Describes a study that addressed three issues in the provision of distance education at the University of Tasmania: the nature of the instructional designer/academic author relationship; perceptions of the role of the instructional designer; and institutional factors perceived by authors as impeding the development of quality instructional…

As a regional institution serving the needs of 11 different island nations of the South West Pacific, the University of the South Pacific (USP) is, along with its on-campus face-to-face teaching activity, deeply committed to and reliant on distance study methods. Both of these activities at the university are the principal responsibility of a…

Describes study that examined how Australian distance education students use and learn from textual materials. Text processing strategies and rates of progress are examined; textual features including study guides, table of contents, cross-referencing, and visual aids are considered; and recommendations for improving learning from textual…

Discussion of professional development among academic staff focuses on a collaborative project between a lecturer and a subject specialist to develop learning materials for a new distance education course at the University of Queensland. Highlights include existing models of professional development; the needs-based component; and the action…

Describes a range of computer-assisted applications for the distance education system at the Fernuniversitat in Hagen, Federal Republic of Germany, which include distance teaching organization, counseling, text-processing for study materials, test and assignment scoring, course evaluation, and telecommunication and computer access with videotex.…

Describes an evaluation of the mathematical skills and learning capabilities of students immediately prior to taking Open University foundation courses in technology, the design of questionnaires used in the surveys, and strategies for designing instructional materials for students with a weak preparation in mathematics and technology. (EAO)

Argues for the development of group intervention techniques to improve the efficacy of course teams in the preparation of distance education materials, reviews recent commentaries on course teams and discusses related issues, and conludes with recommendations to enrich the quality of course team life and output. (Author/EAO)

Describes a process-tracing study which investigated study approaches adopted by four distance learners enrolled in the Bachelor of Education Program at James Cook University and their mental processes when learning from distance-teaching materials in order to identify textual features which activated mental processes for use in textual design.…

This discussion of the cost-effectiveness and cost-efficiency of media-based distance education focuses on a comparison of British Open University and conventional university costs. Expenses of instructional materials and their preparation are discussed in relation to student enrollment, and future possibilities for home-based systems are…