Here is an extensive list of resources on various aspects of distance learning.The best way to find information on these or any other topics is to conduct a search using the search tool below. You should also visit our site Journals, Links and Resources for more resources. Categories include:
• academic advising
• academic resources - business,
humanities, math, sciences,
social science
• accessibility issues
• accreditation
• best practices
• blended/hybrid learning
• broadband
• career and technical education
• case studies
• cheating and plagiarism
• computer software
• copyright and fair use
• corporate e-learning
• costs for distance learning
• course management
• the digital divide
• digital libraries and learning object repositories• effectiveness of e-learning
• e-books
• e-portfolios
• faculty compensation and support
• faculty training and education
• gaming and simulations
• Higher Education OpportunitiesAct (HEOA Authentication)
• instructional design
• intellectual property issues
• interactivity and teaching online
• K-12 technology
• marketing
• national data and statistics
• online student orientation
• open source
• quality assessment
• rural distance education• science labs/courses
• second life
• security
• social networking
• statewide virtual colleges
• strategic and policy plans
• student retention
• student services
• students and technology
• technologies
• testing and assessment
• Twitter
• videoconferencing/ITFS
• Web design
• Web tools
• wireless
• wikis
• women and the Web
Browse the glossary using this index
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Law Students Teach Scalia About Privacy and the Web:. . . “This spring, the students of an elective course on Internet privacy at Fordham Law School experienced a number of fascinating “teaching moments” during an assignment meant to demonstrate how much personal information is floating around online. The assignment from the class’s professor, Joel R. Reidenberg, was, admittedly, a bit provocative: create a dossier about Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia from what can be found on the Internet.” “Why Justice Scalia? Well, the class had been discussing his recent dismissive comments about Internet privacy concerns at a conference. His summation, as reported by The Associated Press: ‘Every single datum about my life is private? That’s silly.’ . . . Yet the class managed to create a dossier of 15 pages, Professor Reidenberg reported to a conference on privacy at Fordham, that included the justice’s home address and home phone number, his wife’s personal e-mail address and the TV shows and food he prefers.” . . .Website | |
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Leadership in Distance Education: Is It a Unique Type of Leadership A Literature Review:(2004) by Sara Marcus. What is an effective distance education leader? What are his or her characteristics, requirements, and actions? This article offers the insights of various researchers to help future distance education leaders best fulfill the still unstated requirements of their positions. Web Site | |
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Leading the Way to Virtual Learning: The LAA Physics Laboratory:(June 2003) Jerry Meisner and Harol Hoffman describe their online virtual physics lab at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Syllabus Magazine, June 2003. Web Site | |
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Leapfrogging Across Generations of Open and Distance Learning at Al-Quds Open University: A Case Study:(Winter 2009-2010) by Kathleen Matheos, Ph.D., Christina Rogoza, Ed.D., University of Manitoba, and Majid Hamayil, Ph.D. Al-Quds Open University (QOU) serves just over 40 percent of the undergraduate students within Palestine, who for multiple reasons are studying within the open system. Established nearly 20 years ago, the institution is built on the Open University United Kingdom model of regional centers and print based correspondence. In 2007, a Comprehensive Evaluation of QOU, funded by the World Bank and the European Union, resulted in recommendations that emphasized the development of teaching excellence in distance, open, and online environments (Matheos, MacDonald, McLean, Luterbach, Baidoun, and Nakashhian, 2007). QOU administration responded with the development of a course redesign project, aimed at moving from a correspondence model to a blended learning environment that integrated technology into curricular design. This paper shares the experiences of QOU, in its efforts to meet the conflicting demands of this situation as it leapfrogged into new forms of distance learning. This analysis of our experience may provide insight for administrators in other institutions that are at similar stages of distance delivery programming. Web site |
Learner-Interface Interaction in Distance Education: An Extension of Contemporary Models and Strategies for Practitioners:(1994) Hillman, Willis, and Gunawardena. American Jounral of Distance Education Web Site | |
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Learners, Learning, and Technology: The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative:(2005) Diana G. Oblinger. Understanding learners, learning principles, and learning technologies is necessary for institutions with a goal of using IT to improve learning. Helping institutions to do so - and thus to advance learning through IT innovation - is the goal of the ELI. Web Site | |
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Learning From Online:(Dec. 7, 2009) by Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Ed “Most professors agree that more work goes into designing an online course than a face-to-face one. But if those professors are interested in improving their teaching skills, it might be worth the extra effort. So say researchers at Purdue University at Calumet, who believe that learning how to do distance education properly can make professors better at designing and administering their classroom-based courses.” . . . “That was the thesis behind the creation of Calumet’s Distance Education Mentoring Project. The project takes faculty who are looking to adapt their classroom courses to the online environment and teams them up with Web-savvy colleagues. Those mentors advise the novices on best practices for online course design and oversee them through the first semester of the online version of the course.” (See January 2010 issue of International Journal on E-Learning at http://www.editlib.org/p/29273) Web site |
