Innovations in Online Learning: Moving beyond No Significant Difference. The Pew Symposia in Learning and Technology (4th, Phoenix, Arizona, December 8-9, 2000).

Overview & Synopsis

Symposium participants gathered to discuss how to move online learning beyond being "as good as" traditional education. Participants were asked to analyze their assumptions about distributed learning, identify the strengths of each type of distributed learning discussed, and explore what needs to be done to improve online education. This paper groups participant responses and information from case studies (not published here) at institutions that are either groundbreakers or pacesetters in online learning into the major challenges facing distance and higher education as a whole: (1) individualization of distance education; (2) improving quality; (3) increasing access; (4) reducing the costs of teaching and learning; and (5) sustaining innovation. Examples from the practice of the case study institutions illustrate distance education applications. (SLD)