Characteristics of distance education in higher education

Although there is still evidence of prejudice against distance education in the Brazilian academia, distance education is growing in Brazil in a scenario with a more enlightened legislation. In this sense, the proposed research in this theoretical article seeks to discuss aspects related to the subject Distance Education in Higher Education, in order to highlight the laws of Brazil that regulate distance education, organizational aspects of a distance learning course, challenges still present in this approach and some related studies occurred in Brazil. As methodology, these aspects were analyzed from some works on the distance education, and analysis of some Brazilian law. From this work, the researchers on distance education, and other stakeholders in higher education and education in general, con reflect on characteristics and challenges still present in distance education in higher education, and arouse the interest in participating, creating and/or improving distance learning courses in Brazil.