Richard Discenza, Caroline Howard, and Karen D. Schenk.
The Design and Management of Effective Distance Learning Programs.
Hershey, Pa.: Idea Group Publishing, 2002.
hard cover, 312 p., ISBN 1-930708-20-3, US$74.95.
Idea Group: http://www.idea-group.com/

Much of the ground covered in this collection will be familiar to those involved in distance education, but the volume takes an interesting variety of perspectives; in chapter one, Diane Matthews emphasizes the disadvantages of DE for the student, the instructor, and the institution, and this survey raises some interesting points concerning quality assurance (the topic also of chapter ten), effectiveness, and the tension between commercial and pedagogical forces. Despite this tension, which runs throughout the book, the conclusion of this chapter is optimistic: "Educators have the opportunity to define, design, and manage effective and robust teaching and learning systems, programs, and courses ... . No generation will have the opportunity that we have to put a mark on the look of education in the future" (p. 17).

Although the authors in this volume include academics from major distance learning institutions in the U.S. and Australia, the design and management referred to in the title is in many cases reduced to the ad hoc efforts of individual instructors. At the institutional level, chapter three "review[s] the telecommuting literature and put[s] forward a model that outlines the potential influences affecting the adoption of distance education for use by academic institutions in their decisions related to this area" (p. 38). This necessarily ignores the specifically pedagogical factors, but is able to draw some interesting conclusions, in particular that "telecommuting research would suggest that the programs will work best where they fit neatly into current organizational work practices ..." (p. 50). The idea that distance learning programs should be accommodated within existing structures rather than determine the directions in which the institutions develop is indicative of the idea pervading the book that distance learning is a supplementary way of delivering course content, rather than a fully fledged pedagogical strategy in its own right.

This is borne out in chapter four, where Gary Saunders considers the future of distance learning in the traditional university, citing majority support in a survey he conducted for the view that "Internet courses are simply correspondence courses presented with new technology" (p. 55). The accounting department chairpersons and the deans of Colleges of Business who participated in the survey will presumably not put a mark on the look of education in the future. In common with many of the attitudes expressed in this book, they seem to miss the point that the technology underpinning flexible delivery is just one element contributing to the revolution in the way people choose to learn; in particular, it overlooks the fact that one of the most important functions of ICT is to facilitate new approaches to learning.

Saunders' claim that "During the 1990s ... terms like 'distance learning' ... were added to the academic lexicon" betrays a surprising lack of perspective; distance learning both as a concept and as a term was certainly in existence by the 1960s, when the U.K. Open University was founded, and Onay (p. 234 in this volume) states that "the history of distance education can be traced back to the mid-nineteenth century."

Given that most large Higher Education institutions now offer distance courses (Saunders quotes a figure of 87% of those with more than 10,000 students), it is difficult to see why he ignores the ideological and pedagogical reasons in order to focus disparagingly on the economic aspect, which he characterizes as "rushing headlong to cash in on the lottery" (p. 59).

He is right to ask the question "Do Internet courses represent a new and significant improvement over traditional pedagogy for educating students or just a lessening in the rigor of academic programs?" (p. 59), but the stance in this chapter suggests that he has made up his mind before considering the evidence. This stance is typified by the statement (p. 71) that "Universities are challenged to develop students' interpersonal and group skills and to teach students how to 'think critically'. Meeting these particular challenges would seem to be next to impossible when a student never has direct, face-to-face contact with either an instructor or other students." However, no evidence is offered for this position, which contradicts the daily experience of online educators who use the facilities of CMC for online collaboration, making group work an integral part of learning.

Chapter five presents data from a variety of sources describing faculty perceptions of teaching at a distance; surprisingly, most of the cases cited as examples of successful distance education concern individuals creating websites, and there is no consideration of the pedagogical issues involved in adapting a course for distance learning. A typical example is described as follows: "She had already developed a website for her course and had put all course materials on the web for her residential students anyway, so there was relatively little extra work to do for the added web section" (p. 86).

A useful corrective to this is provided in the following chapter, which notes that "with the rapid growth of distance learning, it's timely to look at some of the most important psychological principles of learning and see how they might be exploited to create the most effective possible distance learning environment" (p. 95). The authors discuss applications of these principles in formats including MUD/MOO environments, bulletin boards and real-time online lectures, and provide suggestions for the development of effective instructional tools.

The point that online courses can actually enhance learning is also taken up in chapter ten, where Richard Ryan begins with the assertion that there are two main reasons why universities offer online courses; to provide access to people who would not otherwise get an education, or to improve the quality of learning. He claims that these two goals are rarely combined, and posits the need for strategies for quality assurance. In common with many authors in this volume, Ryan, with his talk of "posting a class online", ignores the experience of large-scale distance education institutions in adapting the use of available technologies to their pedagogical strategies. He does acknowledge that often the way Internet capabilities are incorporated into online courses is not creative, but the conclusion, in the guise of quality assurance, is a capitulation to market forces. "Offering resource rich online classes using the Internet is a cost efficient opportunity for industry and academia to partner. There is great potential for exceptional classes to be industry-sponsored productions, combining emerging capabilities of the Internet, the best Instructors, and the latest industry driven content" (p. 169).

God save our universities from the latest industry-driven content.