VOLUME 15, NUMBER 1, 2001
Editorial
The Editorial Board
Michael G. Moore
Articles (for abstracts,
click here)
Critical Thinking, Cognitive Presence, and Computer Conferencing in Distance
Education
D. Randy Garrison, Terry Anderson, and Walter Archer
Implications for Improving Access and Outcomes for
Individuals with Disabilities in Postsecondary Distance Education
Weol Soon Kim-Rupnow, Peter W. Dowrick, and Laure S. Burke
Identifying At-Risk Students in Videoconferencing
and Web-Based Distance Education
Viola Osborn
Timeless and Timely Issues in Distance Education Planning
Michele D. Bunn
Distance Training for Operating Equipment: A Cost-Benefit
and Return-on-Investment Analysis
Constantine Osiakwan and David Wright
Interview
Speaking Personally with Carol A. Twigg
Connie Dillon
Book Reviews
Assessing Open and Distance Learners
by Chris Morgan and Meg O'Reilly
Ingrid Day
The Virtual University: The Internet and Resource-Based
Learning
by Steve Ryan, Bernard Scott, Howard Freeman, and Daxa Patel
Michael Anderson
EDITORIAL
The Editorial Board
Michael G. Moore
The current editorial board of The American Journal of Distance Education has served, with what in this day and age seems almost incredible fidelity, for the full fourteen years of The Journal's life. Today I am announcing retirements and new appointments in this critically important part of our enterprise.
Leaving us are Elizabeth Burge, Becky Duning, John Gantz, Michael Lambert, Fabio Chacón, Börje Holmberg, David Murphy, Alan Tait, and Armando Villaroel.
On behalf of all our readers, and indeed everyone with an interest in the study of distance education-on behalf also of the many people who look to research to help them as they attempt to develop good practice-on behalf of all these, I express our gratitude to these board members for their many years of support and assistance, first in establishing and, subsequently, building the reputation of The American Journal of Distance Education.
Several members of the original board have agreed to continue to serve, while we have been successful in recruiting a considerable number of new colleagues, bringing what we anticipate will be fresh ideas and new energy to complement the experience of the veterans. I would like to introduce each member of the board, in turn, in alphabetical order. As I do so, I invite readers to note the particular sector of the field, and/or the special area of research that is represented by each member.
I invite you to look on the board member as a representative of your particular interests in the wide field that is distance education. I invite you to contact any of these members to communicate requests for articles on particular topics, recommendations of potential authors, ideas for book reviews, conferences at which the AJDE may be represented, or organizations or associations with which the AJDE might enter special distribution arrangements.
Here, then, are the members of your new editorial board:
- Michael F. Beaudoin is professor of education at the University of New England (Maine), and teaches in its two distance learning programs. He has played a leading role in the ACSDE Research Symposia. He was editor of the Research Monograph No. 12 on instructional issues arising from the 1995 Symposium.
- Willem Bier is an economist and trainer at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Training Institute located in Washington, DC. He is in charge of designing and implementing the IMF's distance education programs for officials of IMF member countries, which means his programs reach virtually every country in the world.
- Neil Butcher is based in the South African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE), where he works extensively with South Africa's national Department of Education on initiatives in distance education and technology-enhanced learning. He also coordinates the Telematics for African Development Consortium, a group of leading public and private agencies working to apply technology in the context of African economic and social development. Neil was interviewed in AJDE 13:2.
- Yau-Jane Chen is assistant professor at the Center for Teacher Education at National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan. She is the author of Teaching and Learning in the Web-Based and Videoconferencing Learning Environments (Fu-Wen, 2001) and has contributed chapters on adult and distance learning for other books published in Taiwan.
- Gajaraj ("Raj") Dhanarajan joined the Commonwealth of Learning as president in 1995. Before that he was director of the Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong, which he guided to its current status of Open University. As president of COL, Raj oversees a wide range of distance education projects, particularly training and knowledge dissemination projects, in the fifty-one nations of the Commonwealth. Raj was interviewed in AJDE 9:3.
- Connie Dillon, a returning member of the board, is director of the Research Center for Continuing Professional and Higher Education at the University of Oklahoma. Guest editor of AJDE 12:1, Dr. Dillon's research, particularly on faculty issues, is cited widely in this and other journals, and she has been a participant in ACSDE symposia and conferences since the first, in 1988.
