The impact of Distance Education on the process of learning defines not only distinct roles for the instructor, the instruction and the technology involved but also the role of the distance learner who faces a change from the traditional learning environment to a new setting. This learner stands in front of the new challenge with expectations, anxieties and the need to balance the responsibilities of the forthcoming tasks with the conditionings of work, family or life circumstances. The distance learner is, however, characterized by self-reliance and a natural intent to pursue individual achievements on an environment different from the traditional one.

Distance learners show perceptions about their courses and about the influencing factors that may affect their performance. These relate mainly to constraints set by their activities as regards pressures of work and family life as well as to the way they organize their studies and integrate course requirements with other competing and continuing commitments. Moreover, students in distant environments need to overcome the sense of isolation many of them feel. It is important that distance students are encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning through discussions with other students and with the instructors and to foster collaborative work and participation. Students who participate in peer/group communication are alleviated from the stress of isolation and their learning functioning is enhanced by the support they get in relation to course and content accessibility.

The role of the distance learner from a social point of view shows that language is fundamental to all social situations including open and distance educational contexts. It is through language that teachers construct texts, which indicate student learning intentions; and it is through language that students reconstruct these intended meanings and give expression to them. Success as an open or distance education student is dependent on expertise in the linguistic demands of the educational context. Though some of these demands are common with traditional forms of education, open and distance contexts add another level of complexity to the profile of the distance learner.

Concerns associated with the success or failure in developing technological skills or accessibility to distant resources pose a major problem to the distance learner who feels not only the responsibility to attain course demands and deadlines but also the need to become competent in the operation of different technologies. Satisfaction of students with the technological aspects of the courses as well as with the promptness of material exchange with the instructor add an important motivating aspect to the possibilities of success in their studies. In addition, learners need to adjust to new relationships with instructors who act more as facilitators of instruction than as lecturers in the traditional sense. Counseling and course design may enhance the students urging to persist successfully.

Finally, learners need to be aware of the fact that various variables such as personality characteristics, learning styles or life factors, combined with their thrust for professional development may be determining factors in attaining their educational goals.

The following World Wide Web sites are resources that may provide a better understanding of the different perspectives of the distance education learner:

Distance students' learning empirical findings and theoretical deliberations. John A. B††th. http://www.usq.edu.au/dec/DECJourn/v3n182/baath.htm
In this article the author identifies the distance education learner, examines the approaches of various educational theorists to the satisfaction of learners' needs and relates these approaches particularly to the field of distance education.

Study practices and attitudes related to academic success in a distance learning programme. Frank M. Bernt and Alan C. Bugbee, Jr, http://www.usq.edu.au/dec/DECJourn/v14n193/bernt.htm
A survey of study practices and attitudes was mailed to 300 adult students enrolled in distance-learning programmes at the American College. A series of discriminant analyses (employing the six scales as the predictor set) indicated that high and low passers scored significantly higher than failers on Test Strategies, Time Management, Concentration, and Positive Attitude scales, with test Strategies being the single most powerful predictor.

Relative academic performance and its relation to facet and overall satisfaction with interactive telecourses. Paul Biner, Natalie Barone, Kimberly Welsh and Raymond Dean. http://www.usq.edu.au/dec/DECJourn/v18n297/biner.htm
An investigation was conducted in which 288 undergraduate college students taking 17 live, interactive telecourses at 68 remote sites were asked to report their satisfaction with various aspects of their telecourses as well as their overall satisfaction with those courses.

The role of internal and external factors in the discontinuation of off-campus students. Kevin M. Brown, http://www.usq.edu.au/dec/DECJourn/brown.htm
A sample of discontinued off-campus students (n = 148) formerly enrolled in the Faculty of Arts, Deakin University, Australia, was surveyed to assess the factors which influenced their decisions to leave the course of study. Contrary to some other findings in this field, the research showed that factors `internal' to the university were cited as major reasons for discontinuation. Insufficient support from tutors and difficulties in contacting tutors were major contributory factors to discontinuance for a majority (67.7%) of the sample. Only those who left purely for reasons of employment change (21%) did so wholly for what could be termed factors `external' to the university.

University students' perceptions of influences on external studies. Agnes E. Dodds, Jeanette A. Lawrence and Patrick de C. Guiton, http://www.usq.edu.au/dec/DECJourn/v5n284/dodds.htm Fifty-three external university students and a comparison group of 51 on-campus social and political theory students responded to a written questionnaire on their perceptions of the factors influencing their external studies. Students' responses identified family, job and life circumstances as major influences on external university study. Advantages of external study were self-reliance and finances, and disadvantages were related to access to the library and academics' demands.

Student perceptions of the situational, institutional, dispositional and epistemological barriers to persistence. Maureen R. Garland, http://www.usq.edu.au/dec/DECJourn/v14n293/garland.htm
The courses provide exemplars of epistemological stances that are broadly relevant. Both withdrawal and persisting students experienced situational, institutional, dispositional and epistemological problems that posed barriers to completion.

Do correspondence students need counselling? Roger Lewis, http://www.usq.edu.au/dec/DECJourn/v1n280/lewis.htm
The Leeds Counselling Project of the National Extension College, Cambridge, sought to investigate the needs of adult correspondence students outside the Open University. The value of local counselling seems clear and the conclusion considers ways in which this might be provided and supported.