The synthesis "Public Policies and Strategies of Actors" concerns the same theme as Part 4 of the "Handbook of Distance Education" (Moore 2007), which deals with policies, administration, and management. Eleven articles illustrate the theme. Three articles are studies about the experience in France between 2000 and 2003 of the…

The correlation between ICT-supported education system and economic development of a developing country has been documented by several studies (Anderson, 2009; Selwood et al, 2003; and Unwin, 2009). Today's Information and Communication Technology can significantly and positively impact the educational and economic landscape of the Democratic…

The academic e-learning practice has to deal with various participation patterns and types of online learners with different support needs. The online instructors are challenged to recognize these and react accordingly. Among the participation patterns, special attention is requested by dropouts, which can perturbate online collaboration.…

Online teaching is in its adolescence and needs to mature in order to overcome some of its growing pains to reach its potential in the field of education. Reflecting upon the author's first three years teaching online, he notes practices and commitments that could help instructors better participate in and facilitate lifelong learning for…

Attrition rates in Ph.D. programs are at approximately 50% in traditional Ph.D. programs and 10-20% higher in online Ph.D. programs. Understanding the relationship between student factors, measures of student success (retention, graduation, year to degree), and student satisfaction is important to support and improve retention, graduation rates,…

In their initial study, authors Boston, Ice, and Gibson (2011) explored the relationship between student demographics and interactions, and retention at a large online university. Participants in the preliminary study (n = 20,569) included degree-seeking undergraduate students who completed at least one course at the American Public University…

Because the globalization of traditional research universities has so far been largely an elite phenomenon, for-profit higher education has become the kind of high-growth worldwide industry that would attract entrepreneurs. The for-profit sector, by contrast, has targeted a vast and vastly different student market: non-elite learners, often poorly…

The vast majority of American college students attend two thousand or so private and public institutions that might be described as the Middle--reputable educational institutions, but not considered equal to the elite and entrenched upper echelon of the Ivy League and other prestigious schools. Richard DeMillo has a warning for these colleges and…

Adult, underserved learners in higher education face many challenges in postsecondary degree attainment. To overcome the obstacles of busy lifestyles, many choose to study in online programs but higher attrition rates are found in distance learning courses, further contributing to national attrition rates. In addition, the adult demographic is so…

The for-profit sector of higher education has generated some disturbing headlines recently. Widely publicized charges of predatory recruiting practices have prompted new regulations and provided fuel for scorching criticism of the entire business model. But while the spotlight is focused on what for-profits are doing wrong, are people overlooking…

This paper is focused on virtual campuses, i.e. virtual worlds representing real educational institutions that are based on the metaphor of a university and provide users with different learning tools. More specifically, the idea of integrating a virtual campus into the context of a virtual city is suggested. Such a virtual city, where students…

The present paper reports on the results obtained from a teachers' opinion survey on the use of ICT tools to support of attendance-based teaching. In order to carry out this study, it was necessary to design a questionnaire to collect data among all in-service teachers with access to the university virtual campus. The findings show that…

This article presents an interview with Ken Udas, chief executive officer of UMassOnline. During the past decade, Udas has held leadership positions in online university initiatives and has served the field through his leadership in organizations including the Association of Public Land Grant Universities, EDUCAUSE, IMS, Sloan-C, and the American…

Online Capella University wanted to sponsor an International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) chapter. Using social networking platforms, a new type of chapter was designed. The virtual chapter breaks new ground on more than the chapter's platform; it is also the first university-sponsored chapter and has a unique approach to…

In the last decade, an important debate about the characteristics of today's students has arisen due to their intensive experience as users of ICT. The main belief is that frequent use of technologies in everyday life implies competent users able to transfer their digital skills to learning activities. However, empirical studies developed in…