Lane County, Oregon, has 16 school districts, and up until last year, every one of them had its own online learning program. Some were more like correspondence courses, while others were closer to online curriculum delivery. No one had ever explored the options available, the cost savings that district collaboration might provide, or the benefits…

During the past three years, we have developed and implemented an enterprise information system (EIS) to reengineer and facilitate the administrative process for preparing and teaching distance learning courses in a midsized-to-large university (with 23,000 students). The outcome of the implementation has been a streamlined and efficient process…

The interoperability of educational systems, encouraged by the development of specifications, standards and tools related to the Semantic Web is limited to the exchange of information in domain and student models. High system interoperability requires that a common framework be defined that represents the functional essence of educational systems.…

Approved in 1999 by the Swiss Parliament, the Swiss Virtual Campus (SVC) project debuted in 2000 with the goal of promoting an information society in Switzerland. The University of Geneva has been actively involved with building the SVC and the European virtual campus e-LERU, a two-year project in which eight European countries partnered to…

This paper reports the observations made and experience gained from developing and delivering an online quantitative methods course for Business undergraduates. Inspired by issues and challenges experienced in developing the online course, a model is advanced to address the question of how to guide the design, development, and delivery of…

In July 2000, 16 higher education leaders gathered to participate in an invitational symposium on preserving quality in distributed education. The symposium explored the topic of quality assurance in distributed learning, focusing on college-level, credit-bearing teaching and learning experiences. The first part of this paper focuses on questions…

The current project brings together academic and governmental specialists from Cambodia, Laos, and Viet Nam (CLV), in a collaborative study of the prospects for distance education (DE) in those countries. The study's overall objectives are to: (1) survey and take stock of existing educational scenarios and problems in CLV; (2) document the…

Intended to enable an individual to converse with satellite antenna dealers and to select a dealer and acquire an antenna to suit his/her needs at the lowest cost, this edited version of a final project report provides detailed guidelines for purchasing of communications satellites distance education delivery systems and specific technical…

This paper presents research and development of an adaptive World Wide Web-based system called Explor@ Advisory Agent, capable of tailoring advice to the individual student's needs, actions, and reactions toward pedagogical events, as well as according to diagnosis of content acquisition. Explor@ Advisory Agent consists of two sub-systems, the…

This document contains the following papers on Web-based education systems in Europe: (1) "European Experiences with Learning Management Systems" (Morten Flate Paulsen and Desmond Keegan); (2) "Online Education Systems: Definition of Terms" (Morten Flate Paulsen); (3) "Learning Management Systems (LMS) Used in Southern…

This report covers one segment of a larger professional development program for transportation professionals that addresses the need to develop a larger cadre of transportation professionals capable of designing, planning, managing, operating, and maintaining the transportation infrastructure nationwide. Three specific tasks were undertaken and…

Discusses the concepts, costs, and benefits of bulletin board services (BBSs) as a distance learning strategy for staff training and communication. The New York State Independent Living Bulletin Board System (NYS IL BBS) for caseworkers monitoring at-risk youth is described as an example of how to plan bulletin board content. (Contains six…

The development and evaluation of a potential viewdata-style delivery system for computer assisted learning (CAL) at the Open University are described. First examined are Open University problems with CAL and television delivery systems, which resulted in the consideration of a viewdata approach involving allocation of a small central processor to…

This discussion of satellite services for education and rural development in less developed countries emphasizes the importance of adequate telephone systems to support development programs. Programs in Peru, Indonesia, and the West Indies are highlighted, and current and future problems in planning satellite systems are reviewed. (LRW)

This paper describes the GEOTEL system which was designed for self-paced distance education, mostly for continuing education, and provides an interactive, adaptive, tutor-aided, Web-based learning environment for learners grouped in virtual classrooms. Web tools currently available for building distance education systems are also evaluated.…