ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 342 I C&RL News ■ May 1998 Distance education Delivering instruction in cyberspace by Michael Lorenzen P erhaps more than any other field, dis­ tance education has been remade with the advent of the Internet and the Web. O entirely in the domain o f correspondence courses, distance education is now the trend in education, with institutions at all levels pro­ viding instruction to remote and local users through the use of computers and the Web. The Internet has made it possible for teachers to provide their instruction to mass audiences at the same time an institution makes univer­ sity information and resources available to pay­ ing students online. Institutions of education worldwide are rushing to becom e “virtual” universities. Doz­ ens of new institutions are coming online with distance education programs eveiy month. The new Western Governors University is an insti­ tution created to be online entirely. With this rush to cyberspace, an old bane of higher edu­ cation has reemerged with new strength. Di­ ploma mills are cleverly copying these legiti­ mate virtual universities and using the tools of distance education to sell students worthless degrees. Online resources to fight these new diploma mills are also going up at a fast pace. While most of the distance education push is coming from colleges and universities, pri­ vate companies and K -12 schools are also getting involved. Further, many institutes and organizations are being created to further the aims of distance education. Many electronic journals and discussion groups are being made available to educators using distance educa­ tion. While the constant exponential increase in distance education resources makes it im­ nc possible to cover all sites, the resources listed here should help anyone seeking information e on distance education find several good start­ ing points. Best starting points The following sites are good places to b e­ gin finding information on distance education. • Distance Education: A Primer. This excellent site from the University of Texas has an overview of what distance education is and what some of the issues dealing with distance education are. There is a list of model pro­ grams, as well as a good glossary of distance e d u c a tio n te rm in o lo g y . A c c e s s : http:// w w w .u te x a s .e d u / c c / c it/ d e / d e p rim e r/ index.html. • Distance Learning on the Net. In ad­ dition to a listing of links to distance educa­ tion sites, a list of upcoming events and con­ ferences in distance education is at this site. The very well done Distance Education Re­ sources Database is here, as well. A ccess: http ://homepage. interaccess. com/~ghoyle/. • Distance Education Links. This page at the University of Minnesota has a list of distance education sites. This is not a compre­ hensive list, but it does include the better and more stable sites that are on the Web. Access: h t tp :/ / w w w .c e e .u m n .e d u / d isted / A I/ delinks.html. • Al Lepine’s Higher Education and Distance Learning Site. In addition to the list of distance education links, this site has information that students would find useful, such as financial aid forms and a scholarship A b o u t the author Michael Lorenzen is library instruction coordinator for Michigan State University; e-mail: lorenze1 @pilot.msu.edu http://www.utexas.edu/cc/cit/de/deprimer/ http://www.cee.umn.edu/ pilot.msu.edu C&RL News ■ May 1998 1343 search engine. A discussion board for distance learning is also at this site. A ccess: http:/ members.tripod.com/~lepine/index.html. • Adult Distance Education Internet Surf Shack. This resource has a link to vir­ tual universities, virtual high schools, and in­ dividual courses online. The courses are ar­ ranged by subject. Other clearinghouses and n e w s g r o u p s a re lis te d . A c c e s s : http:// o u rw o rld .c o m p u s e rv e .c o m / h o m e p a g e s / jmtaylor/edsurf.htm. Discussion groups There are many discussion lists for those interested in distance education. This is a se­ lective list o f available sites. • DEOS-L. Listserv o f the American Cen­ ter for the Study o f Distance Education at Penn State University, this is by far the busiest and most important discussion group on distance e d u c a tio n o n th e In te r n e t. S u b s c r i b e : listserv@psu.edu. • AEDNET. This is a forum for the discus­ sion o f issues dealing with adult education, including distance education issues. Subscribe: 1 istserv@alpha. acast.nova.edu. • ASDEN. While the Australian Schools of Distance Education (K -1 2 ) listserv focuses on Australia, discussions frequently include par­ ticipants from around the world. S u bscribe: m ajordomo@cleo.murdoch.edu.au. • DISTED. Distance Education listserv is similar to DEOS-L with more emphasis on nonhigher education issues in distance edu­ cation . S u bscribe: 1 istserv@uwavm.bitnet. • EDISTA. This is another general discus­ sion group on distance education. However, the language used is Spanish. S u b s c r ib e : listserv@usachvml.bitnet. • EDU-ONUNE. For professionals deliver­ ing education and training through the Internet. S u bscribe: join-edu-online@sparklist.com. • OCC-L. Online-College Classroom dis­ cussion group for those planning to teach col­ lege co u rses o n lin e. S u b s c r ib e : listproc® hawaii.edu. Newsgroups/usenets There are several good newsgroups that deal with distance education. • alt.education.distance. This is the best and oldest newsgroup dedicated exclusively to d ista n ce e d u ca tio n . A c c e s s : n e w s :a lt. education.distance. / • alt.education.alternative. While not devoted exclusively to distance education, much of what is discussed here on alternative education is directly about or applicable to d is t a n c e e d u c a tio n . A c c e s s : n e w s :a lt. education.alternative. • misc.education.adult. Access.