Expanding Access to Adult Literacy with Online Distance Education

This resource traces the history of distance education, defines commonly used terms, and examines the potential online education has to meet the adult basic learners' needs.

Author(s)
Eunice N. Askov
Jerome Johnston
Leslie I. Petty
Shannon J. Young
Author(s) Organizational Affiliation
The Pennsylvania State University
The University of Michigan
Publication Year
2003
Resource Type
Product
Number of Pages
109
Abstract

This resource traces the history of distance education, defines commonly used terms, and examines the potential online education has to meet the adult basic learners' needs. The resource draws on national, state, and international research which examines efforts of particular programs' efforts to implement distance education programs. This resource provides questions to help guide the development of an online education program and lists other products that programs have utilized to build their programs.

Required Training

None

What the experts say

Although this descriptive study is five years old, it is still useful for states and programs considering online distance education for adult learners. The paper outlines the planning and implementation process, including the challenges and pitfalls, of online distance education, by relating the experiences of two projects in the United States and the distance education system in Australia. Chapter 5, "Implications in Implementing Online Distance Education for Adult Learners," and Appendix C, "Project IDEAL Distance Education Planning Process," are particularly useful as tools for program planning. It can save programs, new to distance education, from reinventing the wheel.

This resource would be interesting for those specifically interested in the early development of online learning in adult education.

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