ERIC Number: ED393476
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1995-Aug
Pages: 7
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
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Issues and Problems in Distance Teaching to Rural Communities: A Western Perspective.
Sparks, Barbara; Farr, Charlotte
The Western Brokering Project (WBP) is a cooperative effort to share resources and programming across educational institutions in the western United States. Administered by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education and the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications, the WBP works with 6 community colleges and universities and 15 states to match the educational needs of rural communities with available resources through distance education. The University of Wyoming, for example, offers a land surveying certificate as part of the WBP. The program can be taken as part of an associate degree program and utilizes distance education technology to be available to students across the West. To ensure high quality in the distance education program, faculty worked with the instructional design team to adapt their course to the distance delivery system. Audio conferencing is the primary delivery method used, while videotapes and print materials are also included. To participate, students only need access to a videocassette player and a conference telephone. After the initial implementation of the courses, the following recommendations were developed: (1) remedial tapes should be developed and sent to students requiring extra help with prerequisites to the course; (2) the amount of required audioconferencing should be decreased; and (3) an infrastructure to support program delivery nationwide must be developed. (TGI)
Publication Type: Opinion Papers; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
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Author Affiliations: N/A