Faculty Perceptions and Participation in Distance Education

Motivating faculty members to teach at a distance has been a challenge for most colleges and universities. What will be the impact of teaching using technology on faculty responsibility? Is teaching students through any or all distance education methods really nothing more than adapting traditional classroom approaches? What are the attitudes and barriers to using technologies often associated with distance education? In this chapter the authors present data obtained from an extensive survey of faculty opinions on teaching at a distance, as well as several case studies describing incentives and training made available for distance education. To enhance participation in distance education, faculty must have the competence, attitude that distance education is important and valuable, and infrastructure available to facilitate the additional time and effort to convert courses. Faculty training programs cannot be “one-shot” and should include personnel in close proximity to faculty, preferable on their own equipment. Release time is an important incentive to encourage participation.

Teaching Enterprise Systems in a Distance Education Mode

This chapter discusses the needs and opportunities for teaching comprehensive business applications, Enterprise Systems, in the form of academic distance education courses. Specific factors of the educational market in Enterprise Systems such as high demand, limited resources or the increased importance of Application Hosting Centers will be described. An appropriate learning model will be selected that stresses the role of the lecturer as a moderator. The subject, Process Engineering at Queensland University of Technology, is taken as an example in order to discuss different forms of distance and also collaborative education in Enterprise Systems. The summary includes recommendations and sketches possible future directions.

Leveraging Distance Education Through the Internet

In a global knowledge-based economy, with an ever-growing demand for learning, the Internet is seen as a vehicle for promoting effectiveness in teaching and reaching wider audiences. The number of online courses and programs offered by traditional higher education institutions, as well as new players in the education industry, has been increasing at an exponential rate. Yet the implementation of distance education through the Internet involves much more than a change of medium from face-to-face classroom interaction to an environment free of time and place constraints. Institutions are faced with the challenge of redefining their strategies to incorporate the e-learning paradigm. This chapter provides an overview of the different models that have emerged, and addresses the key issues that need to be resolved for integrating Internet-based learning in traditional universities. The breadth of strategic, administrative, academic and technological concerns encountered through the evolution of an Internet-based education system, from its inception to implementation, are discussed and illustrated by the e-learning initiative of Middle East Technical University in Turkey.

The Challenge of Teaching Effectively from a Distance

Distance learning has the potential to be as powerful at successful instruction as conventional classroom learning. To take advantage of this potential, planners and educators should apply known principles of perception and learning gleaned from cognitive, behavioral, educational, and perceptual psychological research. These principles include those of elaborative encoding, interactive learning, reinforcement and the spacing effect. These principles and their relationship to human learning are presented. Applications of these principles in conventional distance learning packages are discussed, including Web page development, course-in-a-box software, chat rooms, MUD/MOO environments, bulletin boards and real-time online lectures. Suggestions are provided to guide the course designer in developing effective instructional tools.

Establishing Successful Online Distance Learning Environments

This chapter looks at factors that promote development and implementation of successful online distance learning environments from the perspectives of educators and learners. It provides an overview of current tensions between the requirements of the faculty, the needs of the students, and the forces driving the development of online programs. The work is based on the authors’ current research as well as past experiences in the design, development, and delivery of online distance learning environments.

Institutional and Library Services for Distance Education Courses and Programs

Institutions are quickly embracing distance education in the forms of online or web-based courses and programs at phenomenal rates. Often, however, significant institutional structures, including such areas as registration, advising, library, and technical support are overlooked until too late. Institutions must have clear, well-planned strategies in place in order to maximize their students’ learning experiences and overall satisfaction with distance education programs to avoid attrition and maximize retention. This chapter provides many useful and easy to implement strategies for institutions considering distance education, as well as for those already engaged in serving students online.

A Preliminary Exploration of Social Needs in Distance Education

This chapter explores the concern for social needs in distance education. As a foundation, the chapter discusses the evolving learning environment and stakeholder expectations that distance education must address as it grows in prevalence. In addition, technology is a key enabler of any distance learning program. This chapter analyzes several theories that integrate learning and technology for potential insights applicable to distance learning. These insights lead to an exploratory study to compare the “need for affiliation” between students working in groups for distance classes (virtual groups) and students working in groups for on-campus classes (actual groups). The preliminary results of the study indicate that some issues concerning socialization do exist between the two groups. Ultimately, the study points to the need for more formal and definitive measures of the social aspects of group work in distance education.

Using Tutored Video Instruction Methodology to Deliver Management Education at a Distance in China

This chapter summarizes a report of a systematic study of distance education programs whose audience was middle- and upper-level managers employed full-time at two Chinese companies. These programs were evaluated in terms of their educational effectiveness; i.e., did these students, and the companies who paid for their education, receive good value for their investment of time and money?

Quality Assurance of Online Courses

Based upon the author’s experience, the convenience of Internet delivery and anytime online class availability are often the primary reasons students enroll in online courses. The quality of the online educational experience is often a secondary consideration to the student. Many times these students are willing to miss the in-class experience and interaction in order to receive credit for online coverage of certain required subject matter. Because of this attitude, there is also the potential for students and potential employers to perceive an online class or degree program as an “alternative” or the “next best thing” to attending traditional lecture classes. This attitude needs to be minimized if students are to utilize online and traditional classes equivalently in their degrees. The same level of quality for the class experience and content should be expected if online and traditional lecture classes are to be considered equivalent. Making an online class as engaging as a lecture class using the Internet is a worthy goal. “Jumping in with both feet is not for timid souls. Internet offerings require large amounts of time in the preparation of course materials. Everything must be viewed in a global sense for an entire semester at the offset.” (Kubala, 1998).

Distance Education Quality

The current growth in distance education is a result of a convergence of factors. The delivery technology has become more affordable, available, familiar and interactive. With improvements in the technology, distance courses are now more realistic, engaging, inexpensive, and varied. The audience of learners is more experienced and capable with the technology, due to the increased availability of distance education, and they welcome distance learning into their busy lives. Technology-mediated distance education research has matured enough to produce an extensive body of evidence that distance education can be at least as effective as classroom instruction. The exciting convergence that brought about the growth in distance education also presented distance learners with a challenge: how to choose the best distance learning opportunities from the vast catalog of options. Distance learners can easily compare the costs, technical needs, cognitive requirements, and time demands of distance learning courses. Learners are less well equipped to distinguish high quality courses from the offerings. Distance education programs have the responsibility of communicating to students the quality assurance measures they employ, whether the measures consist of in-house practices or accreditation by outside bodies.