Distance Learning: Principles for Effective Design, Delivery, and Evaluation (review)

As someone who has been involved in the field of distance learning for many years, I enjoyed reading and reviewing Distance Learning: Principles for Effective Design, Delivery, and Evaluation. It contains a wide range of questions and topics including: what distance education is, how to attract students to this learning mode, good practices, delivery methods, support services, ensuring high completion rates, assessing learning outcomes, evaluating programs, and accreditation.

Each chapter could be expanded into a book itself. However, in most cases, the authors of this text do a nice job of providing just enough information. Additional research in each area can be found in journals, periodicals and other texts.

It is obvious that the authors have a command of the topics in this text and do a good job of expressing their ideas and those of others in the field, not a comment that applies to all of the books in this field of study. This volume, though a little long, is not overwhelming. It could be used either as an entire text or for individual readings on selected topics.

Because this field of study is evolving rapidly and constantly, this book will serve as a good starting point for current and future distance educators, but its audience does not include distance learners. It is aimed at those designing, developing, evaluating, or administering distance learning courses or programs.

It is well organized, which makes it much easier to read than some other books on the market. However, like all books, it has some flaws. The figures, tables, and charts are average at best. Figure 1.1 is almost impossible to read and understand. Since it has only a few figures and tables, this is not a major problem. However, it would have been beneficial to have more illustrations of the sample syllabus for distance learning courses presented in chapter 4.

Additionally, the book title is a little misleading. The text is really written for administrators or directors of distance learning programs or courses. The text will not be used by many average instructional designers or developers. However, it would serve as a good starting point for distance learning evaluators.

The best part of the book is the "Summary Tips" and "Conclusions" found at the ends of most chapters. The concise, bulleted items or summaries provide a reference that can be consulted over and over again. This is particularly important when distance educators are working on a project and need to find resources rapidly.

Another big plus for the book is the topics that it covers. For example, support services is an important topic but one that is often omitted from texts of this type. The coverage in this chapter is excellent and helps make it one of the better chapters on this topic.

The only topics I would consider adding or emphasizing more are instructional design and interface design. These two hot topics in the field should receive more attention. Such attention would also make the book more attractive to a wider body of readers, including instructional designers and developers.

I was pleased to see that the book also has a related Web-site: http://www.sagepub.com/mehrotra. This site provides an overview of the text, has links referenced in the text, and includes additional links not mentioned in the text that provide more resources. If the publisher will keep this site current, it will be a great supplement to the text.

Overall, this book is a fine example of what is needed for distance learning teachers, administrators, and evaluators throughout the world. It provides good coverage of the timely topics that face distance educators daily. For those considering starting a distance learning course or program, this book would provide a solid footing upon which to make important decisions. Overall...