Distance education is a growing phenomenon in education today, and the word of dietetics education is no exception. At present, 57 didactic programs, 9 coordinated programs, 12 dietetic internships, and 36 dietetic technician programs offer at least some of their coursework in a distance education format. Because of the increasing interest of the public in food and nutrition issues, more and more individuals are interested in the profession of dietetics as a career. Because of the flexibility and asynchronous nature of distance education, this format particularly meets the needs of students who are working in full-time jobs and/or having family responsibilities that may prevent them from taking classes during the day or relocating to a university with a dietetics program.
There are many modes of distance education delivery.

Although print-based correspondence course are still available, money universities are using a wide variety of technology to bring the classroom into the student’s home or workplace, Online courses, CD-ROM courses, videotaped courses, audio-conferencing, video-conferencing, or combination’s of the formats may be used. Some distance programs offer their complete curriculum in a distance format, both completion programs, in which students take the first 2 years of general education courses at a local community college or other institution and then enroll in the distance education program to complete the “professional” foods, nutrition, and food-service management courses.

Distance education technology may also be used by dietetics programs to offer flexibility in their on-campus courses. Traditional “face-to-face” classes maintaining an online grade-book, offering a course message board or “chat room” options, and posting other information. On-campus students may use distance technology is being used to provide continuing education to credentialed dietetic professionals. Online graduate programs are beginning to appear and continuing education short courses are increasing. Educational technology is here to stay!