- Graham Gibbs is the recently appointed editor of Open Learning, our sister publication in the United Kingdom. His current research is concerned with the effectiveness of training and accreditation of university teachers, and he has established the UK's Training University Teachers Research Network. Collaboration between our journals began at the time the AJDE was founded and continued under OL's editors Sewart, Tait, and Rumble. I am delighted that, with the approval of Open Learning's editorial board, this tradition of cooperation will continue under Graham's editorship.
- Chère Campbell Gibson is a professor in the School of Human Ecology and chair of the Graduate Program in Continuing and Vocational Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. First appearing in the AJDE in 2:1 in 1988, Chère has provided articles and symposium presentations as well as leadership in ACSDE institutes, with her principal focus on the characteristics of learners and learning.
- Jinny Goldstein, a returning board member, helps us keep in touch with applications of the broadcast technologies. Jinny is senior vice president of education at the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). She joined PBS in 1979 and helped launch the Adult Learning Service in 1981.
- Linda Harasim is network leader and CEO of Canada's TeleLearning Network of Centres of Excellence. She is also on the faculty of the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University, and leads the Virtual-U research project. Linda was interviewed in AJDE 7:3.
- Darcy W. Hardy is director of the University of Texas TeleCampus and assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs for the UT System. Darcy is vice president for membership and a member of the board of directors for USDLA, the United States Distance Learning Association. Honors include the 2000 UCEA Charles Wedemeyer Publication Award as a coauthor of Teaching at a Distance: A Handbook for Instructors.
- Richard Jarvis is the founding chancellor of the United States Open University. His previous position was chancellor of the University and Community College System of Nevada (1994-99). Richard was interviewed in AJDE 13:3.
- Olugbemiro Jegede is professor and foundation director of the Centre for Research in Distance and Adult Learning of The Open University of Hong Kong. Previously he was the foundation head of the Research and Evaluation Unit, Distance Education Centre, University of Southern Queensland, Australia.
- Robin Mason is a professor at the British Open University, and serves as director of the Open University's Masters Programme in Open and Distance Education. Her research interests center around cultural issues in online courses, assessment methods using the World Wide Web, and the globalization of education through new technologies.
- A. Frank Mayadas is a program officer for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Prior to joining the foundation in 1993, Dr. Mayadas spent twenty-seven years at the IBM Corporation, where he served as vice president of the Research Division, Technical Plans and Controls. Frank was interviewed for the AJDE in 11:3.
- Mara Mayor, returning as a board member, is director of The Smithsonian Associates, an organization offering educational activities based on the resources of the Smithsonian Institute. From 1984 to 1994, she served as director of the Annenberg/CPB Project, in my view one of the best efforts in distance education ever accomplished in the US. As director, she took a strong interest in research, and was responsible for providing funding to support the founding of The American Journal of Distance Education and other activities of the ACSDE.
- Gary E. Miller, another returning member of the board, is associate vice president for Distance Education and executive director of the World Campus at The Pennsylvania State University. He currently serves as vice president for North America of the International Council for Distance Education. Gary's work features throughout the history of the ACSDE with, for example, a seminal chapter in Contemporary Issues in American Distance Education (Pergamon Press, 1990), the book developed from the first national symposium.
- Ian Mugridge joined the new Open Learning Institute of British Columbia, Canada, in 1979 as director of degree programmes. He remained with OLI and its successor, the Open Learning Agency, until 1996, when he joined the Commonwealth of Learning, for which he had been a senior consultant since 1992. He has since taught in the Athabasca University MDE programme and consults widely. Ian's contributions to the ACSDE have focused on administrative issues in the internationalization of distance education.
- Jane Southwell Munro is a writer and educator who has worked as an editor, course designer, college and university teacher (online and face-to-face), educational planner, and university administrator. She is currently seconded to British Columbia's Centre for Curriculum, Transfer and Technology from the Open University in Canada. Among her contributions to the ACSDE is her monograph Presence at a Distance: The Educator-Learner Relationship in Distance Education.
- Janet Poley became CEO and president of the American Distance Education Consortium (ADEC) in 1994, in which role she develops collaborative distance education initiatives with 58 land-grant university members working nationally and internationally. In 2000, she received the Charles Wedemeyer Award at the University of Wisconsin as Outstanding Practitioner in Distance Education. She has written about leadership (see, for example, AJDE 12:2, 1998) and has been a facilitator at the ACSDE's Leadership Institutes.
- Leslie Purdy, a continuing board member, has been president of Coastline Community College since 1994. She serves on numerous state and national committees and associations dealing with distance education. Dr. Purdy has served as instructional designer and executive producer for instructional television series for which she received a Los Angeles-area Emmy and other awards. Leslie's veteran status is indicated by the date of her interview … see AJDE 2:1!