- news: misc.education.adult. Electronic periodicals The following sites contain electronic pub­ lications that deal with distance education. All of them are free or have portions o f their of­ ferings for free. • DEOSNEWS. This is the American Cen­ ter for the Study of Distance Education’s elec­ tr o n ic jo u r n a l. S u b s c r ib e : lis ts e r v @ psu.edu. • Distance Education Research Bulle­ tin. Another electronically disseminated e-mail periodical. S u bscribe: colicde-request@unixg. ubc.ca. • NTN Online. NetTeach Online is a site dedicated to articles on teaching elementary- level students using the Web and other elec­ tronic resources. An archive o f past issues is kept here, as well. An online chatroom is avail­ able for those wishing to discuss distance edu­ cation issues dealing with elementary educa­ tion. Access: http://www.chaos.com/netteach/ index.html. • BULLA GYMNASIA VIRTUALES. This online site has articles on distance education and teaching. The site is sparse on graphics but heavy on philosophical articles challeng­ ing traditional methods o f education. It can be accessed online or by e-mail subscription. A c c e s s : h ttp ://w w w .c y b e r c o r p .net/gymv/ bulla/. Subscribe: m ajordomo@cybercorp.net. • Online Educator. This site concentrates on K -12 education, It contains articles and ready-made lesson plans for teachers. The site regularly evaluates other educational sites and keeps an archived list o f previous issues avail­ able. Access: http://www.ole.net/ole/. Organizations There are a growing num ber o f organi­ zations that deal with distance learning. Here are a few o f the better known. • American Distance Education Con­ sortium. This is a national consortium o f state universities and land-grant institutions providing distance education via different ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ mailto:listserv@psu.edu acast.nova.edu mailto:majordomo@cleo.murdoch.edu.au mailto:join-edu-online@sparklist.com hawaii.edu psu.edu http://www.chaos.com/netteach/ http://www.cybercorp.net/gy mailto:majordomo@cybercorp.net http://www.ole.net/ole/ 344 I C&RL News ■ May 1998 information technologies. This site has re­ sources for those running the distance pro­ grams, but there is enough general b ack ­ ground information included to give a nov­ ice educator or student an idea o f what dis­ ta n ce ed u cation is about. A ccess: http:// www.adec.edu/. • EDUCOM. This is a higher education consortium that seeks to facilitate the intro­ duction, use, and access to information re­ sources in teaching, learning, and scholar­ ship. This is a good site for higher educa­ tion distance educators to visit. It has a great deal of information on Educom seminars and conferences, as well as information on online initiatives. A ccess: http://www.educom.com. • Distance Learning Resource Net­ work. H ere’s another organization that acts as a clearinghouse o f information on dis­ tan ce ed u cation . How ever, the D istance Learning Resource Network is intended pri­ marily for K -1 2 educators. A ccess: http:// w w w .fw l.org/edtech/dlrn.htm l. • United States Distance Learning As­ sociation. Both the U.S. governm ent and military are starting to use distance educa­ tion. Although this is not a government-run association, the presence o f the federal gov­ ernment in this association is heavy. This is probably the best site to gather information on federal and state governm ent distance e d u c a t io n p r o g r a m s . A c c e s s : http:// w w w . usdl a .org/. Hotlinks to “Internet Resources” Articles published in the “Internet Re­ sou rces” column can also be found on the Web as part o f C&RL N ew s Net— an abridged electronic edition of C&RL News. A hotlink is provided for each resource listed. Check out C&RL NewsNet at http:// www .ala. org/a crl/c&rlnew/. html. Among future topics to be covered are: tourism and travel, East Asia, and infor­ mation literacy. • TEAMS Distance Learning. This site is another K -12 distance education resource. There are a large num ber o f lesson plans online. Another nice feature is the parent resource section. Online reference material in large variety o f disciplines is here, as well. Becau se this site was produced by the Los Angeles County Office o f Education, it prob­ ably was not intended for hom e schoolers, although this site would certainly be user- friendly for parents teaching at