In the last 10 years, an approach to electronic distance education called audiographic computerized telelearning using standard telephone lines has come to the fore. Telelearning is a cost-effective system which optimizes existing computer facilities and creates a teaching-learning environment that is interactive, efficient, and adaptable to a…

The Distance Learning Prototype Lab (DLPL) at Saint Francis University's Center of Excellence for Remote and Medically Under-Served Areas (CERMUSA) was established in 1999 to explore and demonstrate how the merger of a variety of telecommunications technologies (video production, computer graphics, the Internet and teleconferencing) can improve…

Perhaps the most significant development in microcomputer technology over the last two years has been the development of desktop publishing techniques. This technology promises to offer some significant advantages to institutions developing instructional materials in less developed countries, particularly in terms of control, cost effectiveness,…

The most common use of computers in distance education is in the preparation of a visual image that is somehow transmitted to students. This paper addresses some design considerations for computer-produced visual displays that are intended for either local or distant audiences. Advice is offered on all three basic components of information…

By combining the use of an existing teleconferencing network with new computer-based video technologies, the University of Wyoming has enhanced its ability to provide distance educational opportunities for students at remote sites across the state. The new computer-based audiographic system was tested during the fall semester of 1988 during the…

This paper argues that recent developments in technology hold considerable promise for distance education. Audiocassettes, audiographics (the combining of natural sound, via the telephone or audiocassettes, with computer-generated graphics), videocassettes, and computer conferencing are used as examples to identify factors that should be…

The Open University from its inception in 1969 has been a technologically based university. It uses technology to deliver high quality, specially designed teaching materials to large numbers of adult students throughout Britain, and increasingly abroad, who study at home. The Open University's teaching system has remained basically unchanged since…

This paper addresses some design considerations for computer-produced visual displays that are intended for either local or remote audiences of social workers. The project, "Building Family Foundations," expects to design and produce 10 different educational modules, including: child development; family issues--separation and attachment; family…

Two distance education courses presented via teleconferencing by the University of Calgary were redesigned to include graphic support utilizing Canada's Telidon videotex system. Data were gathered on both the instructional effectiveness of and student responses to the graphics. While the evaluation pointed out a number of features that needed to…

Today, although much debate surrounds the effectiveness of including graphics in Web-based distance education courses, most course authors agree that such courses should productively engage students so that quality of learning actually occurs. But what is productive engagement in a world of electronic communication and text? This paper offers a…

Several of the problems typically associated with efforts to extend higher education opportunities to rural communities--including small class size, lack of qualified instructors, and maintenance of quality standards--are successfully addressed by an audio conference network. Students in remote locations can participate in classes offered through…

This paper describes a methodology for approaching the problem of migrating a course from the classroom to the World Wide Web. It proposes that there are four main learning modes in the classroom--traditional oral and visual (passive) presentation, student involvement in demonstration of the theory, student led practical exercises, and reference…