of European culture. Beyond that, there will be a further chapter unfolding as nonEuropean societies observing this process adapt and modify it to their own needs." (1) Bolton (1985).