The concept of a community of practice (CoP) is prevalent in several venues for teachers' professional development, especially in online environments. However, there are few descriptive accounts that effectively represent a CoP in a manner that will be of use to other designers. In order to illuminate potential difficulties which may arise when…

"Keeping Pace" has several goals. First, it strives to add to the body of knowledge about online education policy and make recommendations for advances. Second, it serves as a reference source for information about programs and policies across the country, for both policymakers and practitioners who are new to online education as well as those who…

This volume presents 64 abstracts of keynote and parallel paper presentations of the Irish National Academy for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning's (NAIRTL) conference on the theme of flexible learning. The Flexible Learning conference was a joint initiative by NAIRTL and the Learning Innovation Network. The keynote presentations can…

This report is the third in a series of annual reports looking at the state of online education across the country. The goal of "Keeping Pace" is to be a useful document for policymakers and practitioners, and as such it takes a journalistic approach to research and writing instead of an academic approach. This report has two goals: first, to add…

The professional development activities in which trainers and vocational teachers are engaging to acquire new expertise in e-learning were examined through a survey that was completed by 446 individuals. Nearly 80% of the respondents were from within the European Union (EU). The rest came from other European countries, North American, Australia,…

The access barriers to distance education faced by inservice and preservice career and technical education (CTE) majors were examined through a survey of 76 students enrolled in undergraduate- and graduate-level CTE education programs. Completed questionnaires were received from 60 students (response rate, 78.9%). Forty respondents worked…

This document contains eight papers on the changing faces of virtual education. "Introduction" (Glen M. Farrell) presents an overview of the study during which the papers originated. "The Changing Venues for Learning" (Vis Naidoo) discusses innovative learning venues and forces driving and constraining their development.…

One of the most significant events that heralded the Department of Defense's commitment to distance education was the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative, which held its kickoff meeting in Washington, DC in 1997. This meeting provided the army and other military services the endorsement that had been lacking relative to implementing…

The goal of "Keeping Pace" is to to serve as a useful document for policymakers and practitioners, and as such, it takes a journalistic approach to research and writing. Most state and program profiles include footnotes that reference state laws, state policies, and websites of programs. However, in some cases, the information is general and was…

This document contains 17 papers on distance education in the health sciences. The following papers are included: "Preface: Distance Education in the Health Professions: A Collection of Research" (Michael G. Moore); "A Historical Overview of Telecommunications in the Health Care Industry" (Joseph S. Anderson); "Distance…

As the global economy becomes more integrated, incorporating international experiences into college curricula becomes increasingly desirable for American students and their counterparts abroad. This paper describes one model for creating an international, Web-based, distance-learning classroom that can be used as a guide for those who might wish…

"Chronicle of Higher Education" presents an abundant source of news and information for college and university faculty members and administrators. This April 2, 2004 issue of "Chronicle for Higher Education" includes the following articles: (1) "Black Colleges and the Politics of Race" (Samuels, Albert L.); (2)…

This paper begins with three very "public" examples of how education providers across Australia are attempting to assimilate new teaching and learning technologies into existing teaching and learning structures. The transition, as predicted, is not altogether smooth. The dual concepts of the online classrooms as a "self-actualising…

Australia's large distances and widely distributed population has meant that distance education has been an important part of its history. From the earliest provision of schooling by mail through a series of correspondence schools, both state and federal governments have provided a sound infrastructure to support distance education. Innovative…

This paper reports on the results of an action research project at Coventry University that consisted of the evaluation of a curriculum innovation supported by the use of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) WebCT, i.e. a new module (course): "Academic and Professional Skills for Language Learning". The project was carried out…