Community colleges have embraced distance education as a means to provide increased flexibility and access to their large numbers of non-traditional students. Retention rates and student achievement measures alone may not reflect all of the benefits and opportunities that online learning, blended or hybrid learning, and technology enhanced…

In the past 3 decades, we have witnessed the implementation and expansion of online education designed for increasingly diverse audiences worldwide via an impressive array of new instructional media. Many proponents contend that Internet-supported teaching and learning is the most important innovation in education since the printing press. Yet,…

This paper argues that the development of classroom practice is central to the purpose of the IPET (initial professional education and training) of teachers. Notwithstanding the growing use of ICTs (information and communication technologies), both in teacher development and school classrooms, the normative modeling of appropriate contact-based…

The presentation of the historical epistemological path is needed to understand and reconsider the discipline of Educational Technology in articulation to contributions of rupturistic theorists in order to reach to a critical proposal and a revision of its field. This field is facing a deep crisis within a time of world crisis, specially in the…

The lab applications, which were started to be applied through mid 19th century, not only provide a new point of view but also bring about a new dimension to the lessons. At early times they were used to prove theoretical knowledge but lately they turned into environments where students freely discover knowledge as an individual or in groups. The…

The practice of distance education in the United States is traced back to its early roots. In the 20th century, distance education remained at the periphery in corporate training, K-12 schools, and most universities, but it gradually developed its practice by using broadcast media, and later the Internet. Since the turn of the current century,…

The Open University, an open distance learning institution, is increasingly using a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) that requires internet access. This paper investigates how the move to a VLE has affected one group of students who do not have internet access--offender learners studying in prison. Members of the armed forces and secure hospital…

A challenge faced by most heads of academic departments around the world is to manage the adoption and use of appropriate learning technologies in order to support the department's learning offerings to students. Earlier research undertaken by the authors revealed that lecturers within the Department of Marketing and Retail Management at the…

The Distance Education Project for Rural Schools (DEPRS) was implemented by the Chinese government between 2003 and 2007 to improve the quality of basic education in rural areas of China, especially in the poorer western provinces. It has been referred to as "the largest ICT project in the world up to now" because "it serves a…

Discussion of the growth of distance education programs focuses on program evaluation. Describes the American Evaluation Association http://www.eval.org, the ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation (ERIC/AE) http://ericae.net; lists steps for planning formative evaluation; and considers the appropriate uses of new technology. (LRW)

The most developed, progressive, and economically stable countries in the world are those that are technologically advanced. Technological change and the building of human capabilities are interrelated: each requires the development of the other for success and the "rethinking [of] educational systems to meet the new challenges of…

Defines advanced Web-based distance learning (WBDL); examines some of its benefits, including cost effectiveness, asynchronous training, simple evaluation, and effective use of time; offers suggestions for appropriate applications of WBDL; and describes ways organizations are beginning to use WBDL, including training clients and continuing…

Describes an early distance learning program called the Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction (MPATI) which used broadcast television and an airplane, eventually to be replaced by satellites. Discusses elements needed for successful distance education programs, including a usable and affordable technology and high quality…

This article examines distance learning from a gender perspective. In any new area of enterprise, expectations have an important effect on planning, implementation, and evaluation. When it comes to distance learning, a variety of images of what this exciting new technology will look like and what it can empower us to achieve will determine how we…

Discussion of the appropriate use of technology for distance education focuses on the need to examine why a delivery system is selected and proposes a method for selecting the medium based on course curricula and the need for motion. Use of the Internet for delivery is also considered. (Author/LRW)