The opportunities for continuing education are incredibly diverse, thanks to the technology of distance learning and elearning. Because of the sheer number of people who are looking to improve themselves, it was inevitable that a large number of colleges, universities and businesses set out to fill that need.

The result is that people are learning new skills, honing talents and reaching goals, all while going on with their lives. For many people, furthering education and attending classes are limited because they are already involved in their adult lives. Jobs, family obligations and other responsibilities limit the amount of time many people have available to devote to their own education.

Distance learning allows thousands of people to achieve degrees from programs hundreds of miles away. In this day of convenient travel options, it might be tempting to say that anyone can attend college or classes anywhere. Despite our mobile economy, many people simply don't want to move and don't have the time to travel great distances to attend classes. That means that their opportunities are limited to the programs that are offered nearby. Until distance learning and elearning became so widely available.

Briefly, the difference between distance learning and elearning is a matter of how the course is structured. Distance learning requires that the student attend classes at a prearranged time on a regular basis. An instructor who is actually teaching in another facility (across the state or across the nation) lectures makes assignments and teaches just as normal.

The students in the satellite facility have the opportunity to interact with the teacher through two-way communications. The major advantage is that students are attending class right in their own neighborhoods, at community colleges, universities, schools and even public facilities instead of traveling to the site where the teacher is actually conducting class.

Compared to distance learning, elearning is even less structured. Typically, students work at their own pace through online courses. There may be pre-recorded lectures, worksheets, assignments and tests, all viewed and completed online.

The major advantage here is that students have an even more flexible attendance policy and can choose to work through the material as quickly or as slowly as they want, though some courses do have time limits for completion.

When you add it all up, both distance learning and elearning offer opportunities that simply wouldn't be available any other way. People who would otherwise be "stuck" with no way to further their educations now have an option.