Online Distance Education: Towards a Research Agenda

by Olaf Zawacki-Richter (Editor), Terry Anderson (Editor)

Overview

Online Distance Education provides a systematic overview of the major issues, trends, and areas of priority in online distance education research. In each chapter an international expert or team of experts provides an overview of one relevant issue in online distance education, discussing theoretical insights that guide the research, summarizing major research on the topic, posing questions and directions for future research, and discussing the implications for distance education practice as a whole. Intended as a primary reference and guide for distance educators, researchers, and policymakers, Online Distance Education takes care to address aspects of distance education practice that until now have often been marginalized, including issues of cost and economics, social justice implications, cultural impacts, faculty professional development, and the management and growth of learner communities. At once soundly empirical and thoughtfully reflective, yet also forward-looking and open to new approaches to online and distance teaching, this text is a solid resource for researchers in a rapidly expanding discipline.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781927356647
Publisher:	Athabasca University Press
Publication date:	06/01/2014
Series:	Issues in Distance Education
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	520
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Olaf Zawacki-Richter is professor of educational technology at the University of Oldenburg, and also teaches in the online Masters of Distance Education and E-Learning program offered jointly by the University of Oldenburg and the University of Maryland, University College. Terry Anderson is professor and researcher in the Technology-Enhanced Knowledge Research Centre at Athabasca University. His research interests focus on interaction and social media in educational contexts. He is the editor of The Theory and Practice of Online Learning, 2nd ed., winner of the 2009 Charles E. Wedemeyer Award.
Olaf Zawacki-Richter is professor of educational technology at the University of Oldenburg, and also teaches in the online Masters of Distance Education and E-Learning program offered jointly by the University of Oldenburg and the University of Maryland, University College.
Terry Anderson is professor and researcher in the Technology-Enhanced Knowledge Research Centre at Athabasca University. His research interests focus on interaction and social media in educational contexts. He is the editor of The Theory and Practice of Online Learning, 2nd ed., winner of the 2009 Charles E. Wedemeyer Award.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables
Foreword / Otto Peters
Introduction: Research Areas in Online Distance Education / Olaf Zawacki-Richter and Terry Anderson

Part I. Macro-level Research: Distance Education Systems and Theories
1. Internationalization and Concepts of Social Justice: What Is to Be Done? - Alan Tait and Jennifer O'Rourke
2.Globalization, Culture, and Online Distance Learning - Charlotte N. Gunawardena
3.Distance Education Systems and Institutions in the Online Era: An Identity Crisis / Sarah Guri-Rosenblit
4.Online Distance Education Models and Research Implications / Terry D. Evans and Margaret Haughey
5. Methods of Study in Distance Education: A Critical Review of Selected Recent Literature / Farhad Saba

Part II. Meso-level Research: Management, Organization, and Technolog
6. Organization and Management of Online and Distance Learning / Ross Paul
7.The Costs and Economics of Online Distance Education / Greville Rumble
8.The Use of Technology in Distance Education / Gráinne Conole
9. Innovation and Change: Changing How we Change / Jon Dron
10. Professional Development and Faculty Support / Margaret Hicks
11. Learner Support in Online Distance Education: Essential and Evolving / Jane E. Brindley
12.Quality Assurance in Online Distance Education / Colin Latchem

Part III. Micro-level Research: Learning and Teaching in Distance Education
13. Major Movements in Instructional Design / Katy Campbell and Richard. A. Schwier
14. Interaction and Communication in Online Learning Communities:Toward an Engaged and Flexible Future / Dianne Conrad
15. Quantitative Analysis of Interaction Patterns in Online Distance Education / Allan Jeong
16. From the Back Door into the Mainstream: The Characteristics of Lifelong Learners / Joachim Stöter, Mark Bullen, Olaf Zawacki-Richter, and Christine von Prümmer
17. Student Dropout: The Elephant in the Room / Alan Woodley and Ormond Simpson

Conclusion: Towards a Research Agenda / Terry Anderson and Olaf Zawacki-Richter

Contributors / Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"In the past, most laymen, practitioners, and even experts in the field described distance education very simply as a form of learning in which physical proximity is replaced by distance and oral dialogue by mediated communication. This simplistic understanding still lingers in many people's minds. This volume demonstrates instead that online distance education is a comprehensive, many-sided process and a multifunctional system."—Otto Peters, FernUniversitat in Hagen

Otto Peters

In the past, most laymen, practitioners, and even experts in the field described distance education very simply as a form of learning in which physical proximity is replaced by distance and oral dialogue by mediated communication. This simplistic understanding still lingers in many people's minds. This volume demonstrates instead that online distance education is a comprehensive, many-sided process and a multifunctional system.

Editorial Reviews

In the past, most laymen, practitioners, and even experts in the field described distance education very simply as a form of learning in which physical proximity is replaced by distance and oral dialogue by mediated communication. This simplistic understanding still lingers in many people's minds. This volume demonstrates instead that online distance education is a comprehensive, many-sided process and a multifunctional system.
- Otto Peters, FernUniversität in Hagen

From the Publisher