Nowadays, Universities have come across a main transformation. Lack of budget, an increase in the number of university students, a change in the student population, up-to-date and various educational needs of each society require fundamental changes that are coordinated with recent needs. This study aimed to evaluate the features of effective distance education in higher education. Findings of this research showed that an understanding of the technological capabilities and learning theories, especially constructive theory and independent learning theory and communicative and interaction theory in distance learning is an efficient factor in the planning of effective distance learning in higher education. For validating the specified features, the opinions of distance learning experts in Payamenoor, Shiraz, Science and Technology and Amir Kabir Universities have been used which verified a high percentage of the statistical sample of the above mentioned features.

Distance teaching and learning, Learning Theories, Interaction, Information and Communication Technology (ICT)