In academic year 1994-95, an estimated 25,730 distance education courses with different catalog numbers⁴ were offered by higher education institutions (Table 2). Public 4-year institutions offered 45 percent of the distance education courses, public 2-year institutions offered 39 percent, and private 4-year institutions offered 16 percent of the distance education courses in 1994-95. About half of the institutions that offered distance education courses in fall 1995 offered 10 or fewer such courses in academic year 1994-95, with 24 percent offering 1 to 4 courses and 21 percent offering 5 to 10 courses (Figure 2). About a quarter of the institutions offered more than 25 distance education courses.

Institutions were asked how many of their distance education courses are offered only as distance education courses (i.e., there is no equivalent course taught on campus). Institutions offered an estimated 3,260 courses only as distance education courses (not shown in tables). The percentage of distance education courses offered exclusively through distance education did not vary by institutional type. Public 2-year institutions offered 9 percent of their distance education courses exclusively as distance education courses; public 4- year institutions, 13 percent; and private 4-year institutions, 19 percent (Figure 3).

Types of Technologies Used to Deliver Distance Education Courses

Two-way interactive video and one-way prerecorded video were used to deliver distance education courses by 57 percent and 52 percent, respectively, of the institutions offering distance education courses in fall 1995 (Table 3). About a quarter of the institutions used two-way audio with one-way video, and computer-based technologies other than two-way online interactions during instruction (e.g., the Internet). Each of the other technologies was used by 14 percent or fewer of the institutions.

Public 4-year institutions were more likely than other types of institutions to use two-way interactive video and two-way audio with one-way video, while public 2-year institutions were more likely than other types of institutions to use one-way prerecorded video (Table 3). Two-way online interactions during instruction and other computer-based technologies were used more frequently by private 4- year than by public 2-year institutions.

Delivery of Distance Education Courses to Remote Sites

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