ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the nature of educational communication, distance learning, and the implications of recent technologies for those wishing to determine the effectiveness of such programs for their own educational institutions. It discusses a definition of distance education, the concepts related to the assessment of distance learning, and the focal concerns of these processes. The chapter discusses five influences on environment students' motivations for learning, teaching and learning styles, teacher-student power relations, course design, and coordination of evaluation and assessment. It examines the programs from many perspectives: within courses, within institutions, across courses, and across institutions. The chapter argues that distance learning evaluation must move beyond the narrow assessment of learning in a particular course. It focuses on the learning process as manifest in the communication that occurs in various contexts using diverse modes of delivery between students and faculty, support staff, administrators, and other students.
