In September, 1997, the Nebraska Network 21 (NN21) Distance Education Action Team embarked on the task to provide a strong philosophical and policy basis for developing distance education opportunities in Nebraska.  Basic to this is a solid research foundation focusing on Nebraska’s current needs and issues in distance education.  This research is needed to provide the context within which distance education is developing along with the inputs that are needed to effectively implement distance education opportunities.  As steps are identified and actions are taken to implement distance education, evaluations are necessary so adjustments can be made, and outcomes need to be assessed to find out if the state’s educational needs are being met.

While distance education research and evaluation is emerging across the country, a number of questions are being asked by decision makers in Nebraska.  These questions include:

     What are high priority research and evaluation needs in Nebraska’s educational institutions?
     What kind of collaborations need to be developed to implement distance learning activities economically?
     1. How can educational institutions work together to assess the effectiveness of distance learning opportunities?
     What kind of evaluation processes are needed as institutions work across state boundaries?  national
         boundaries? international boundaries?
     2. What accountability issues need to be addressed for decision makers?

Because there are numerous research and evaluation needs on distance education, priorities need to be established to provide some guidelines for Nebraska researchers/evaluators.  Current research can be directed toward these priorities and proposed research can focus on state-wide needs.  Likewise, evaluations can be directed toward these priorities and evaluations that cut across institutional boundaries can be developed. 

The goal of this paper is to identify research and evaluation priorities for distance education in Nebraska.  Specifically, it focuses on research that helps with planning and structuring decisions as distance education is developing, and evaluations needed to assess the implementation processes and document outcomes.

The study design used a modified Delphi process to help understand distance educators' perceptions about research and evaluation priorities for distance education in Nebraska in 1998.   A five-person steering committee representing local, national and international distance education interests identified relevant topics/issues for a survey instrument.  A 43-person Delphi panel that represented distance educators from Nebraska and surrounding states ranked 98 research and evaluation issues twice.  After discussing the findings at a state-wide distance education conference, 14 participants again ranked all 98 items to establish the research and evaluation priorities. 
 
 

Planning Decisions

Collaboration and Coordination:  The highest interest is in collaboration among postsecondary institutions; there is slightly less interest in collaboration between postsecondary and secondary institutions and even less between secondary and elementary schools.  However, in collaborative efforts, it is important to identify funding formulas that fairly reward all institutional participants. 

Technology coordination within higher education is important, as is connectivity among these institutions.  Technology coordination and connectivity among a grouping of schools identified as pods is also of interest.  There is much less interest in Nebraska Educational Television’s (NET's) role in this coordination.   There appears to be more interest in research on how the technology is used rather than on the processes needed to coordinate and connect the technology.

Distance Learners:  Understanding the characteristics of successful distance learners ranks high, along with potential problems they may have with required equipment.  There is less interest in exploring problems learners have using the technology.

Diagnosing problems learners have with access in terms of time and place is very important, along with how the required use of technology affects their motivation.  Less concern was noted for diagnosing problems with overall student costs.

It is very important to determine learners expectations for credit courses and professional improvement and less important to identify expectations for personal enrichment.  There is more interest in ascertaining opportunities different institutions have to meet learner expectations for obtaining credit courses than for professional improvement or personal enrichment needs. 

It is very important to determine why potential learners fail to take advantage of distance learning opportunities.
 

Structuring Decisions

It is most important to identify strategies that are highly effective for a successful distance learning experience B  including assessing innovative instructional processes to identify what best helps distance students learn.  Determining factors impeding or enhancing the development of a distance education support structure also ranked high.  Also of concern is assessing the financial resources needed and available for course development, along with the time faculty need to develop and teach via distance.  Determining a cost/benefit ratio ranks slightly lower.

Distance education teacher competencies are a great concern.  Research identifying effective teacher competencies ranks very high, as does teacher training needs.  Also important is identifying the types of support/assistance instructors need. 

Less important is an assessment of the pros and cons of different learning models, as well as instructor qualifications for in-state distance learning courses. 

Preference is given to developing models for in-state use.  Assessing models designed for regional, national or international use is viewed as less important. Along with this, instructor qualifications for such regional, national and international models are viewed as less important.

There is less interest in assessing past courses to identify successes and failures as part of a continuing education effort for teachers.  It is also viewed as less important to assess past marketing strategies to identify how to create a market.  There is little interest in defining and identifying terms relating to distance education.
 

