Otto Peters’ theory of distance education, often described as the theory of the industrialization of teaching and learning, emerged in the late 1960s and 1970s when distance education was expanding rapidly through correspondence courses, radio, television, and large open universities. Peters argued that distance education is not simply a variation of conventional education but represents a fundamentally different mode of teaching that resembles industrial production. According to him, distance education applies principles of industrialization such as division of labour, mass production, standardization, mechanization, automation, planning, and control to the educational process. This theory provided a powerful framework to understand the growth of large-scale distance education systems and their ability to reach vast numbers of learners who were otherwise excluded from higher education. Central to Peters’ theory is the idea that teaching functions are broken down into specialized tasks. In traditional face-to-face education, a single teacher often designs the curriculum, delivers lectures, interacts with students, assesses learning, and provides feedback. In contrast, distance education separates these functions among specialists such as subject experts, instructional designers, editors, media producers, tutors, and evaluators. This division of labour increases efficiency and allows institutions to produce high-quality learning materials systematically. For example, large open universities like the UK Open University or Indira Gandhi National Open University develop self-instructional materials through teams rather than individual teachers, reflecting Peters’ industrial model. Another important element of Peters’ theory is mass production and standardization. Distance education materials are designed for large numbers of learners and are standardized to ensure uniform quality. Once developed, these materials can be reproduced and distributed on a large scale at relatively low marginal cost. This characteristic made distance education particularly suitable