A significant number of distance students report they "stray" from their home universities by using local libraries, despite the fact that distance education librarians work hard to provide customized resources and services tailored to their programs and needs. Are public libraries and special libraries able to meet the research needs of distance learners, or are these students being underserved? This article explores why distance students may choose non-academic libraries over academic libraries, and the impact of this use-on local libraries serving unaffiliated distance learners, and on academic libraries with potentially underutilized distance library services.
This paper discusses the planning and development process of a project to create a Web-based multimedia instruction tool for off-campus graduate students in Education. The project involves Macromedia Flash for animation, MP3 sound files for voice narration, text, still images, and Web screen shots. The tutorial uses several different forms of technology and media to appeal to any learning style a student prefers, and it offers non-linear navigation to allow students to select the section they need, and to repeat any section.
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