Rethinking Learner Support In Distance Education

Distance learning is becoming an increasingly popular way of studying, and most universities now provide courses using these methods. Today's students, though, are demanding high quality, consumer-focused and flexible courses, as well as learning resources and active learner support. This means that providers of distance education need to reconsider key issues about their learner support systems, ensuring that this is delivered appropriately and effectively. Considering the changing needs and demands of distance education students, this book draws together contributions from the UK, USA, Hong Kong, Australia, Japan, South Africa and Botswana, to offer an international perspective on: * the challenges and opportunities of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) * quality assurance, commercialisation and the learner as consumer * the impact on learners of cultural differences on internationalised curricula * the implications for learner support of a wider range of learners This book should be read by all those involved in developing and delivering distance education courses.

Distance education is arguably one of the major developments in education during the 20th Century. This title explores the array of distance education theories and practices as they have been shaped by the late-20th Century and then positions these in terms of the contemporary circumstances of the 21st Century.

Online Distance Education: Towards a Research Agenda offers a systematic overview of the major issues, trends, and areas of priority in online distance education research. In each chapter, an international expert or team of experts provides an overview of one timely issue in online distance education, summarizing major research on the topic, discussing theoretical insights that guide the research, posing questions and directions for future research, and discussing the implications for distance education practice as a whole. Intended as a primary reference and guide for distance educators, researchers, and policymakers, Online Distance Education addresses aspects of distance education practice that have often been marginalized, including issues of cost and economics, concerns surrounding social justice, cultural bias, the need for faculty professional development, and the management and growth of learner communities. At once soundly empirical and thoughtfully reflective, yet also forward-looking and open to new approaches to online and distance teaching, this text is a solid resource for researchers in a rapidly expanding discipline.

Offers comprehensive coverage of the issues, concepts, trends, and technologies of distance learning.

This comprehensive resource highlights the most recent practices and trends in blended learning from a global perspective and provides targeted information for specific blended learning situations. You'll find examples of learning options that combine face-to-face instruction with online learning in the workplace, more formal academic settings, and the military. Across these environments, the book focuses on real-world practices and includes contributors from a broad range of fields including trainers, consultants, professors, university presidents, distance-learning center directors, learning strategists and evangelists, general managers of learning, CEOs, chancellors, deans, and directors of global talent and organizational development. This diversity and breadth will help you understand the wide range of possibilities available when designing blended learning environments. Order your copy today!

With scarce material available in the field, this volume examines the nature of sustainability in open and distance learning in order to provide a guide to successful implementation. It is published in association with the Commonwealth of Learning.

The use of technology has a profound influence in educational settings and has experienced significant paradigm shifts with the advents of e-learning and m-learning. As an expected consequence of the evolution of e-learning and m-learning and improvements in the capability of online networked technologies, educators from the fields of distance education and open and distance learning benefit from ubiquitous learning technologies and environments. With the rising import of flexibility and personalization of online learning programs, this new learning format is needed to accommodate shifting student needs. Managing and Designing Online Courses in Ubiquitous Learning Environments is a critical scholarly resource that provides empirical and theoretical research focused on the effective construction and management of advanced online educational environments. Highlighting a variety of topics such as heutagogy, technology integration, and educational resources, this book is essential for educators, curriculum developers, higher education staff, practitioners, academicians, instructional designers, administrators, policymakers, and researchers.

"This book presents a tool to assist in the planning, conducting and evaluation of online learning, providing a way of understanding the course development and design process, drawing upon the research and theory foundations of distance education"--Provided by publisher.

The Internet and associated technologies have been around for almost twenty years. Networked access and computer ownership are now the norm. There is a plethora of technologies that can be used to support learning, offering different ways in which learners can communicate with each other and their tutors, and providing them with access to interactive, multimedia content. However, these generic skills don’t necessarily translate seamlessly to an academic learning context. Appropriation of these technologies for academic purposes requires specific skills, which means that the way in which we design and support learning opportunities needs to provide appropriate support to harness the potential of technologies. More than ever before learners need supportive ‘learning pathways’ to enable them to blend formal educational offerings, with free resources and services. This requires a rethinking of the design process, to enable teachers to take account of a blended learning context.

The rapid growth in online and virtual learning opportunities has created culturally diverse classes and corporate training sessions. Instruction for these learning opportunities must adjust to meet participant needs. Online Course Management: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is a comprehensive reference source for the latest scholarly material on the trends, techniques, and management of online and distance-learning environments and examines the benefits and challenges of these developments. Highlighting a range of pertinent topics, such as blended learning, social presence, and educational online games, this multi-volume book is ideally designed for administrators, developers, instructors, staff, technical support, and students actively involved in teaching in online learning environments.