The Center for Distance Education (CDE) at University of Alaska Fairbanks was created in 1987, pulling various distance education initiatives together under one roof, including a correspondence program that has been going strong since the early 1950s.
In 2012 CDE was renamed UAF eLearning & Distance Education.
CDE offers more than 300 courses to 6500 or more students each year. In addition to its own design team, student services and Online advising, CDE provides support and materials services to all courses delivered through the UAF College of Rural and Community Development (CRCD) whose branch campuses in Dillingham, Kotzebue, Nome, and Bethel serve over 200 villages and communities across most of the state.
CDE provides coordination for statewide distance education initiatives across the three "Major Academic Units" in Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Juneau and facilitates statewide initiatives including the iDesign retreat for Instructional Designers, and the iTeach intensive clinic for teaching faculty.