Program Planning of Asynchronous On-Line Courses: Design Complexities and Ethics

摘要

The advent of the World Wide Web provided the feasibility of instant feedback between student and instructor analogous to the teaching methodology of ancient Greece. However, modern lecture halls or classrooms notably diminish the student's knowledge expectancy, suggesting a normal distribution curve. Research results affirm that learning is the sole responsibility of the student. However, unless the design team responsible for developing the distance education course addresses on-line variances and the instructors acknowledge their responsibility to provide motivation by putting a personal instructional touch into the 'tube,' the attainable two-sigma shift to the right will not be achieved. Therefore, has the Web's distance asynchronous on-line instruction defined a solution for the long-held dilemma of finding an educational methodology that will achieve results analogous to tutorial education and, if so, under what conditions would those similar results be achieved.