To a large extent education can be thought of as a communication process among the participants. This article focuses on distance education, which has both the general communication processes that in-person education venues possess, and also communication specific to the technologies that mediate the teaching and learning taking place at a…

Berge's Instructor's Roles Model categorized the instructor's roles as pedagogical, social, managerial, and technical. Developed more than a decade ago, this model described changing roles for instructors as they transitioned from in-person classrooms to teaching online. Today, as virtual worlds emerge and are being used as educational platforms,…

Reports on responses gathered using a probabilistic survey to gather the perceptions of electronic mailing list moderators, or e-moderators, about their roles, tasks, and responsibilities as list moderators. Discusses moderators' conceptions of their roles, their rationale for moderating or not moderating their mailing lists, and where they…

Discusses results of a survey that was conducted to understand and study the barriers to distance training and education. Considered work place; job function; type of delivery system used; individual expertise regarding distance education; the stage of the respondent's organization; and the subject area in which the respondent primarily worked.…

Discussion of constructivist learning environments and the instructor's role focuses on interaction in electronic learning (elearning) environments. Highlights include learning-centered environments; situated learning; pre-learning activities; active learning; interactive learning; interaction with content, peers, and instructor; feedback and…

Examines the research literature in distance education over a 10-year period from 1990 to 1999 using four journals and dissertation abstracts that reported a research methodology. Discusses the preponderance of a descriptive methodology and considers gaps in what is being researched. (Author/LRW)