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Winter 2005 - Volume VIII, Number IV

An Organizational Diffusion Study on Distance Education

This research explored the diffusion process of distance education in schools of public health to determine best practices in the planning and implementation of future programs. The researcher traced the diffusion process by utilizing a multiple-case study methodology using a semi-structured interview to collect the perceptions of Distance Learning Coordinators within five schools of public health and a monitor survey of each program's website to corroborate interview data....

Course Completion Rates Among Distance Learners: Identifying Possible Methods to Improve Retention

Many colleges continue to report high attrition rates among distance education students. This study included a survey of students at Coastline Community College to determine why they dropped or failed their distance-learning courses and to identify methods that might improve their success and retention. Questionnaires were sent to a group of randomly selected students who responded to five general topics...

Addressing Faculty Concerns About Distance Learning

Despite the rapid growth of distance learning programs, faculty are often resistant to moving their courses into a distance learning format. This article synthesizes the common sources of concern among resistant faculty as identified in the literature, the mechanisms to bridge those concerns, and evaluates the effectiveness of the administrative solutions for faculty support that have sought to address them. ...

Critical Design and Administrative Issues in Online Education

For administrators who are contemplating an online program, it is vital to know the critical design and administrative issues to consider as well as the decision-making processes one might typically encounter. This paper discusses ten issues that the administrators at Indiana University 's Kelley Direct Program (KD) have found most challenging and have had far-reaching implications for the program. In discussing each issue, KD's decision and rationale for that decision are explained and the associated implications are stated....

Interactive Television (ITV) Courses and Students' Satisfaction

The purpose of this literature review is to identify and address major themes in the distance education literature, particularly as they relate to interactive television (ITV) and student satisfaction. Major themes include satisfaction based on site-type, previous research biases, faculty-student interaction, characteristics of satisfied learners, qualitative differences in satisfaction, satisfaction with regards to traditional versus ITV courses, attitudinal changes and time progression....

Online Groups and Social Loafing: Understanding Student-Group Interactions

This paper presents an overview of the psycho-social aspects of social loafing and free riding in a traditional and distance learning environment. A brief literature review and summaries of frequently cited antecedents and their mitigating factors are reviewed for application by instructors, designers, and administrators in distance education. Distance learning administrative issues related to providing support to instructors to address the cited antecedents are discussed...

To be notified of future publications contact the UWG Distance Education Center Last modified: December 15, 2005