Implementation Issues

The most important issue deals with identifying barriers and incentives for using distance delivered education.  In addition, considerable emphasis is placed on comparing classroom-based instruction and distance learning.  The most interest is on application and use of content, followed by knowledge or skills acquired,  learning styles, interaction with other learners and with the instructor, and feeling a part of a learning community. 

There is a great deal of interest in identifying what makes successful collaborative distance education.  Specific implementation issues of concern, relative to instructors and instructional processes, include the barriers and incentives for implementing distance delivery by the instructor, the processes used to customize the educational experience, factors encouraging  educators to work together and the instructors' use of multiple technologies. 

Another important issue deals with identification of current structures blocking distance delivery.  Other administrative issues of importance include factors encouraging or discouraging educators from working together for program development and delivery.  The issue of quality and the maintenance of rigor is important, along with identifying factors that influence how quality is judged from the audience’s perspective.

Addressing how multiple technologies can be used is important, specifically as they relate to learners' perceptions about the advantages and disadvantages, the incentives and barriers for instructors to incorporate multiple technologies and incorporating multiple technology use within the infrastructure.

Of less importance is identifying the benefits and drawbacks of various administrative models, such as cohort designs, lead instructor with instructors-of-record and facilitator licensed processes.  There is also less interest in research into how instructors are transferring skills from the traditional classroom to distance-based instruction.

 There is also less interest in comparing traditional face-to-face delivery with the various distance delivery methods that are television-based, computer-based and telephone-based.

Outcome Needs

Assessing outcomes in formal higher education is very important, as are outcomes reached in K-12.  There is less interest in assessing outcomes of non-formal professional and personal growth workshops. 

Documenting participation and completion rates was viewed as important, as was identifying effective and fair teacher evaluation processes.

There is less interest in studying the maturation of distance instruction and in conducting a meta-analysis of the research on different types of distance delivery modes. 
 

General Education

It’s very important to assess how to include training on adult education theory and practice so distance education instructors become more action-oriented, to identify if distance education creates changes in the learning process, to study how the change process is managed by students and to identify how distance education can facilitate lifelong learning. 

Creating a long-term vision about educational systems is very important, as is integrating distance education into strategic plans.  Studying how the change process is managed by faculty is more important than studying how it is managed by administration.  Determining if perceived  needs are met is also important.
 
 

Important research and evaluation needs for distance education focus on four major themes:

• Cooperation and collaboration among institutions.  To create a cooperative and collaborative environment among institutions across the state, it will be important to create a long-term vision about the educational system so distance education can be integrated into strategic plans.  The emphasis needs to focus on working relationships among higher education institutions to promote inter-campus cooperation, including connectivity among the institutions and coordination of the technology.  It will be important to determine factors that impede or enhance the development of a structure that supports distance education programming, and identifies funding formulas that fairly reward all institutional participants in the collaborative process. 

 

 
 
 

Secondarily, the research needs to focus on the interface between postsecondary institutions and secondary schools with later research on the interface between secondary and elementary schools. 
 

• Designing the educational experience for the distance learner.  Understanding the characteristics of successful distance learners is necessary to identify strategies highly effective for a successful distance learning experience.  It will be important to study if learning occurs differently via distance.  It is necessary to identify processes teachers use to customize the learning experience and assess innovative instructional processes to identify which best help students learn.

 

 
 
 

It will be important to diagnose problems learners encounter with access in terms of time and place, along with how the use of technology affects their motivation. 

It is important to ascertain student expectations for credit courses and why they fail to take advantage of distance learning opportunities.  It is less important to ascertain expectations for professional improvement or personal enrichment.
 

• Teacher preparation.  Emphasis needs to be placed on identifying effective teacher competencies, along with their training needs that support faculty development.  It is necessary to identify the amount and type of support or assistance teachers need, as well as resources required for various distance teaching approaches and course development.

 

 
 
 

It will be important to identify barriers and incentives for instructors to teach via distance, how instructors can be encouraged to work together, how instructors can most effectively use multiple technologies, how rigor is maintained and how teaching quality is judged by different audiences.  It will be important to identify effective and fair teacher evaluations. 

Educational outcomes.  It will be important to determine participation and completion rates and assess outcomes of formal higher education and K-12.  It is less important to assess outcomes of non-formal professional and personal growth workshops.  However, it will be important to determine if perceived educational needs are met and if distance education facilitates lifelong learning.