Indian River State College (IRSC) transforms lives by offering high-quality, affordable, and accessible education online and on five campuses located on the southeast Treasure Coast of Florida. Between 1988 and 2000, IRSC took the initiative to rally the communities IRSC serves around innovations to stimulate economic development and to prepare…

This paper discusses the development, delivery, and evaluation of a successful graduate course in community development offered to students across Canada via the Internet. The review of literature points to common themes in distance education, community development and health promotion. The course, "Health Promotion: Community Development…

Examines theoretical and conceptual issues around promoting the growth of virtual learning communities and considers issues around using communication technologies in formal and informal learning environments. Highlights include: the theoretical context of community; categories for examining virtual learning communities; emphases of virtual…

Following initial scepticism, the growth and developments within distance education in India have been tremendous. This paper records those developments in one of the largest distance education systems in the world with regard to its contribution to national development. The paper also examines curricular programmes, access and equity, media and…

Describes increases in federal aid that affect: (1) the rural telecommunications infrastructure, access to the Internet for rural schools and libraries, and distance learning and telemedicine programs; (2) nonmetropolitan airports and other transportation; and (3) water treatment and wastewater facilities in rural, American Indian, and Alaska…

Four issues of this newsletter focus primarily on the use of communication technologies in developing nations to educate their people. The issues included in this collection are: (1) No. 64 (1989-1), which features reports on the use of local radio for development; (2) No. 65 (1989-2), which focuses on environmental education, and includes…

A Televillage is a virtual community of people, businesses, government agencies, schools, libraries, health care providers, and others that have common goals or needs and are linked through telecommunications, information resources, and shared services. A Televillage can develop a strategic focus for community and regional development; organize,…

This annual report of the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development (NERCRD) highlights the Center's activities, programs, projects, and publications for fiscal year 1998. NERCRD receives modest funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other funds from private foundations. Funds are used to link rural development efforts of the 15…

Presents results from ethnographic fieldwork regarding a program to develop telematically delivered distance learning packages in Britain. Describes aims of the program, including building an infrastructure for distance learning and community development, to provide training software, and to identify limitations of attempts to break down economic…

Outmigration in the rural Upper Midwest prompted a group of citizens and University of South Dakota faculty to form the Center for the Advancement of Rural Communities (ARC). ARC considers how to stimulate traditionally competitive and isolated South Dakota peoples to collaborate for economic, social, educational, political, and cultural gains. As…

The Department of Community Nursing and the Open Learning Centre of Technikon Natal (South Africa) and the community-owned Community Development Programme are collaborating to provide online learning to rural and urban community nurses. The project involves the development of a multimedia pharmacology course, a virtual Internet class, and the…

Contact North is a provincially funded distance education network designed to increase access to educational opportunities for residents of northern Ontario, Canada. Educational needs of this region include basic education and skills, management education for Native communities assuming self-government, and skills and access to communication and…

Research on social capital and functional communities provides much needed information on the relationship between rural schools and their communities, and its impact on community viability. Schools are critical to the social and economic viability of rural communities; research suggests that social capital in rural areas has decreased…

Telecottages originated in Scandinavia in the 1980s in an attempt to reverse the decline of isolated communities by giving them access to information and services, facilities for training and distance education, and the opportunity to produce income through telecommuting. In 1992-1993, the Australian government began funding the Telecentre…

The delivery of literacy services by state universities in the Philippines is embedded in their academic functions of instruction/teaching, research and development, consultancy, and extension services. To reach a larger clientele and democratize access to education, the University of the Philippines (UP) has established the Open University. The…