Document Delivery

Document delivery is a service offered by academic libraries that allows distance education students to access or obtain the research materials required for their studies. These services find the document and send a copy of it to the student (Calvert, 2001). Document delivery services aim to provide the same level of service to on-campus students and to off-campus students. They provide access to library materials at the student’s home institution as well as from other libraries. Document delivery services for distance students are generally part of a library’s Interlibrary Loan Department but document delivery can be a separate department. Some libraries have a division or department dedicated to serving distance students and document delivery is handled there when they exist. In the United States, regional accreditation agencies consider document delivery services to be a vital part of a distance education program. For example, the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools’ Guidelines for Distance Education emphasize that students should have access to the appropriate library resources for the field of study (2000).

Document Delivery

Document delivery is a service offered by academic libraries that allows distance education students to access or obtain the research materials required for their studies. These services find the document and send a copy of it to the student (Calvert, 2001). Document delivery services aim to provide the same level of service to on-campus students and to off-campus students. They provide access to library materials at the student’s home institution as well as from other libraries. Document delivery services for distance students are generally part of a library’s Interlibrary Loan Department but document delivery can be a separate department. Some libraries have a division or department dedicated to serving distance students and document delivery is handled there when they exist. In the United States, regional accreditation agencies consider document delivery services to be a vital part of a distance education program. For example, the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools’ Guidelines for Distance Education emphasize that students should have access to the appropriate library resources for the field of study (2000).

E-portfolio Assessment System for an Outcome-Based Information Technology Curriculum

Currently colleges and universities are facing a number of problems, including ill designed curricula that do not address demands from the job market. There is also tremendous pressure from society on academic institutions to provide an education that results in guaranteed employment, especially given the soaring price of higher education. Currently, a number of academic institutions are facing the problem of grade inflation, which has resulted in the grade point average (GPA) model losing its value (Mansfield, 2001). Therefore, academic educational institutions are looking for alternative ways to provide an education that attracts students in a highly competitive world. Several US academic institutions have adopted the outcome based educational model to move away from the GPA driven model. Furthermore, accreditations organizations (such as North Central Association of Colleges and Schools) are requiring academic institutions to present a method to assess students’ learning outcomes, particularly in the general education courses.

Issues and Factors Involved in Credit and Placement for Accelerated Summer Coursework

This paper investigates the ways in which students' home schools currently respond to their participation in university summer programs and the effect of program accreditation on their responses. We also studied the factors that affect schools' policies toward summer coursework. Specifically, we compared the actions of schools for students who completed coursework in a fast paced, accelerated summer program in 1992, before accreditation by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, to those actions in 1994 after accreditation. Responses that were analyzed included: (a) giving course credit; (b) appropriate placement within the content area; and (c) placement in a special program. It was found that there was a significant increase from 1992 to 1994 in the number of students whose schools took one or more of these actions, mostly due to increases in the awarding of high school credit. An increase in credit given for required rather than elective courses and greater amounts of credit awarded were observed after accreditation. We also found that most schools do not have policies against awarding credit for outside coursework and that factors that facilitate credit include notice of the child's intent to take a summer course and petitions by parents for recognition of the course credit. The nature of the outside institution and the qualifications of the instructor were not important factors in school's decisions about awarding credit for summer coursework.