Computers and the web allow to explore the possibility of teaching even without a teacher close to the student.

Does someone remember if there were experiments in this sense? I remember a movie in which - in Australia - there were radio - classes, since the distances were so big. I would like to know more about this.
Emanuela

It slowly growing-- My job title is sr. network engineer-- but what i really do is develop training-- currently, at a US govenment agency office-- we have in the past had almost exclusively Intructor Lead Training...

but are currently expanding-- I have developed one class that is a self directed class in Notes.. and we (a team including me) are also doing a CD training class-- using Freelance (powerpoint) presentation software and audio/video clips (something i have done before for a large, Nationally chartered, international bank). and an other member of the team is doing some web based training to run on our intranet.

The bank (unlike the gov agency) included vidio clips "Talking Heads"-- Management felt training worked better with and "Instructor" even if the instructor could be spoken too-- the wanted a "headshot"-- and not just my disembodied voice explaining things...

right now, most of the users prefer Instructor Lead Ttraining.. and the sefl directed course in Notes works best when done as a Workshop-- Users "work through" them selves, but there is an instructor nearby for questions.

research shows that most of us read slower on a CRT monitor-- this is sometimes an advantage for training.. over 90% of our training is still ILT

Emanuela,

Yes, I'd be interested in knowing more about it too. In the US more and more parents are taking their children out of public schools and "home schooling" them, using a system originally developed in Australia for the same reason as were radio classes: long distances.

Also, a friend is getting her master's degree in astronomy via the internet. It's offered by a university in Australia.

And if you need any help in translating Helen of Troy's post, just let me know

Hi Emanuela

I am currently studying with the Open University, which has pioneered distance learning very successfully, to the point where it is now the UK’s largest university.

Through some 40 years of development, they have put together some top quality materials and processes across an extraordinary range of subjects, and are ranked amongst the best educational institutions in the UK by the official assessments.

They seem to be offering quite a lot of web-based stuff now as well, and students are certainly based all over the world. This might be a starting point if you want to check it out:

http://www3.open.ac.uk/learners-guide/

or as Google gives it:

The Open University, the UK's largest university for part-time higher education,
offering among the world's best distance education materials for undergraduate ...
Open and distance learning. Study methods, courses, teaching, knowledge media, research.

http://www.open.ac.uk/frames.html

My employer has a number of training courses available on line. Now, if I just had the uninterrupted time to try them ...

Where I work we recently started offering on-line courses in some of our bachelor programs, as an addition to the Masters level ones that have been around in our system for a few years. Also we have a group of staff & faculty at our midwest sites who are earning their PH'ds though a combined on-line & seat-time delevery from Colorado State.

The quailty of the outcomes for everyone invloved is very dependant on who the people are and how involved they are in the process. From course creation to delivery and administration of the backround processes of education, flexibilty & appropriateness of course content seem to be keys to a good progam.

CJ

Competition between the plethora of tertiary institutions in Zild has led to the weird situation where in Wellington there are two universities operating full-time - Victoria University of Wellington and Massey University - and an Auckland polytechnic is offering Masters courses in Wellington through a mixture of on-line and weekend study groups, mostly with help from noddies like me.

Counting the polytechnics, there are seven degree-granting schools in the town. All for a population of about 400,000.

Funnily enough, Wellington is the most tertiary-qualified city in New Zealand. I forget the percentage, but it's quite significant, for some strange reason.

I am enrolled at the University of Waterloo (uwaterloo.ca) in the MOT@Distance program which is for a Master's degree in applied science in the Management of Technology. Tutorials are once per week using realaudio with simultaneous chat and whiteboards. Assignments are submitted via e-mail or fax. So far, five semesters into the program, it has been fun, but tough. Although, with 28 month-old and 9 month-old sons, there is no other way I could pursue such a program in a conventional setting without sacrificing my family, something I am not willing to do.

Waterloo also has full 3- and 4-year undergraduate programs that can be done by distance. Most of these courses have lectures sent at the beginning of term on cassettes with a schedule of assignments to be sent in. You can also contact the professor or, in some cases, other students.

Despite being a true blue Aussie, my knowledge on this subject is unfortunately quite limited. Distance education, or learning, or whatever, is used in Australia from primary school to University degrees and beyond. The most well known example has existed for something like 30-ish years (I think) and is called the "School of the Air". It provides primary school level education through to most the the secondary school final year subjects. I couldn't find a nice web site to explain the whole thing, but search away.

Hope this helps.




Rapport was established superficially.

http://www.lancs.ac.uk/depts/conted/computing/dl_desigweb.htm
and
http://www.lancs.ac.uk/users/conted/openstudies/courses/c writing/dlcwinternet.htm
are links to Lancaster University's distance learning courses using the Internet. The first is, appropriately enough, Designing Web Pages; the second is one of two Internet-taught Creative Writing courses.

Creative Writing has been going successfully for over a year, now, and we have recently introduced an intermediate course to follow the first one. Designing Web Pages is rather newer, but seems to have hit a spot in the market that needed filling.

We are currently working on a complete Certificate programme of Learning Skills for H.E., of six modules, which can be delivered either by Internet or by face-to-face (or, indeed by the old-fashioned correspondence course method!) or by a mixture of both. I'll let you know how we get on with that one when it is up and running.