Countries like the United States are leading the way in providing global access to advanced educational material. NASA's Digital Learning Network, in conjunction with the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA), Discovery Education and Polycom are allowing middle school students around the globe to remotely visit and survey NASA space and research centers. Participating schools include those in developing nations like Mexico and India (Polycom 2008).

One of the ways distance education can be harnessed to help poor nations prosper is through enterprise-level training and access. Multinational corporations with headquarters in developing nations can hire educational institutions to develop specialized training software, hardware, and distance learning applications. Participants can use the learning opportunities to help labor forces in developing nations move beyond the yoke of unskilled labor and toward more skilled positions ranging from language translation and communications to information technology and engineering. Distance learning can help companies prosper too,...
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