Research and Evaluation Needs for Distance Education: A Delphi Study

Research and Evaluation Needs for Distance Education: A Delphi Study
http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall33/rockwell33.html
Kay Rockwell, Professor, Agricultural Leadership, Education & Communication
Jack Furgason, Program Evaluation Assistant,
David B. Marx, Professor, Biometry

Overview:
Distance learning programs rapidly expanded so distance education is now defined as "the acquisition of knowledge and skills through mediated information and instruction, encompassing all technologies and other forms of learning at a distance".
Distance educators were asked to participate in a Delphi study to identify and rank future research and evaluation needs/issues. Four themes emerged:
Cooperation and collaboration among institutions
Designing the educational experience for the distance learner.
Teacher preparation
Educational outcomes.
The approach:
This study is a combination of scientific and social approach because it is related to the educational study.

Research design
CIPP Model: (context, input, process and product) .
Modified Delphi process: By utilizing the knowledge of experts, combining it and redistributing it, the study opens up doors and forces new thought processes to emerge .
Study participants : Three groups of distance educators participated.
Steering committee.
Delphi panel – First round ,Delphi panel – Second round. ,Distance education conference participants – Third round

Levels of the evaluation
Some of the researchers have been interested in the learner – their attributes and perceptions, interaction patterns and how these contribute to the overall learning environment. Others researchers addressed administrative and organizational issues. Many researchers have addressed operational issues relating to networking, cooperation, coordination and collaboration. Still others have addressed faculty issues.
So, this study is in project level.

The techniques:
This study is used confidence logs as an instrument.
Distance educators said it is most important to identify highly effective strategies for successful distance learning including assessing "innovative" instructional processes to identify what best helps distance students learn.Therefore the study use a confidence logs with the scales of
1 = Very important 2 = Important 3 = Neither important nor unimportant 4 = Unimportant 5 = Very unimportant