As learners in formal education system interact with each other in a physical space, they get opportunity to interact and motivate each other. It's a major question that drop-out in distance education is high due to isolation among learners. Is ther any mechanism to break isolation?
As a teacher in distance education programs offered by a university, I am aware that Many distance education programs allow video and real-time chatting to prevent isolation. It is true that it is helpful to have f-t-f meetings as in blended programs. Drop out in distance education may be due to time pressures from competing demands (work, family) and not primarily isolation among learners, who are provided with emails and opportunities to convene offline to build support.
As a MSc student in distance learning education offered by a university, I am acutely aware of the isolation one feels in the learning process sometimes. I have had to make the extra effort to reach out to fellow students for mutal encouragement and morale suppot. I do believe it is a research question worth exploring considering the drop out rate. You could also look at coping mechanisms of those who have gone through it and are going through it successfully.
The distance learning is not appropriate for some training courses. It should be differentiated from specific content that requires more interaction and support for didactics that use group (such as cooperative learning or peer education).
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