Education Commons^™

Strictly Business: Teacher Perceptions Of Interaction In Virtual Schooling, Charles R. Graham, Abigail Hawkins, Michael K. Barbour

Faculty Publications

This study explored the nature of teacher-student interaction from the perspective of eight virtual school teachers in an asynchronous, self-paced, statewide, supplemental virtual high school. Using intensity sampling, eight teachers who varied across discipline, grade level, and course completion rates were student-initiated and instructional in nature. The main procedural interactions focused on notifications sent to inactive students. Social interactions were minimal and viewed as having little pedagogical value. Institutional barriers such as class size and an absence of effective tracking mechanisms limited the amount and types of interaction teachers engaged in. Study implications and future research are discussed.

Ten Scalability Factors In Distance Education, R. Dwight Laws, Scott L. Howell, Nathan K. Lindsay

Faculty Publications

The institutional decision about how much technology should be used to scale distance education enrollments, reduce costs, maximize profits, and protect course and program quality is both institutional specific and complex. Guri-Rosenblit (1999) noted that “many conventional universities worldwide operate as large-scale universities and are in a continuous search to find the right balance between massification trends, quality education, and the catering to the individual needs of students” (p. 289). This research is an outgrowth of the authors’ own efforts to identify relevant scalability factors and their interrelationship one to another in a traditional university’s distance education program.

Insights From Research On Distance Education Learners, Learning, And Learner Support, Richard E. West

Faculty Publications

This article reviews the key ideas related to increasing student learning and support described in selected chapters from the second edition of the Handbook of Distance Education (Moore 2007). These chapters described research findings related to the impact of distance education on learners in general (student autonomy, cognition, social learning, and satisfaction), as well as specific subgroups of distance students and instructors (K-12, female, and disabled students as well as academic advising and library services). This article concludes with brief recommendations for future research in each of these areas.

Open Educational Resources: Enabling Universal Education, David Wiley, Tom Caswell, Shelley Henson, Marion Jensen

Faculty Publications

The role of distance education is shifting. Traditionally distance education was limited in the number of people served because of production, reproduction, and distribution costs. Today, while it still costs the university time and money to produce a course, technology has made it such that reproduction costs are almost non-existent. This shift has significant implications, and allows distance educators to play an important role in the fulfillment of the promise of the right to universal education. At little or no cost, universities can make their content available to millions. This content has the potential to substantially improve the quality of …

Good (Best) Practices For Electronically Offered Degree And Certificate Programs, Scott L. Howell, Katherine Baker

Faculty Publications

Who would have ever imagined the effect of one set of distance education principles developed 10 years ago (1995)? At a time in the history of distance- and e-learning, when many associations, organizations, and institutions set about to define themselves and those standards by which their constituents would be held accountable for quality practices, one set of standards has emerged preeminent the work of the Western Cooperative of Educational Telecommunications known as Best Practices for Electronically Offered Degree and Certificate Programs. Even Though the original 17 principles enumerated in 1995 have evolved to 27 in 2005, all institutions of higher …

Use Of Distance Education By Religions Of The World To Train, Edify, And Educate Adherents, P. Clint Rogers, Scott L. Howell

Faculty Publications

Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Baha'i, Jewish, and Christian organizations are all experimenting with distance education for various reasons and to different extents, due to religious, economic, and political factors. Religious institutions worldwide are not only turning to the World Wide Web (WWW) to place information concerning religious beliefs and provide virtual services for their constituents but are also getting more involved in formally educating their members at a distance. This paper will document some of these educational efforts and the reasons behind the expanding use of distance education by several of the major religious institutions for training, edifying, and educating their …

Ten Efficient Research Strategies For Distance Learning, Thomas C. Wright, Scott L. Howell

Faculty Publications

Today's distance education administrator, frequently with an expertise in another academic discipline, is also supposed to be a distance education scholar. This expectation results from the recent interest in distance learning that nearly all institutions of learning and disciplines of study have shown. More research, studies, journals, and essays about distance education also exist than at any other time.

A distance education administrator and an education research librarian at Brigham Young University have teamed up to identify ten pragmatic research strategies to help new, busy, and even a few experienced distance education administrators stay current in their field and successful …

Bringing Online Learning To Campus: The Hybridization Of Teaching And Learning At Brigham Young University, Gregory L. Waddoups, Scott L. Howell

Faculty Publications

The primary purpose of Brigham Young University (BYU) is to provide students with a combination of sacred and secular education often described as the BYU experience. Achieving this purpose is challenged by the rapid growth in Church membership and an enrollment cap of 30,000 students. To address these challenges, BYU sponsors the use of technology to bridge the gap between the increased Church membership and the number of students allowed under the enrollment caps. This institutional case study shows how these challenges have influenced the hybridization of teaching and learning for on campus (resident) and off campus (distance) students. It …