2. 1. STUDENTS1. STUDENTS
● Meeting the needs of
students is the cornerstone
of every distance education.
3. 2. FACULTY2. FACULTY
● Success of distance
education effort rest
squarely on the shoulders
of the faculty.
4. 3. FACILITATORS3. FACILITATORS
● Act as a bridge between the
students and the instructor. At a
minimum they set up equipment,
collect assignments, proctor tests,
and act as the instructor's onsite
eyes and ears.
5. 4. SUPPORT STAFF4. SUPPORT STAFF
● These individuals are the silent
heroes of the distance education
enterprise and ensure that the
myriad details required for
program success are dealt
effectively.
6. 5. ADMINISTRATORS5. ADMINISTRATORS
● Although the administrators are
typically influential in planning an
institution's distance education
program, they often lose contact
or relinquish control to technical
managers once the program is
operational.
8. Assist students in becoming both familiar and
comfortable with the delivery technology, and
prepare them to resolve the technical
problems that might arise. Focus on joint
problem solving, not placing blame for the
occasional technical difficulty.
Make students aware of and comfortable with
new patterns of communication to be used in
the course.
9. Learn about students' backgrounds and
experiences. Discussing the instructor's
background and interests is equally important.
Be sensitive to different communication
styles and varied cultural backgrounds.
10. Remember that students must take an active
role in the distance delivered course by
independently taking responsibility for their
learning.
Be aware of students' needs in meeting
standard university deadlines, despite the lag
time often involved in rural mail delivery.
12. Realistically assess the amount of content
that can be effectively delivered in the course.
Because of the logistics involved, presenting
content at a distance is usually more time
consuming than presenting the same content
in a traditional classrom.
13. Be aware that student participants will have
different learning styles. Some will learn easily
in group settings, while others will excel when
working independently.
14. Diversify and pace course activities and
avoid long lectures. Intersperse content
presentations with discussions and student-
centered exercises.
16. Consider using a print component to
supplement non-print materials.
17. Use locally relevant case studies and
examples as often as possible to assist
students in understanding and applying
course content. Typically , the earlier in the
course this is done, the better.
18. Be concise. Use short, cohesive statements
and ask direct questions, realizing the
technical linkages might increase the time it
takes for students to respond.
19. Develop strategies for student reinforcement,
review, repetition, and remediation. Towards
this end, one-to-one phone dicussions and
electronic mail communication can be
especially effective.
20. RELAX. Participants will quickly grow
comfortable with the process of distance
education and the natural rhythm of effective
teaching will return.