Learning in Adulthood: A Comprehensive Guide, Second Edition:(1999) by Sharan B. Merriam and Rosemary S. Caffarella. (Amazon, $31.24) | |
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Learning in the 21st Century: A National Report of Online Learning:(October 2007) by Karen Greenwood Henke for Project Tomorrow and Blackboard. “This report explores student, teacher, and parent attitudes toward online learning based on surveys completed by 232,781 K-12 students, 21,272 teachers, and 15,316 parents as part of Speak Up, a national research project facilitated by Project Tomorrow, as well as interviews with administrators and teachers in six school districts using a range of different online learning models. This report focuses on the use of online learning for sixth through twelfth grade students and for teacher professional development.” Web site | |
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Learning Networks and Connective Knowledge:(October 2006) by Stephen Downes. The purpose of this paper is to outline some of the thinking behind new e-learning technology, including e-portfolios and personal learning environments. Part of this thinking is centered around the theory of connectivism, which asserts that knowledge - and therefore the learning of knowledge - is distributive, that is, not located in any given place (and therefore not 'transferred' or 'transacted' per se) but rather consists of the network of connections formed from experience and interactions with a knowing community. And another part of this thinking is centered around the new, and the newly empowered, learner, the member of the net generation, who is thinking and interacting in new ways. These trends combine to form what is sometimes called 'e-learning 2.0' - an approach to learning that is based on conversation and interaction, on sharing, creation and participation, on learning not as a separate activity, but rather, as embedded in meaningful activities such as games or workflows Web site | |
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Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria: An EIC Guide:(2003) Educational Initiative Centre, University of Westminster. A learning outcome is a written statement of what one expects the student to achieve by the end of the module/course. Using these explicit statements can help in ensuring consistency of delivery across modules or programmes, and in particular can provide a common format for different forms of delivery, e.g. distance learning, work-based learning and experiential learning, which can thus be more easily compared. Web site | |
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Learning Space Design in Action:(2005) by Phillip Long. Introductory science courses need to merge lectures, recitations, and hands-on laboratory experience into a technologically and collaboratively rich experience for incoming freshmen. Web Site | |
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Learning Space Design Photos and Interviews:(2005) by Cyprien Lomas. This online-only section includes photos of various learning space design projects and podcast interviews with four learning space design experts. Web Site | |
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Learning Space Design Precepts and Assumptions:(2005) by Mark S. Valenti. Systems design for the learning space is a complex process. Throughout the process, decisions are made with respect to function, performance, cost, technology standards, operations, maintenance, and numerous other variables. Web Site | |
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Learning Space Design Theory and Practice:(2005) by Malcolm Brown, Dartmouth College. Perhaps for as long as academicians have been conducting research, a challenge has been how to take the harvest from research and apply it in practice. Web Site | |
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Learning Styles and Asynchronous Learning: Comparing the LASSI Model to Class Performance:(2000) by Kenneth D. Loomis. An investigation of the relationship between students' individual study and learning styles with their performances in an online research methods class. Web Site | |
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Learning Styles and Pedagogy in Post-16 Learning: A Systematic and Critical Review:(2004) by Frank Coffield, David Moseley, Elaine Hall, and Kathryn Ecclestone. From the Learning and Skills Research Centre Web Site | |
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Learning to Teach in Higher Education:(1992) by Paul Ramsden. (Amazon, $39.96) | |
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Learning to Think: Disciplinary Perspectives:(2002) by Janet Gail Donald. (Amazon, $29.96) | |
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Learning Together: Exploring Group Interactions Online:(2004) Web Site | |
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Learning without Limits: Model Distance Education Programs in Community Colleges:(1996) by Judy Lever-Duffy, Ed.; and others. A review of distance education systems at 16 community colleges. Describes revising curricula for distance delivery, associated materials and technologies, and characteristics of synchronous and asynchronous delivery systems. Includes descriptions of the students served, program organization, instructional strategies, technologies employed, student services, student grading and program evaluation. This document may take a minute to download. Web Site | |
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Lectures on Demand in ALN: Enhancing the Online Learning Experience:(2001) The authors address using a "lectures-on-demand" methodology to allow ALN students access to the classroom experience. Web Site | |
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Legal Education at a Distance:(October 2007) by Scott Jaschik for Inside Higher Ed. “As online education has become more and more popular, law schools have largely been on the sidelines. The American Bar Association will not accredit distance programs, and has strict limits on the use of distance education in traditional programs.” Web site | |
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Less is More: Designing an Online Course:(April 2004) by R. Thomas Berner. This article examines balancing structure and openness in the design and management of online courses. Web Site | |
