Providing Library Services for Distance Education Students (review)

2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 496-497
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Blakesley Lindsay
Author(s):  
Mahesh S. Raisinghani ◽  
Cherie Hohertz

According to the U.S. Department of Education (1998- 1999), 78% of all four-year public institutions offer distance education courses. According to the same survey, 67% of all students at these institutions have enrolled in one of these courses. Are university libraries keeping up with the trend of distance education? What programs and policies are in place to ensure access to library services for Web-based learning students? Must services to distance learners be equal to services provided to traditional students? This article is structured as follows: First we discuss the strategy of building a creative learning environment based on the learning orientation model before prescribing some guidelines for personalized learning in a Web-based environment. Next we outline the basis for library distance education services, and describe two case studies of libraries that are ensuring that distance education students are receiving equal access to library materials.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 171-173
Author(s):  
Judith Logan

A Review of: Bonella, L., Pitts, J., & Coleman, J. (2017). How do we market to distance populations, and does it work?: Results from a longitudinal study and a survey of the profession. Journal of Library Administration, 57(1), 69–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2016.1202720  Abstract Objective – To determine if library promotion efforts targeted at distance education students and instructors were successful and in line with similar activities at other institutions Design – Mixed: longitudinal and survey questionnaire Setting – Large publicly-funded, doctoral-granting university in the midwestern United States Subjects – 494 distance education students and instructors in 2014 compared to 544 in 2011 and “more than 300” (Bonella, Pitts, & Coleman, 2017, p. 77) professionals at American academic libraries. Methods – In the longitudinal study, the researchers invited all distance education students and instructors who were active in the 2010-2011 academic year (n = 8,793) and the spring 2014 semester (n = 4,922) to complete an online questionnaire about their awareness and use of library’s services. Questions were formatted as multiple choice or Likert scale with optional qualitative comments. The researchers used descriptive statistics to compare the responses. Then, the researchers invited library professionals via relevant distance-education and academic library listservs to complete an online questionnaire about how distance education is supported, promoted, and assessed. Free text questions comprised the majority of the questionnaire.  The researchers categorized these and summarized them textually. The researchers used descriptive statistics to collate the responses to the multiple-choice questions. Main results – The researchers observed an increase in awareness of all the library services about which they asked undergraduates. Off campus access to databases (92%, n = 55), an online course in the learning management system (78%, n = 47), and online help pages (71%, n = 43) had the highest awareness in 2014 as compared to 2011 when off campus access to databases (73%, n = 74), research guides (43%, n = 44), and online help pages (42%, n = 43) were the top three most visible items. Fewer undergraduates said they do not use the library at all between 2011 (54%, n = 56) and 2014 (30%, n = 18). More graduate students reported that they were very satisfied with the library in 2014 (45%, n = 12) than in 2011 (27%, n = 10). Faculty members were more aware of library services, especially research guides, which had 79% awareness in 2014 (n = 56) up from 60% (n = 55) in 2011. Almost half (46%) of faculty member respondents had recommended them to students in 2014 as compared to 27% in 2011. The library professionals who responded indicated that their institutions did not evaluate the success of distance educators and students’ awareness of the library’s services and resources (54%, n = 97) nor the success of any promotional campaigns they may have undertaken (84%, n = 151). Both the respondents (37%, n = 54) and the authors recommended partnering with faculty members as a best practice to promote the library. Conclusion – More libraries should be marketing specifically and regularly to distance education students by leveraging existing communication and organizational structures. Assessing these efforts is important to understanding their effectiveness.


2011 ◽  
pp. 1843-1847
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Buchanan

Contemporary distance education has its roots in early forms of postal correspondence study but has evolved to sophisticated, technologically grounded forms of education. It has progressed from simplistic forms of written, correspondence study, known as the first wave of distance education (1870-1970), to early forms of television, satellite, and compressed video delivery and open education, known as the second wave (1970-1992), to its present stage of computer-based delivery, mainly over the Internet and its multimedia component, the World Wide Web (WWW). This form constitutes the third wave or phase.


2011 ◽  
pp. 1261-1264
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Buchanan

Contemporary distance education has its roots in early forms of postal correspondence study but has evolved to sophisticated, technologically grounded forms of education. It has progressed from simplistic forms of written, correspondence study, known as the first wave of distance education (1870-1970), to early forms of television, satellite, and compressed video delivery and open education, known as the second wave (1970-1992), to its present stage of computer-based delivery, mainly over the Internet and its multimedia component, the World Wide Web (WWW). This form constitutes the third wave or phase.


No teaching method has evolved as much as distance education, in the state of Amazonas this would not be different, especially in higher education. Distance Education is a modality where the student is separated from the teacher and uses several communication technologies around all his learning. The methods used were bibliographic, documentary and quantitative. The researched environment was the capital city of Manaus and the municipality of Maués, with the application of the closed questionnaire aimed at higher education students. Our objective was to question certain nuances as their benefits and challenges for those who study Distance Education in the different locations of the State of Amazonas. The result was the realization that among its many advantages in the execution of education, time is considered the main one, and the loss of deadlines its greatest disadvantage, besides the concept of distance education is already well known by university students. Thus, it is well known that with the passing of time and with the progress of the state's modernization, distance education is gradually becoming the most practical means of teaching.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document