This review of research at Athabasca University provides a short description of the university and highlights such projects as the success and retention program, instructional quality index for distance education materials, information technology planning, and the alternative tutoring project. (SK)

The author considers the concept of access to education as it relates to distance education. He suggests components of a research agenda centering on the politics of access to education. (CH)

The authors present reports of current research on distance education at the FernUniversitat in West Germany. Fritsch discusses adapting distance education techniques for small classes. Kuffner describes procedures for providing feedback to students using personalized computer-generated letters. Klute discusses using a computer with tutorial…

The Older Students Research Group (OSRG) was formed in the United Kingdom Open University in 1981 to examine the educational implications of an aging population, to look at older students, and to evaluate the potential of distance education as a mode of study for older learners. (Author/JOW)

The activities of Cultural and Ideological Technology (CIT) include the analysis of ideologies in course materials and the exploration of the cultures and ideologies at play in the educational organization as a whole. CIT suggests that the dominant ideology in distance education research is a functionalist and nationalist one, helping to reproduce…

Examines the problems affecting evaluation of distance education in developing countries in terms of economic, political, and social issues. Discusses one solution, a meta-analysis for synthesizing the results of research studies. (JOW)

A total of 42 of 100 students completed a distance education course on translation from English into Spanish at a Spanish university. Course evaluation indicated that emphasis must be on stimulating students' independent skill acquisition and responsibility, as well as the attitudes and discipline needed for careers as translators. (SK)

Measures of the valence and instrumentality perceptions of 37 faculty members regarding distance teaching found that job satisfaction was largely associated with teaching, particularly working with motivated students and the quality of interaction with students, leading to a clear preference for face-to-face teaching. Benefits of off-campus…

Abstracts of 25 articles and documents provide examples of the delivery of science, math, and vocational education via such media as interactive television, communications satellites, videodiscs, and electronic mail. Studies of instructional effectiveness and design issues are also represented. (SK)

Data collected from 501 University of Central Queensland students required to attend at least one residential activity, such as science lab, found that significant numbers did not find residential experiences useful or important. The many reasons students choose distance education make it imperative that any necessary residential activities be…

The experience of piloting a course combining computer-assisted instruction with computer conferencing yielded lessons for distance education: (1) careful training in the use of the technology at various levels improves learner access and reduces frustrations; and (2) institutional infrastructure and absence of defined departmental…

A survey of 89 on-campus and 50 teleconferencing students (71 percent response) showed that 83 percent of externals were over 19 and 94 percent of internals were 18 or less. External students had higher scores for intrinsic motivation, interrelating ideas, and deep approach; internal students for fear of failure, surface approach, achievement…

The University of the South Pacific serves 11 island states over 30 million square kilometers. Regional and national field surveys are being conducted to identify and assess barriers to women's participation in distance education and factors contributing to withdrawal, continuity, and failure in a course. (SK)

Seventeen enrollees in Goodwill Industries' executive training program via correspondence courses received weekly telephone calls from tutors; a control group of 17 received written responses only when completed assignments were returned. Subjects with external locus of control completed coursework significantly faster when they had regular…

Ethnography was applied to investigate 47 students' ability to persist in distance education courses in resource management and environment-related subjects. Results have been useful in deriving a classification of situational, institutional, dispositional, and epistemological problems shared by withdrawers and persisters in a broader context.…