Distance education is a set of teaching and / or learning strategies to meet the learning needs of students separate from the traditional classroom setting that teachers and learners are in the same location.In an era that the number of nurses, qualified nurse faculty and especially nurse researchers is well below national need (AACN), technological advances are increasing opportunities to improve the quality of and access to nursing education. Technology affords increased collaboration among nursing faculties in teaching and research.Technological strategies can change the way teaching and learning occurs, challenging the traditional relationship of student to academic institutions.Technological advances have resulted to reach far beyond their own geographic areas and decreased costs of education. Distance education fight "brain drain" from rural areas students who learn within their own communities are more likely to practice there. Nurses use distance education in promoting their skills and increase service quality provided for patients.The technologies of distance learning can be mixed and matched endlessly, but essentially, the learning breaks down into two basic styles: "synchronous" and "asynchronous". Each presents advantages and constraints: with synchronous technology, student can learn in real time, through video conferencing or online "live" chats, and is ideal for coursework where interactive group discussion enhances the material. Asynchronous technology, where students download prepared materials at their convenience, works best for coursework that is more fixed. Part of the success of any educational program is the support and direction of leadership. Distance education requires not only educational innovation but also an environment that rewards risk-taking. Creativity, flexibility and willingness to learn new teaching methods are necessary for faculty engaged in distance education. Since educational technologies are likely to change rapidly in the next decade, it is imperative to consider the benefits of distance education versus the high cost of this investment.

Distance-based clustering methods categorize samples by optimizing a global criterion, finding ellipsoid clusters with roughly equal sizes. In contrast, density-based clustering techniques form clusters with arbitrary shapes and sizes by optimizing a local criterion. Most of these methods have several hyper-parameters, and their performance is highly dependent on the hyper-parameter setup. Recently, a Gaussian Density Distance (GDD) approach was proposed to optimize local criteria in terms of distance and density properties of samples. GDD can find clusters with different shapes and sizes without any free parameters. However, it may fail to discover the appropriate clusters due to the interfering of clustered samples in estimating the density and distance properties of remaining unclustered samples. Here, we introduce Adaptive GDD (AGDD), which eliminates the inappropriate effect of clustered samples by adaptively updating the parameters during clustering. It is stable and can identify clusters with various shapes, sizes, and densities without adding extra parameters. The distance metrics calculating the dissimilarity between samples can affect the clustering performance. The effect of different distance measurements is also analyzed on the method. The experimental results conducted on several well-known datasets show the effectiveness of the proposed AGDD method compared to the other well-known clustering methods.

The purpose of this study with a descriptive-survey method is to investigate the trends and dimensions of curricula internationalization process with a distance education approach in higher education in Iran. It examines the necessity of internationalization of curriculum as well identifying the factors, conditions, resources, equipment, limitations, opportunities and appropriate strategies to do so. Using cluster-stratified sampling and Cochran formula, 543 university professors and Iranian and foreign students at five universities in Tehran were selected to fill out the questionnaire which consisted of 8 areas and 96 questions. The data analysis was carried out using one sample t-test, Friedman test and standard deviation. Based on the findings, to accompany globalization and to introduce Iranian culture and civilization to the world, curricula internationalization in higher education is a necessary issue; Distance education can be an effective strategy to achieve the above due to its high degree of flexibility and its ability to overcome geographical, political, economic and cultural borders. The most influential factor in succeeding in internationalizing curriculum with a distance education approach in higher education of Iran are: increasing international cooperation of universities, expanding use of the international language in teaching, revising the current rules and regulations and clarifying them, increasing financial and human resources, developing technological infrastructure, exploiting cultural similarities and a large number of applicants who want to study aboard in the middle east, selecting appropriate subjects and considering transformative approach in curriculum components or change in thought paradigms of teachers and learners for the sake of change in materials and how to teach them.

Payame Noor University (PNU) was established in 1988 after the sanction of the High Council of Cultural Revolution to enhance the scientific level of the society and to respond to its need for specialized manpower. PNU started its activities with 29 local study centers in different cities of the country. It first launched four degree programs. Now after 14 years, PNU has 10 Regions with 187 Study Centers and Units and has annually increased the number of its study centers and units. PNU offers Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral Degree level programs.Application is through National University Entrance Examination and General Degree Programs. There are 24 programs at Bachelor’s degree level, 14 programs at Master’s degree level and one program at Doctoral degree level.

Distance education or resource-based Learning approach initiatives have changed Learning process and have taken the challenges of the Information Age. Such education emphasizes the interactions between distance learner and instructional materials.Information Literacy is a potential tool of empowerment for all Learners, guides through a resource-based Learning approach. Information Literacy programs changes the role of teachers and learners. Students engage in self-directed learning activities, and teachers facilitate students’ engagement.Information Literacy is a pedagogical approach that can effectively combat against stereotypes of traditional education, by assisting students in developing critical thinking skills. Thus enabling them to do problem-solving, decision-making, and creative thinking, and that is suitable for active learning. Active Learning method is mainly hands-on learning that emphasizes on increasing students’ skills rather than information transfer to them. From the viewpoint of distance educators, active learning is an important part of distance education.Educators have discussed the importance of incorporating active-learning in distance education environment.Use of new information and communication technologies that consists of synchronous and asynchronous provide possible ways in communicating with the distance education students. The application of new technology requires information literacy skills that must be incorporated into distance education courses. In distance education environment, digital libraries make it possible to provide interaction between learners and library materials, also these libraries can create online tutorials to help the students learn how to use library resources.