Introduction To determine if a theory has the ability to explain, predict, or describe, you conduct experimentation and observation to test inferences derived from the theory. For example, a general inference based on experience and research may be that “extroverted students are more successful in the traditional learning environment than the distance education learning environment” or “communi...

This paper investigates interaction in synchronous chat tutorials trialed in an introductory statistics course offered in distance education mode. The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework of Garrison, Anderson and Archer, while primarily developed to inform online asynchronous discussion groups in non-mathematical contexts, is used to describe the interactions in these online tutorials. Transcr...

At a time when the demand for people with expertise in chemoinformatics is increasing, there is still only a very small number of academic institutions that offer chemoinformatics-related classes and degrees. The distance education (DE) approach allows both learning and research to be carried out at multiple geographic locations and institutions, thus leveraging the few educational offerings th...

EuroSDR (former OEEPE) has embarked on distance education. Short courses related to three of its recent research projects were offered in 2002 and will be run again in 2004 together with a forth course. ITC has contributed a course on active sensor technology for digital terrain relief modelling. The paper reports on course design and gained experiences.

With the introduction of Web-Based Instruction (WBI) the traditional classroom-based higher education could be made more effective form of instruction. But the studies have shown the negative results. On the other hand the distance education has derived the direct benefit of WBI through extending classroom instruction in online to reach every remote student. However researchers have identified ...

The objective of this study was to compare the performance of pharmacy students from a Pharmaceutical Care course, taught in both distance education (DE) and campus-based formats using active methodologies. For two semesters, students (n = 82) taking the course studied half the subject in the distance education format and half in person. Questionnaires were applied at the beginning of the semes...

This paper examines ethical and social issues which have proved important when initiating and creating educational spaces within a virtual environment. It focuses on one project, identifying the key decisions made, the barriers to new practice encountered and the impact these had on the project. It demonstrates the importance of the ‘backstage’ ethical and social issues involved in the creation...

There have been few efforts to investigate the concept of quality from learners’ perspectives or to incorporate their needs and perceptions in quality standards in distance education. This is rather surprising, particularly in distance education contexts where the quality of the learning is not derived only from the products and services delivered to the learner but also from the knowledge, und...

Developments and evaluations from the preceding projects have been presented by Dye, Fagerberg, Midtsveen (2004), Dye & Fagerberg (2004), Dye & Rekkedal (2005), Fagerberg, Rekkedal & Russell (2002), Rekkedal (2002a), Rekkedal (2002b), Rekkedal (2002c), Rekkedal & Dye (2007), Russell (2005). The article by Rekkedal & Dye (2007) builds on the same data, however with specific reference to use of S...

plead with their faculty to institute new distance education programs every academic year. Faculty are bombarded with prophecies about the glorious future confronting distance education programs. New bureaucracies have sprung up of computer technicians offering to assist in preparing these programs. If distance education has such a promising future, why the faculty hesitation? One explanation c...