Timeless and timely issues in distance education planning

Abstract

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.

Emerging Framework for Planning and Implementation of Online Programs

“…In general, online education literature reflects wide dispersion of efforts primarily emphasizing discrete factors such as curriculum, instruction, technology use, professional development, and evaluation (Bunn, 2001;Maguire, 2005). Other issues that are receiving attention in recent years have been concerned with faculty and administrative factors, and the overall quality of online courses (Lee, 2002;Lee & Dziuban, 2002;Noble, 2002).…”

“…There are virtually no reports describing the identification of new programs as a concerted effort bridging college and departmental strategic planning together. Colleges do limited-to-no strategic planning to identify new online programs or for implementation purposes (Levy, 2003;Bunn, 2001). In some cases pioneers or early adopters, without regard to strategic planning considerations, may champion online education at the college or departmental level (Maguire, 2005).…”

“…In this context, strategic and holistic approaches to planning and implementation to ensure the quality, success, and sustainability of online education have received only scant attention in the literature (Adelman & Taylor, 2003;Hache, 2000;Levy, 2003). The planning process for justifying a shift to online education to ensure program viability appears to be taken for granted in the literature, while implementation approaches have primarily focused on curriculum and instruction with limited attention to other internal and external supports as a comprehensive approach (Bunn, 2001;Levy, 2003;McPherson & Hansen, 2009). In recent years, however, the calls for quality assurances extending to program justification and sustainability have gained ground (Lee & Dziuban, 2002).…”

Marketing the Marketing Discipline: The Influence of Delivery Modes on Discipline Major Choice

“…This can be attributed to a multitude of internal and external factors. For example, students often need to find a balance between paid employment and other responsibilities including family and the completion of further education (Bunn, 2001;Spector, 2005). Ramsden (2003) argued that the internal and external challenges that students face call for greater flexibility in the education delivery mode.…”

IRRODL Volume 10, Number 1

“…This article provides an overview of key issues faced by distance educators in developing countries, describes some of their successful practices, and outlines additional measures that these educators could consider or are implementing. Note that many of these issues are not new (Muilenburg & Berge, 2001; L. Bunn, 2001;Leggett & Persichitte, 1998); they tend to re-emerge with every significant development or paradigm shift in the educational system. Also note that developing and emerging nations are not homogeneous.…”