home. A c ­ cess: http://team s.la c o e .edu/. • The Commonwealth of Learning. B ased in Canada, the Com m onw ealth o f Learning is dedicated to international dis­ tance education. This site allows visitors to click select regions of th e w orld and see what is being offered in the way of distance e d u c a tio n . For e x ­ ample, clicking on Af­ rica allows you to see that a distance learn­ ing center has been set up in Freetown, Si­ erra Leone, to help upgrade teacher qualifications in the area. Ac­ cess: http://www.col.org/. Higher education sites The higher education community is in many ways driving the growth of distance educa­ tion on the Internet. Not surprisingly, a large number of universities and colleges are going “virtual” to reach a larger student base. There are far too many to list here. One thing that is certain is that an even larger number of higher education institutions wall be getting into the distance learning business in the near future. • World Lecture Hall. This site contains links to pages created by faculty worldwide who are using the Web to deliver class mate­ rials. There are hundreds o f courses listed by category. It is possible to find course syllabi, assignments, lecture notes, exams, class cal­ endars, and multimedia textbooks. This is a http://www.adec.edu/ http://www.educom.com http://teams http://www.col.org/ C&RL News ■ May 1998/345 good place to learn how to design your own Web-based course or to unofficially “audit” the c o u r s e o f y o u r c h o ic e . A c c e s s : http:// www.utexas.edu/world/lecture/. • Western Governors University. This is the first university created to be entirely online. The creation of the governors of Ameri­ can western states and territories, this univer­ sity was envisioned as a means o f making higher education available to more people without building new campuses. The stoiy and present progress o f the Western Governors University is online and available through a P o w erP o in t p resen tatio n . A c c e s s : http:// www.westgov.org/smart/vu/vu.html. • Distance Education Clearinghouse. This clearinghouse is dedicated to news and information relevant to the higher education community. This is the best place to get cur­ rent news on distance education as the site has a daily distance education headlines se­ lection. The rest o f the site concentrates on distance learning programs and opportunities available through the University o f Wiscon- sin-Extension, which sponsors this site. Access: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/home.html. • Penn State Distance Education. While it is not possible to list all o f the institutions of higher education offering distance education in this article, it still is appropriate to include Penn State University, which was one of the first online providers of distance education and still one o f the best known. This site has all the information one needs to take courses from Penn State virtually. This includes a listing of regulations, programs, courses, faculty re­ sources, etc. The current catalog of both credit and non-credit courses is also located here. A ccess: http://www.cde.psu.edu/DE/. Diploma mill warning sites “F ak e” universities are springing up online to take advantage o f the willingness o f stu­ dents to be educated virtually. Universities that consist o f nothing more than W eb pages designed to mimic universities that are us­ ing distance education and nontraditional m ethods o f student assessm ent are fooling students into buying worthless degrees. The language and accreditation (they also often “ow n” their own accreditation agencies) o f these diploma mills make them a danger­ ous by-product o f the information age. Sev­ eral good sites have arisen to deal with them. • Dr. Bear’s Distance Learning Col­ lege Degree Site. Jo h n Bear has been writ­ ing about nontraditional ways o f earning de­ grees for several decades now. As such, he m onitored diplom a mills b efo re they ap ­ peared online. Elis site has a diploma mill alert online, as well as a list o f dubious in­ stitu tio n s o f h ig h e r e d u c a tio n stu d en ts should avoid. A ccess: http://www.d e g ree, net/core. html. • Dipscam. This site also lists prom i­ nent diplom a mills. It also has a sectio n devoted to the horror stories o f students w ho have inadvertently bou ght their d e­ g rees from th ese institutions. T h e site has a good ch eck list for signs that an institu­ tion is not a legitim ate provid er o f dis­ ta n c e e d u c a tio n . A c c e s s : h ttp :/ / c u s t3 . iam erica.n et/ easyw ave/ . • General Delivery University. This hum orous site is a parody o f o n lin e di­ plom a m ills. Clearly intend ed not to b e co n fu sed with a “re a l” d istance ed u cation provider, this site show s how easy it is to get into the diplom a mill bu siness. B e sure to check out the Institute o f Advanced Drink­ ing. A ccess: http://www.bandersnatch.com/ gdueciu.htm. http://www.utexas.edu/world/lecture/ http://www.uwex.edu/disted/home.html http://www.cde.psu.edu/DE/ http://www.degree http://cust3 iamerica.net/easywave/ http://www.bandersnatch.com/ 346 I C&RL News ■ May 1998