The Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) developed the eTech College of Wisconsin, which provides expanded learning opportunities for students through quality curriculum offered online. The program is designed to complement other learning delivery methods and to be accessible from any location at any time. The college allows students to…

A perennial difficulty for first year students--one often viewed by them as an unimportant annoyance--is the need to handle sources and cite correctly. Any serious institutional attempt to address this issue in an interesting way is an enterprise concerned with motivation, as well as curriculum innovation. This paper reports on a collaboration…

This third publication on the theme of quality in the Commonwealth of Learning Perspectives on Distance Education series widens the discussion beyond external quality assurance processes to a more generic focus on a "culture of quality." It is an extension of the earlier two publications, which came out in 1994 and 1997 and drew…

This paper reports the results of a study conducted to evaluate the reality of interaction in a web-based distance education course. The learners were Egyptian first-grade secondary school students (15-16 years old) and the learning subject is mathematics. To investigate students' interactions via the Web, a Web-based learning environment was…

This study examined the social impact of online, Web-based, distance learning (OWDL) technology on students enrolled in health, physical education, and recreation (HPER) Master's degree level courses as compared to students in traditional classroom courses. Surveys were developed and mailed to 137 students in both types of classrooms. The surveys…

The purpose of this study was to assist an instructor in facilitating an online course while the class was being offered, and to provide timely interventions for improving the course during the semester. A formative approach was used to help deal with unforeseen issues in implementing the first online course this instructor had offered. Through…

This paper summarizes the historical growth of technology and the research that has examined this evolution. Important stages of instructional technology are explored, including the development of computer-assisted instruction and the growing use of the Internet in learning. With this medium's growth will come new opportunities for research and…

This empirical study compared a graduate online course with an equivalent course taught in a traditional face-to-face format. Comparisons included student ratings of instructor and course quality; assessment of course interaction, structure, and support; and learning outcomes such as course grades and student self-assessment of ability to perform…

This paper provides teacher organizations with an overview of online education issues and research. The first section defines online education. The second section summarizes reasons for the expansion of online education. The third section looks at the nature and extent of online education in Canada and the United States. The fourth section…

This paper argues that individual differences among undergraduate students are important factors to the effectiveness of asynchronous learning and that students' needs and perceptions must be taken into account in the design of Web-based instruction (WBI). A student typology is presented based on evidence from an ethnographic study of a WBI…

This document contains the following papers on the educational computing course from the SITE (Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education) 2002 conference: (1) "Integrating Media Literacy into a Technology Course for Preservice Secondary Teachers" (Gregg Brownell and Nancy Brownell); (2) "From Video Tutors to Electronic Portfolios:…

Since 1999, and as part of an Ameritech grant, the author has systematically investigated use of streaming media to enhance face-to-face classes. Technology invites experimentation but raises questions about such things as student acceptance, student use, academic performance, and what to do with class time when lectures are put online. Students…

This document focuses on Web-based courses for high school students. First discussed is the use of technology as a potential solution to address two needs: the need to increase the number of Advanced Placement courses and core mathematics and sciences courses; and the need to improve instruction. Efforts by universities and private, for-profit…

This paper describes a year-long program which is in place at Nashville State Technical Institute (Tennessee) to train faculty in the development of World Wide Web-based instruction. The program is based on seven principles that assert that good practice in undergraduate instruction encourages student-faculty contact, encourages cooperation among…

A World Wide Web-based distance learning course at Georgia State University, developed with World Wide Web Courseware (WebCT), is the focus of this study. The course, "Advanced Reference: Online Searching Techniques," concentrated on assisting students in developing skills for searching Internet resources, in particular the resources and…