Reducing the distance: equity issues in distance learning in public education

Distance learning and educational equity both began with an emphasis on access, on providing underserved students with an increased access to education. Today definitions of equity have gone beyond simple access to include equal or equivalent treatment and outcomes while definitions of underserved students have expanded to include girls, children of color, children with limited English proficiency and children with disabilities. At the same time the definition of distance learning has expanded to include new technologies, new audiences and new roles. Based on these new definitions and roles, the article raises a number of equity challenges for distance learning educators centering around who is taught, what is taught and how the teaching is done. To answer these challenges, a series of recommendations are suggested that educators can implement to make distance learning a leader in increasing educational equity for all students. The time to act is now.     

Attitudes of higher education faculty toward distance education: A national survey

Abstract

Although distance education is growing in importance in the United States, little research has focused on the attitudes of American college and university teachers toward college‐level distance education and toward the use of specific media in distance education provision. The attitudes of both participating and nonparticipating faculty toward distance education need further examination, since teaching innovations cannot succeed without their support. This study examines the receptivity to college‐credit distance education of faculty members in two‐ and four‐year higher education institutions. The research questions focused on general receptivity to distance education, the relationship between professional characteristics and attitude toward distance education, the connection between previous distance education experiences/ familiarity and receptivity, and on attitudes toward different distance education media and methods.     

Needs for and utilization of OER in distance education: a Chinese survey

The recent developments within open educational resources (OERs) and open licensing have generated considerable interest among distance educators since open and distance learning is supposed to be the largest consumer/user of and contributor to OER. In China, given the policy of development and use of elaborate courses, conversion of radio and television universities into open universities, establishment of the China Open Resources for Education, and adoption of Creative Commons by the Chinese government, there seems to be further expansion of OER movement in the country. Against this backdrop, it was imperative to know how distance education/open university teachers use OERs and what constraints they face in doing so. This study reports a structured questionnaire and open-ended interview findings on all the 74 teachers of the Beijing Open University for four variables: awareness, needs, utilization, and constraints. The findings show that while the teachers were generally aware of OERs, they misunderstood all web resources as OER; the Chinese elaborate courses dominated the perception and use of OER; and those who used OER mainly required it for teaching content, relevant research, and for adopting teaching methods. Searching for OER, choosing appropriate OER and copyright issues were the common constraints to effective use of OER. These results have been discussed further in relation to international research studies on OER, the context of Chinese distance/open university education, and the Chinese OER policy.     

Post-questioning, concept mapping and feedback: a distance education field experiment

This study was designed to assess the instructional potential of two learning strategies—post-questioning and concept mapping—in the presence and absence of systematic instructional feedback. It is a first attempt to test combinations of these treatments experimentally in the context of a course in distance education. Five research questions, drawn from the literature of post-questioning, concept mapping and feedback, were formulated to guide the design and analysis. Substantial differences in achievement outcomes were found for four of the five questions. These results are discussed in relation to the existing literature on outcomes of learning strategies and their implication for practice in distance education.     

Combining video and bulletin board systems in distance education systems

This article proposes a computer-mediated education system, which uses discussion-embedded lecture videos. Currently, lecture videos and online discussions exist separately, and discussion topics are managed without reference to the lectures. However, when the discussion is based on the lecture, this separation makes it difficult for the participants to comprehend the discussion and contribute to it. In this article, the author proposes a system that works on the basis of a close relationship between the lecture video and the discussion. In the proposed system, the contributed comments are embedded into the corresponding parts of the video. Therefore, participants can read related discussions while watching the lecture video and they can watch the corresponding part of the lecture video while reading the discussion. Participants can appreciate the relation between the discussion and the lecture and understand the content and background of the discussion more deeply. These advantages facilitate further discussion. Thus, a more effective distance learning education environment can be achieved.     

Improving the presentation of printed text for tertiary level distance education: Literature review and survey

This paper furnishes recommendations for improving the presentation of distance education study guides. Two approaches were used to distil these recommendations. First, a review of the literature was undertaken. Then, the opinions of thirty‐five practitioners with first‐hand experience of printed study guide production for distance education were surveyed. The questionnaire (which was constructed on the basis of the literature findings) covered many aspects of textual design and layout including general, as well as macro and micro textual issues. Both sources generally agreed that simplicity, consistency, adequate use of white space, utilisation of a hierarchical heading structure, and use of access devices are essential for optimal textual design. But the applicability of a universal layout style, methods of separating paragraphs, whether to use section numbering, replacing textual cues with icons, the readability of fully justified text, and techniques for differentiating levels of headings were more contentious issues.     