- Judith M. Roberts is president of Judy Roberts & Associates/Associés Inc., an Ontario, Canada consulting firm specializing in applications of information and communications technologies. She is an adjunct faculty member of the Graduate School of Management and Technology, University of Maryland University College, and consulting editor to the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. At the ACSDE she has presented and written on cross-cultural and international issues.
- Farhad Saba is professor of educational technology at San Diego State University. He is also the founder of Distance-Educator.com. He has been a founding member of all ACSDE initiatives, participating in all the national symposia and having articles published in several issues of the AJDE, monographs, and books of readings. His main focus in this work has been in the area of distance education theory (see, for example, "Linking Distance Education Theory to Learning Theory: A Systems Dynamic Approach to a Research Agenda on Learning Outcomes" in Monograph 12).
- Albert Sangrà is academic director of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, UOC (Open University of Catalonia) in Spain and director of Edu Lab, Educational Innovation in ICT Laboratory. He is editor of Edu Lab Documents, and director of the Educación y nuevas tecnologías series (Gedisa). We are looking to Albert to help strengthen our relations with Hispanic publications and practices.
- Barry Willis is associate dean for outreach for the University of Idaho's College of Engineering and professor of education. Previously he served as the University of Alaska's Statewide Director of Distance Education. His publications include Distance Education: Strategies and Tools and Distance Education: A Practical Guide.
- Robert A. Wisher is our point of contact with military research. He is a senior research psychologist with the Army Research Institute in Alexandria, Virginia. His publications in the AJDE and elsewhere report on the findings of research into the effectiveness of emerging training technologies applied to the requirements of training in the Army.
Concluding Note
Finally, I hope you enjoy our "new look" cover. My thanks to
Suzanne Bienert, Heather Smith, Bill Anderson, and Joe Savrock of the
ACSDE staff for their creative efforts to give the AJDE a more
contemporary appearance.
Critical Thinking, Cognitive
Presence, and Computer Conferencing in Distance Education
D. Randy Garrison, Terry Anderson, and Walter Archer
This article describes a practical approach to judging the
nature and quality of critical discourse in a computer conference. A model
of a critical community of inquiry frames the research. A core concept
in defining a community of inquiry is cognitive presence. In turn, the
practical inquiry model operationalizes cognitive presence for the purpose
of developing a tool to assess critical discourse and reflection. The
authors present encouraging empirical findings related to an attempt to
create an efficient and reliable instrument to assess the nature and quality
of critical discourse and thinking in a text-based educational context.
Finally, the authors suggest that cognitive presence (i.e., critical,
practical inquiry) can be created and supported in a computer-conference
environment with appropriate teaching and social presence.
Implications for Improving Access and Outcomes
for Individuals with Disabilities in Postsecondary Distance Education
Weol Soon Kim-Rupnow, Peter W. Dowrick, and Laure S. Burke
During the past decade, there has been tremendous growth
in the number of online distance education courses offered by postsecondary
institutions. Does this growth imply better access to higher education
for individuals with disabilities? This article examines individual and
institutional case studies identified through a search of ERIC and other
major databases. The findings are summarized in terms of student characteristics,
technology trends, support and accommodation provided by postsecondary
institutions, and the overall impact of distance education on people with
disabilities.
Identifying At-Risk Students in Videoconferencing
and Web-Based Distance Education
Viola Osborn
Based on the multivariate framework of student attrition
developed by leading researchers in the field of distance education and
instructional technology, this study centers on a method of assessing
the ability of a student to complete a distance learning course. The focus
of the investigation is construction and validation of a brief survey
instrument to identify at-risk students enrolled in Web-based and videoconferencing
courses.
Timeless and Timely Issues in Distance Education
Planning
Michele D. Bunn
Distance education planners make complex decisions that
result in substantial investments and have long-term implications. This
article provides a framework to categorize planning issues into four distinct
program stages and three decision areas. The framework brings to the surface
and highlights numerous areas of uncertainty and potential disagreement
among decision makers and provides an organizing backdrop to improve the
distance education planning process.
Distance Training for Operating Equipment: A Cost-Benefit and Return-on-Investment
Analysis
Constantine Osiakwan and David Wright
This study takes the perspective of an equipment vendor that is providing training on its equipment. The study shows that the total cost of Remote Access Distance Learning (RADL), training provided over a voice and data network, is higher than the total cost of classroom-based training (CBT). However, the profits from RADL are higher than the profits from CBT, since it is possible to charge students a higher price for RADL than for CBT.
