The advances and dissemination of the use of information and communication technology (ICT) open up new perspectives for distance learning based on digital learning environments accessed through the Internet. Considering that geographical distance and the use of new media, although inherent features of distance learning (DL), do not suffice to define this educational conception, DL is here discussed neither as a makeshift solution to cater for students geographically isolated from educational institutions, nor just as a simple transposition of contents and methods of presence teaching to other media supported by various technologies. DL programs can have their level of dialogue prioritized or not according to the epistemological conception, support technologies and pedagogical approach. This article intends to discuss the usual approaches to DL, highlighting the use of ICT in the development of an interactive education process that promotes the production of individual and group knowledge in collaborative processes favored by the use of digital and interactive learning environments, which allow to break from time and space distances and make feasible recursiveness, multiple interferences, connections and trajectories, not restricting itself to the dissemination of information and tasks entirely defined a priori.
Distance learning; Information and communication technology; Interaction