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Q. I am currently working on a thesis for a BA in education and training. The subject matter concerns Distance Education via the internet and how this compares with traditional training and education. In particular I am looking for studies which identify difficulties encountered with training/education via the internet and studies examining learning theories and construction of internet based distance education courses. Has anybody got any pointers?

A. WASH., D.C....A new national report raises questions about the effectiveness of the increasingly-popular use of "distance learning" in higher education and whether it is on par with traditional classroom-based instruction. The report reviews a broad array of research and articles about technology-based distance education and finds that there are significant gaps in the research and important flaws in the methodology of many studies. These findings refute the evidence often cited by policy leaders and distance education advocates that suggests there is no significant difference in the educational effectiveness of distance versus classroom-based instruction. Most of the studies conclude that distance learning compares favorably with classroom-based instruction in terms of student grades, test scores, and overall satisfaction. But the report, which reviews hundreds of these various writings published over the last decade, finds that the overall quality of the research is questionable and thereby renders many of the findings inconclusive. The report cautions that policymakers and education leaders have "a lot to learn" about how distance education can enhance college learning. It urges officials to consider the evidence carefully when making decisions about investment in the rapidly evolving field of distance education. Now, that is about to change, at least for some distance learners. The catalyst is new federal legislation that establishes a five-year program to allow selected distance learning ventures -- eventually up to 50 of them -- to participate in major federal student aid programs. Supporters of distance education are hoping the new program can help boost the popularity of what they believe is a promising new educational enterprise made possible by the Internet and other new communications technologies. "It simply helps level the playing field, so just as full- time residential students have access to that aid, the part-time distance learner does, too," said Robert C. Albrecht, chief academic officer of Western Governors University, a new distance education venture and the only one specifically named in the law as eligible to become one of the program participants. But for those who question whether virtual education can ever be more than a pale substitute for the real thing, the project is a worrisome development. "It legitimizes and sanctions what I'm calling 'digital diploma mills,'" said David F. Noble, a history professor at York University in Toronto and a critic of many distance learning efforts.

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