Distance Education Associations

In the United States, there are a number of distance education associations at the national and state level. The associations at the national level are The Distance Education and Training Council [DETC], the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) and the Federal Government Distance Learning Association (FGDLA).

The Distance Education and Training Council [DETC] is a non-profit educational association that serves as a clearinghouse of information about the distance study/correspondence field. This association is an authority on accreditation of distance education in the US. This accreditation is institutional and is extended only to the accredited institution and its approved programs. All distance study programs and distance study-related activities under the ownership, management, and control of the accredited institution must be included in the accreditation, or none can be accredited. In case of a change in the ownership or the management of the concerned institution, it must undergo a fresh review. Institutions that are accredited by the DETC are known to have highly sophisticated and well developed student services, well-structured curriculum, and world-class faculty.

The United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) is non-profit foundation that is managed under the direction of the United States Distance Learning Association. It provides direct broadcast educational programs for the Pre K-12, Higher Education, Teacher Professional Development and General Public constituencies. The offerings also encompass foreign language instruction, teacher training, and other general information using digital satellite transmission technology on a 24 x 7 schedule.

The Federal Government Distance Learning Association (FGDLA) is a nonprofit association formed to promote the development and application of distance learning.

The associations at the state level are Florida Distance Learning Association (FDLA), Georgia Distance Learning Association (GDLA), Michigan Association for Distance Learning (MADL) and such others. These too promote distance education learning and development in their respective states. Among the global distance education associations, some are European Distance Education Network (EDEN) and The Commonwealth of Learning (COL). EDEN helps foster developments in distance education. This is specifically concerned with distance education in Europe. The Commonwealth of Learning is an intergovernmental organization, created by Commonwealth Heads of Government. The objective here is to encourage the development and sharing of open learning/distance education knowledge, resources and technologies. This association helps developing nations improve the quality of education.Distance Education Associations