Distance Education, Online Education, Distance Learning

Introduction

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Distance education, an idea as old as the Pony Express Correspondence Courses, is transforming

education across the world today because of the immediacy with which it can occur and the types of interactions now possible over such great distances. What is even more interesting s that the new distance education force transforming higher education may not be controlled by the traditional structures or providers of education services or by traditional academic policies.

Not only do the new forms of distance education portend a change for student populations cutting across the globe, but also they will force faculty to develop new modalities of teaching and administrators to provide a new infrastructure for support. As a result, the advent of distance education is forcing many institutions to review and amend many of their existing policies and procedures.

The following are the issues an institution will confront as it plans to integrate, implement, and harmonize distance education into its existing policies.

I. The institution's intellectual property policy. An on-line learning policy will implicate patent, copyright and software policies, and for some institutions, their trademark, multimedia and videotaping policies. The examination of these intellectual property policies often will force the institution to consider the relative balances between its various missions, including, for example, research, dissemination of knowledge, commercialization of technology and public service.
II. Faculty Issues

o Will teaching load credit be given for course development?
o Will faculty be expected to devote more time to the development of new courses after the successful launch of an on-line course?
o How much credit for on-line course development will be given during the promotion and tenure process?
o How much time will be allocated for preparation?
o Will the institution recognize that course material preparation will be altered and delivery to different student audiences may increase the work load. Recognizing that on-line teaching requires the development of new skill sets for most faculty members, what type of technical support and training will be provided?
o How will class size be affected by on-line instruction?
o How will on-line instruction affect faculty office/contact hours?
Other issues to be addressed include institutional and faculty rights and responsibilities after a course is created;
Faculty compensation, teaching-load and acceptance; student access and privacy; potential liabilities associated with distance education courses (including copyright infringement liability); and accreditation and approvals beyond state and national borders also need to be considered.
III Student Issues

Increased Access

A number of institutions have pursued on-line distance education programs because of the potential to improve access to students, e.g., improve educational opportunities to geographically remote students, non-traditional students, and students suffering a disability. Recent reports,2 however, question the utility and accessibility of distance education. The reports indicate that although many have advocated distance education as a way to increase access to educational opportunities, poor and less educated students are less likely to have access to computers or on-line services and will not be able to participate in on-line programs. The reports also note the high attrition rate of on-line courses and query whether such access is meaningful given the low completion rate.

Further, the costs associated with distance learning are not necessarily greater or less than those for traditional face-to-face teaching. The costs are simply different, e.g., instead of traditional on-campus education costs, institutions must pay for licensing fees, royalties, technology infrastructures including hardware and software, support networks, access fees, linking fees, supplementary services for marketing, registration and testing. In fact, some institutions charge more for on-line courses than those taught physically on campus.

Some schools cite their ADA policies as a mandate to provide on-line education to the extent feasible to serve disabled students. Although distance education may serve students who have mobility disabilities, distance education is less friendly than traditional education for students suffering from certain disabilities, e.g., visual disabilities.

Finally, institutions must consider the privacy implications for students enrolled in distance education programs. Some institutions have requested that the students participating in a distance education program execute a release or waiver permitting the rebroadcast of the student's image or on-line contribution.