Distance Education: Pros, Cons, and the Future.
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| Title: | Distance Education: Pros, Cons, and the Future. |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Li, Hongmei |
| Peer Reviewed: | N |
| Page Count: | 37 |
| Publication Date: | 2002 |
| Document Type: | Information Analyses Reports - Evaluative Speeches/Meeting Papers |
| Descriptors: | Administrator Attitudes, Computer Mediated Communication, Distance Education, Higher Education, Literature Reviews, Program Descriptions, Student Attitudes, Teacher Attitudes, Writing Instruction, Writing Laboratories |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews recent publications on distance education and explores its promise and potential from the student's perspective, the faculty's perspective and the administrator's perspective. Findings indicate that only the self-motivated and self-disciplined students are most likely to succeed in distance education. Although the majority of the research concludes that there is no significant difference between distance learning and traditional learning, this is still open to debate. Faculty support is mixed. The fundamental reason is the lack of faculty involvement in the dominant administrator-centered advocacy. Successful distance education programs need to maintain a high level of faculty involvement. Administrators consider distance education as an important revenue source. In the foreseeable future, however, distance education cannot become a new revenue source, given its time- and labor-intensiveness and the cost of installation of new technology. The examination of two notable programs (the Learning Network at SUNY and the University of California Extension's On-Line Writing programs) confirmed these findings. (Contains 38 references and a figure listing 16 online journals and Web sites focusing on the distance education debate.) (Author/RS) |
| Entry Date: | 2002 |
| Accession Number: | ED461903 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews recent publications on distance education and explores its promise and potential from the student's perspective, the faculty's perspective and the administrator's perspective. Findings indicate that only the self-motivated and self-disciplined students are most likely to succeed in distance education. Although the majority of the research concludes that there is no significant difference between distance learning and traditional learning, this is still open to debate. Faculty support is mixed. The fundamental reason is the lack of faculty involvement in the dominant administrator-centered advocacy. Successful distance education programs need to maintain a high level of faculty involvement. Administrators consider distance education as an important revenue source. In the foreseeable future, however, distance education cannot become a new revenue source, given its time- and labor-intensiveness and the cost of installation of new technology. The examination of two notable programs (the Learning Network at SUNY and the University of California Extension's On-Line Writing programs) confirmed these findings. (Contains 38 references and a figure listing 16 online journals and Web sites focusing on the distance education debate.) (Author/RS) |
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