Video email: a method of speeding up assignment feedback for visual arts subjects in distance education

The type of asynchronous communication offered by electronic mail has been shown to be particularly effective for providing feedback on assignments in distance education. However, the use of electronic mail has generally been restricted to the exchange of textual information. For practical assignments which include a large visual component, a method of providing feedback which enables the tutor to point to features of the student's work is needed. This paper reports the results of a recent investigation into the feasibility of providing visual feedback to students in practical art subjects by sending compressed digital video clips as attachments to email messages. It concludes that transmission of video by email is now technically feasible, although bandwidth constraints of dial-up links and the time taken for compression put a tight limit on the amount of video that it is practicable to transmit. Nevertheless, developments in technology are expected to improve this situation quickly. Many of the issues that are examined are relevant to other areas of multimedia delivery     

A framework for management of distance education

Distance Education: The Foundations of Effective Practice. John R. Verduin, Jr. and Thomas A. Clark. (San Francisco: Jossey‐Bass, 1991, 279 pp., $31.95).     

Telecommunications: Engineering education through telecommunications: Policy recommendations for the states

Abstract

This article examines copyright issues related to online course development and delivery. An overview and brief history of copyright law is presented, with attention to the ways in which various technologies have shaped modern interpretations of copyright law. Examples of recent lawsuits and several case studies provide a context for examination of fair use issues and liability for online copyright infringement. Finally, some helpful questions are presented on topics such as process issues, institutional policies, software and licensing, copyright issues, and other alternatives. These questions should provide a basis to help online course providers think through issues related to copyright, the Internet, and distance education.     

网格教育:现代远程教育的新浪潮

网格是继传统Internet、Web之后的新的网络技术,被称之为第三代互联网.传统的网络教育已无法适应信息社会对教育提出的挑战与要求,而基于网格技术的网格教育能够克服当前网络教育的局限.本文分析了网格的特点、网格教育的创新,预言网格教育必将掀起现代远程教育的新浪潮.     

A scholar's journey: Using the internet for adult and distance education research

Web‐Based Instruction. Badrul H. Khan, ed. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications, 1997, 480 pp., $89.95/Hard, $59.95/Soft).

Distance Learning: A Step‐by‐Step Guide for Trainers. Karen Mantyla and J. Richard Gividen (Alexandria, VA: American Society for Training and Development, 1997, 179 pp., $45.00).     

Teaching with student response systems in elementary and secondary education settings: A survey study

This study examined how 498 elementary and secondary educators use student response systems in their instruction. The teachers all completed an online questionnaire designed to learn about their goals for using response systems, the instructional strategies they employ when using the system, and the perceived effects of response systems. Participants in the study tended to use similar instructional strategies when using the technology as have been reported in higher education. These include posing questions to check for student understanding and diagnose student difficulties, sharing a display of student responses for all to see, asking students to discuss or rethink answers, and using feedback from responses to adjust instruction. A latent class analysis of the data yielded four profiles of teacher use based on frequency of use and breadth of instructional strategies employed. Teachers who used the technology most frequently and who employed broadest array of strategies were more likely to have received professional development in instructional strategies and to perceive the technology as more effective with students.     

Actors and ideology for educational policy transfer: the case of education reforms in the two Koreas during the Soviet and US military occupation

This paper critically considers the notion of educational policy transfer by addressing the roles of significant actors, based on an analysis of educational reforms made during the Soviet and US military occupation in the two Koreas. Using evidence from the Korean cases, the paper challenges the state-centric, linear, and static views of educational policy transfer, and proposes a new conceptualisation which involves multiple actors from different levels including international, domestic, and individual players. While the educational reforms in the two Koreas were developed by the Soviet and US military in order to maximise their long-term security interests in the Korean peninsula, the key actors who implemented the reforms were Korean policy-makers, who had been appointed to key positions of the educational administrations through the bureaucratic politics between the military authorities and the Korean polity. Thus, specific programmes and policies for implementation of the reforms depended on the Korean policy-makers’ understanding and interpretations of the different ideologies of the Soviet Union and the USA.     

Attitudes of business college faculty and administrators toward distance education: a national survey

Educators’ attitudes towards distance education are known to be influenced by many factors. This study incorporated survey data that measured business educators’ attitudes toward distance education at both the baccalaureate and masters levels of instruction. Two simultaneous equations models were developed that described the relationship between the respondents’ attitudes and other factors relevant to their receptivity and support of distance education. Key influential factors were found to be the experience of the respondent and their perception of difficulties with and appropriateness of distance education. Key differences between the models were based on the teaching role and age of the respondent.