ICT AND DISTANCE EDUCATION. THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

As the term distance education is used more and more often, the rapid developments in the ICTs during the late 1990s resulted in the creation of a new scientific field. In the context of this field, our paper aspires to present the main theoretical framework that supports distance education as well as to describe the application of certain theories in the design of a distance educational environment with the use of ICTs. In this framework the theories of autonomy and independence, of industrialization of teaching, of interaction and communication and the equivalency theory are reviewed. Moreover, the application of behaviorism, of the cognitive theory, of constructivism, of the conversation theory, of the hyper personal communication theory and of the social cultural theory to the design of a distance learning environment with the use of ICTs are examined in an attempt to construct a flexible and combined theory for distance learning.