According to linguist Soomyung Kim Cho and Zane L. Berge, Ph.D., in the article "Overcoming Barriers to Distance Training and Education," distance learning "almost always requires a greater time commitment that the same instructional objectives or goals when using an in-person classroom." This in and of itself can create a barrier to learning and is not often realized by the student. Compensation for these time lapses is often difficult and requires teachers to commit a longer period for teaching students than in a normal close-proximity situation.
Timelines are often difficult for both educators and learners, especially as different challenging circumstances come up in either of their lives. In a normal learning environment, this would not cause as much of a strain because of close proximity of both and ability to compensate for time lost. Timelines for courses in terms of work and marking are, therefore, often elongated compared with person-to-person learning.
Often teachers and students are in differing time zones. This can create a difficulty in organizing times for phone calls, online courses or any other contact that is required at the same time. It can also cause problems with understanding deadlines; if they are not specified to a time zone, there can be a several-hour discrepancy between the actual deadline and the student's perceived deadline.
Often, students are time-bound to different requirements in their own lives, and that is the reason they are pursuing distance learning in the first place. This can cause a lessening of motivation in terms of learning and place strain on the completion of course requirements and assignments. Adult lives in particular have an unusual contextual situation for learning, as they usually are also pursuing work and family goals at the same time as education.