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Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom: The Realities of Online Teaching:(2001) by Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt. A comprehensive reference for faculty that offers suggestions for evaluating effective courseware, working with online classroom dynamics, addressing the needs of the online student, making the transition to online teaching, and promoting the development of the learning community. (Jossey-Bass, $37) | |
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Lessons Learned From Lessons Learned: The Fit Between Online Education “Best Practices” and Small School Reality:(Winter 2009-2010) by Al S. Lovvorn, Ph.D., Michael M. Barth, Ph.D., R. Franklin Morris, Jr., Ph.D., and John E. Timmerman, D.B.A., The Citadel Schools of all types and sizes are exploring the merits and facets of online learning approaches; but, the online delivery literature has focused on “best practices” generated primarily through the experiences of larger schools that are on the leading edge of this innovation. Small public schools, on the other hand, are faced with unique challenges in profiting from the advice of these first movers. Small schools are hampered as a result of severely constrained resources, among which are personnel, money, infrastructure, and time. These factors limit the ability of small public institutions to fully adopt widely approved online best practices. This article reviews contemporary research on the implementation of online learning, examines one small public school’s experience as a case study, discusses the disparities between the capabilities of large versus small public institutions of higher education, and outlines implications for other small schools that wish to pursue online education. Web site |
Leveraging Identity to Make Learning Fun: Possible Selves and Experiential Learning in Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs):by Joey J. Lee and Christopher M. Hoadley. Not enough attention has been given to video games' role in identity development and exploration, important corequisites for learning. This oversight has resulted in the failure of many attempts at edutainment, in spite of the acknowledged potential of video games to engage students in meaningful learning. After discussing the potential role virtual worlds can play in adolescent identity formation and the link between identity and engagement, Lee and Hoadley offer a case study of a five-week course in which 14 middle-school-age students participated in two massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) to explore issues of diversity and technology design. Students assumed alternate identities, changing their gender, age, or ethnicity, and used those virtual experiences as a springboard for class discussions, project work, and assignments. At the end of the course, the students, most of whom had originally described a lack of diversity in their home neighborhoods, demonstrated a new sense of empowerment and a greater sophistication in understanding other cultures and technology after their experiences with MMOGs. Students expressed a high degree of engagement and motivation while learning about technology and user-centered design in the process. In light of this case study and based on other games and activities that many willingly undertake based on their own perceptions of identity, Lee and Hoadley suggest that identity may be the key to transcending the engagement/learning tradeoff in educational gaming. Web site | |
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Librarians Say Surveillance Bills Lack Adequate Oversight:(November 2007) by Ellen Nakashima for The Washington Post. “A little-remarked feature of pending legislation on domestic surveillance has provoked alarm among university and public librarians who say it could allow federal intelligence-gathering on library patrons without sufficient court oversight.” Web site | |
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Libraries Adapted to Digital Age:“The Internet was supposed to send America’s public libraries the way of eight-track tapes and pay phones. But it turns out, they’re busier than ever. Libraries have transformed themselves from staid, sleepy institutions into hip community centers offering Internet service, classes for kids and seniors, and even coffee and video gaming nights. Some have classes on citizenship for recent immigrants or provide sessions on improving computer skills. Most provide wireless Internet service, and many consult teen advisory councils for guidance on how to attract young people.” “At most libraries, traffic is up - in some cases, way up - fueled in part by the lure of free computer use, according to experts and a Gannett News Service analysis of state data. At the same time, budget pressures on cities and counties that provide most of the funding have forced dozens of libraries to cut back their hours or close. Books remain a staple, but libraries also offer DVDs, CDs and electronic audio books playable on portable MP3 devices. Many allow readers to reserve and renew items online.” . . .Website | |
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Libraries and Readers Wade Into Digital Lending:(Oct. 14, 2009) by Motoko Rich, New York Times . . . “Eager to attract digitally savvy patrons and capitalize on the growing popularity of electronic readers, public libraries across the country are expanding collections of books that reside on servers rather than shelves. The idea is to capture borrowers who might not otherwise use the library, as well as to give existing customers the opportunity to try new formats.” “About 5,400 public libraries now offer e-books, as well as digitally downloadable audio books. The collections are still tiny compared with print troves. The New York Public Library, for example, has about 18,300 e-book titles, compared with 860,500 in circulating print titles, and purchases of digital books represent less than 1 percent of the library’s overall acquisition budget.” “But circulation is expanding quickly. The number of checkouts has grown to more than 1 million so far this year from 607,275 in all of 2007, according to OverDrive, a large provider of e-books to public libraries. NetLibrary, another provider of e-books to about 5,000 public libraries and a division of OCLC, a nonprofit library service organization, has seen circulation of e-books and digital audio books rise 21 percent over the past year.” . . . Web site |