Speaking Personally—With Ken Udas

Abstract

The context of rural Alaska provides many challenges for the University of Alaska, Fairbanks in the delivery of education via distance technologies. Audioconference courses have been and continue to be the backbone of the University's distance delivery system. This paper discusses the potential of a FirstClass^® Server using telecommunications, e‐mail, student‐to‐student interaction, submission of assignments, timely instructor feedback, and the transfer of files and multimedia documents in an asynchronous manner. Survey data were collected from students who received instruction using this system, as well as the traditional audioconference delivery method. Analysis of the data indicated some positive aspects of the FirstClass system that enhance the distance‐delivered instruction.     

Speaking Personally—With Tony Bates

Abstract

The articles published in D &; S concerning the creation and operation of remote training methods can be characterized according to the points of view taken by experts or researchers. The authors are interested in three particular aspects of the training process: organization, design, and impact. Different approaches in the design of these methods determine the economy of their structure. They may include certain constraints, such as when a team has a specific and voluntarist vision or when seeking safety by keeping to the norms, or, on the contrary, to pragmatic approaches consisting in adapting to the situation. All the proposals focus on a central theme: supporting students from a distance.     

Speaking Personally—With Paul Avon

This article reports the results of a pilot project conducted at the University of California–Irvine (UCI) involving the simultaneous online delivery of a course to both University of California undergraduates and enrollees on the Coursera Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platform. Survey results from a robust sampling of UCI undergraduates offer strong disruptive-technology evidence that a new generation of students weaned on the Internet and social media may find well-delivered online courses to be an acceptable substitute for—or even preferable to—large lecture hall courses. The results also indicate a very strong student response to a peer-to-peer approach in which course content is delivered in a video lecture format by a fellow undergraduate (under instructor supervision). A strong positive response to the MOOC platforms offers the promise of economies of course delivery for colleges and universities seeking to implement cybereducation cost-effectively.