ABSTRACT
We have worked as institutional researchers at the German FernUniversität or Distance University (FeU) for over 20 years. Because distance teaching and learning environments have offered few opportunities for immediate student feedback, evaluation has always been for us an integral part of the development and improvement of distance education systems and study materials. We research areas such as the goals of the institution, its target groups, issues of access, dropout and completion rates, the teaching system, communication channels, and student learning environments. We also examine organizational issues and their effects on (potential) students, study behavior, learning styles, access to technology, and expenditure of time and money. In recent years the evaluation of media and information and communication technologies (ICTs) has become an increasingly important area. In this chapter we draw on our experiences as evaluators and point to key challenges and rewards of doing feminist research in a setting that may be termed androcentric and male-dominated. We begin by discussing values as an essential characteristic of evaluation, then provide a brief list of areas where neglecting gender would be prejudicial for women working and studying in open and distance learning (ODL) contexts. We end by looking at the “virtual university.”
