VOLUME 1, NUMBER 3, 1987
Editorial
Editorial
Michael G. Moore
Articles (for abstracts, click
here)
Beyond Independence in Distance Education: The Concept of Control
Randy D. Garrison and Myra Baynton
The Development of Distance Education Research
Borje Holmberg
Designing Learner Feedback in Distance Education
Dawn C. Howard
Engineering Education through Telecommunications: Policy
Recommendations for the States
Richard England
Design Considerations in Selecting Teleconferencing for
Instruction
Ellen D. Wagner and Nancy L. Reddy
Forum
Looking at Tomorrow
James A. Draper
Interview
Speaking Personally with Col. William A. Wojciechowski
Lt. Phil Savarise
Software Review
Guides to Satellite Use
Charles E. Feasley and Constance Lawry
Book Reviews
The Planning and Management of Distance Education
by Greville Rumble
Von Pittman
Distance Higher Education and the Adult Learner: Innovations
in Distance Education
Edited by Ger van Enckevort, Keih Harry, Pierre Morin, and Hans C. Schutze
Von Pittman
The Third Annual Conference on Teaching at a Distance, recently held in Madison, Wisconsin, built on the solid foundation of the previous two conferences to provide a stimulating experience for the more than 200 distance education enthusiasts who attended. Among speakers at the conference were American Journal of Distance Education board member Lana Wertz, Peter Dirr of Annenberg/CPB, and Chuck Feasley who writes our regular software column. A highlight of the conference was the banquet speech delivered by Dr. Charles Wedemeyer, who was described in Volume One, Number One of this journal as "the father of American distance education."
The organizers of the Annual Conference on Teaching at a Distance have established an award, to be known as the Wedemeyer Award, to be presented at future conferences. The purpose of the award is to recognize contributions to scholarship in distance education, and it has been proposed to me that the award be given each year to the author of an article in The American Journal of Distance Education. I have agreed to associate AJDE with this award, and to cooperate in selecting an awardee. By initiating a partnership between the conference and AJDE we will bring together two important activities that Dr. Wedemeyer himself advocated for many years, and we hope the award will further stimulate and reward future scholarly endeavor.
Both scholarship and the applied field of distance education are represented in this last issue of Volume One of AJDE. Randy Garrison, who had the distinction of co-authoring the lead article in Volume One, Number One, writes with Myra Baynton about the idea of independent study in adult learning, a concept that has often been featured in theorizing about distance education. Following both Wedemeyer's and my own theorizing in the 1970s, and more recently that of Brookfield and Holmberg, Garrison and Baynton add to independence the concept of control, and weave a pattern around the independence-control theme that offers some valuable new insights into the nature of our field.
It is a pleasure to welcome Prof. Holmberg, member of our editorial board, distinguished author and researcher, to our pages to give us his unique, international perspective on the research in our field. He is followed by Dawn Howard who draws on the literature of instructional design and examples of distance education courses to produce a model of feedback which should have both theoretical significance as well as usefulness in application.
After two articles on telecommunications, the Forum,
"Looking at Tomorrow," but before concluding this issue with
the contribution from our much valued Software and Book Review contributors,
we have an interview with Colonel Wojciechowski, Commandant of the U.S.
Air Force's Extension Course Institute. It seems to me that there must
be a great deal for distance educators in civilian institutions to learn
from our military colleagues. I am therefore delighted that we were able
to introduce Colonel Wojciechowski in this final issue of the first volume
of AJDE, and I look forward to bringing forward further articles
from the Armed Forces distance educators in future issues.
Beyond Independence in Distance Education:
The Concept of Control
Randy D. Garrison and Myra Baynton
This paper attempts to go beyond the important concept of learner independence to examine the concept of control as it relates to the adult learning process in distance education. It is argued that, in order to develop and maintain control of the learning process, there must be a dynamic balance among three dimensions of control: independence, power, and support. These three dimensions are manifested in and determined by the communication process that takes place between teacher and student. The educational components of teacher, student, and content together with the dimensions of control are addressed and their interrelationships explored in terms of the distance education transaction. (18 references)
The Development of Distance Education
Research
Borje Holmberg
This article is concerned with the development of research into distance education from the time between the great wars until now. The importance of research free from any institutional interest is stressed, and the main areas of research actually in the field are looked into. Theoretical approaches to distance education, target-group studies, instructional design, tutor-student interaction, course and systems evaluation, organizational-administrative, and systems studies are areas of research touched on with references to relevant, published work. Further, the research methods, the need for comparative approaches and the factual existence of a discipline of distance education are briefly discussed. (62 references)
Designing Learner Feedback in Distance
Education
Dawn C. Howard
This paper offers a decision model for designing feedback in distance education courses. Two potential problems are first identified with respect to the emphasis on technologies in making decisions about course design. First, over-estimates of the learning benefits of new technologies are likely due to novelty effects and encouragement by manufacturers (Clark and Salomon 1985). Second, designers may limit the potentials for feedback system designs by considering only existing technologies within an institution or program. (34 references)
Engineering Education through Telecommunications:
Policy Recommendations for the States
Richard England
This article discusses how the use of advanced technology to deliver education on a national basis has brought about the need to develop policies that encourage innovation while assuring quality. The author stresses the need for a cooperate effort among state-level education agencies and the universities in policy development in an effort to promote self-regulation on both an intrastate and interstate basis. The author also recommends that consideration be given to universities which have students enrolled in telecourses when determining the state funding level for the institution. (7 references)
Design Considerations in Selecting
Teleconferencing for Instruction
Ellen D. Wagner and Nancy L. Reddy
Design-driven considerations of instructional message development are discussed within the context of teleconferencing. Rather than having hardware specific variables dictate instructional parameters, the authors suggest that process issues of learning theory, instructional theory, instructional development, and instructional delivery can be used to guide the selection and development of hardware systems through which instructional messages may be delivered to geographically dispersed groups. A conceptual model is presented to depict the relationships which exist among the process components specified by the authors. (15 references)
