These links are intended to assist in learning more about the field of asynchronous distance learning. The LAAP program does not necessarily endorse the ideas or initiatives of the represented institutions.

ORGANIZATIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS

American Center for the Study of Distance Education, Penn State University College of Education, was established in 1988, aiming to become a network of scholars who have a common interest in studying, teaching, and doing research in the field of distance education. The Center publishes the American Journal of Distance Education, Research Monographs, and Readings in Distance Education. The Center sponsors DEOS-L, a listserv, and the Distance Education Online Symposium, a monthly electronic journal.

http://www.ed.psu.edu/acsde

American Library Association, Office for Information Technology Policy provides a frequently updated resource for news about current copyright legislation, with links to issue briefs and analyses from the library community's perspective.

arl.cni.org/info/frn/copy/copytoc.html

Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALN) is a website sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation that hosts online discussions and workshops, provides information about Sloan Foundation-funded ALN projects and conferences, and publishes two electronic journals.

http://www.aln.org

Council for Higher Education Accreditation has a number of commentaries related to distance learning in higher education.

http://www.chea.org/Commentary/

EDUCAUSE is a membership organization of over 1,700 colleges, universities, and education organizations and more than 150 corporations that work to transform education through information technologies. The site provides information on activities, publications, workshops, policy issues and special initiatives such as the National Learning Infrastructure Initiative (NLII).

http://www.educause.edu

IMS Global Learning Consortium is developing and promoting open specifications for facilitating online distributed learning activities.

http://www.imsproject.org

Instructional Telecommunications Council (ITC) has extensive information about distance education with a focus on community colleges, including reports and abstracts, grants and legislation, courses, and statewide virtual networks. ITC also publishes monographs on distance education issues and practices.

http://www.itcnetwork.org/default.htm

Midwestern Higher Education Commission has a website with information about the MHEC Interactive Courseware Initiative, which includes a useful comprehensive list of the educational features and capabilities sought in good scalable interactive courseware.

http://www1.umn.edu/mhec/ici/framework.htm

The NODE is a site contains extensive resources for practitioners, online workshops and forums, an electronic publication, and a database of information on learning technologies.

http://thenode.org/

http://www.pbs.org/adultlearning/als

Technology Opportunities Program (formerly Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program --TIIAP). U.S. Department of Commerce administers a grants program to fund model projects demonstrating innovative uses of network technology. Descriptions of projects funded since 1994 are posted in a searchable database.

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/top/index.html

The TLT Group: The Teaching Learning and Technology Affiliate of AAHE hosts a listserv on teaching and technology, sponsors workshops, and has a variety of resources to assist institutions in technology planning.

http://www.tltgroup.org

• Distance Education Demonstration Program is a 5-year program in which15 postsecondary schools, systems, and consortia are participating to help determine the most effective way of delivering quality education via distance learning. The project outcomes will influence future financial aid policies and regulations.

http://www.ed.gov/offices/OPE/PPI/DistEd/index.html

• Office of Educational Technology provides information about Federal initiatives to expand and improve access to technology and its effective use in classrooms across the nation. Links to Department of Education grant programs, state and regional contacts, and relevant publications. http://www.ed.gov/Technology/index.html

• National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) provides data and reports on a wide range of issues related to education in the United States and in other nations. The Electronic Catalog is searchable by keywords.

http://nces.ed.gov

USDLA (United States Distance Learning Association) provides information about membership, state chapters, conferences and programs, and distance education policy issues.

http://www.usdla.org

University Continuing Education Association has a website with links to member-institutions offering distance learning courses and programs.

http://www.nucea.edu

Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications, a component of WICHE (Western Interstate Consortium for Higher Education) is a membership organization that addresses the effective use of telecommunications technology in learning. The site contains information about collaborative projects, publications, events, a newsletter, and institutional policies and practices.

http://www.wcet.info/

DATABASES

America's Learning Exchange is a service of the U.S. Department of Labor providing a searchable database of profiles on courses, seminars/workshops, degree or certificate granting programs, and training materials offered nationwide, through a variety of formats: classroom; Web; computer; conferences; self-study/correspondence; TV, Satellite, cable; books and publications; videotapes; audiotapes; and asynchronous training networks.  http://www.alx.org EdCITE is a database of research and case studies on the effective use of technology in education maintained by the Columbia University Center for New Media Teaching and Learning. The database includes citations to journal articles, websites, and other relevant information resources.

Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database contains more than 950,000 abstracts of documents and journal articles on education research and practice. http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal

League for Innovation has a searchable database that includes session descriptions of presentations made at the League's annual international conferences of model programs, best practices, and innovations in all aspects of community colleges. http://www.league.org/leaguetlc/search/search.asp

Sloan ALN Consortium Catalog is a compilation of online degree and certification programs offered by Sloan Consortium member institutions. The database is searchable by discipline, by type of degree or certification, or by educational institution.  http://www.sloan-c.org/programs/index.asp

Southern Regional Electronic Campus (SREC) provides a searchable database of graduate and undergraduate distance education courses and programs offered by member institutions. http://www.srec.sreb.org

Technologies for learning (tfl) is a clearinghouse of information on the technologies used to develop and deliver online education and training. http://thenode.org/tfl/

ALN Magazine is an electronic magazine that contains case studies and other practical information on ALN projects.

http://www.aln.org/publications/magazine/index.asp

Chronicle of Higher Education has a website with special sections on information technology and distance education.

http://chronicle.com

ED, Education at a Distance is a monthly electronic publication of the United States Distance Learning Association.

http://www.usdla.org/html/membership/publications.htm

EduCause Review (formerly Educom Review) is a practitioner's journal (available in print and online) for college and university managers and users of information resources.

http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm.html

EduCause Quarterly (formerly CAUSE/EFFECT) is a bimonthly magazine (available in print and online) that explores developments in information technology and education. Also covered are related issues in management, planning, law, and policy.

http://www.educause.edu/pub/eq/eq.html

International Journal of Distance Education is a publication of the Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia.

http://www.usq.edu.au/dec/decjourn/demain.htm

Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks (JALN) is a scholarly reviewed online journal of research articles that describe original work in ALN, including experimental results.

http://www.aln.org/publications/jaln/index.asp

Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication is a quarterly journal published electronically by the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California.

http://jcmc.indiana.edu/

Journal of Interactive Media in Education (JIME) is an electronic journal published by the Knowledge Media Institute of the Open University, United Kingdom.

http://www-jime.open.ac.uk/

Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration is a quarterly peer-reviewed journal on distance education management from the State University of West Georgia.

http://www.westga.edu/~distance/jmain11.html

The Technology Source is a bimonthly electronic magazine for faculty and educational leaders focusing on how to use technological tools to enhance teaching, learning, and effective administration.

http://horizon.unc.edu/TS

TECHNOLOGY AND DISABILITIES

The Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD)

http://www.ahead.org

Bobby is an online accessibility validation tool that checks web pages for accessibility.

http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp

California State University Northridge Center on Disabilities offers programs and conferences about technology applications for persons with disabilities.

http://www.csun.edu/cod/

Demonstration Projects to Ensure Students with Disabilities Receive a Quality Higher Education

http://www.ed.gov/programs/disabilities/index.html

Distance Education: Access Guidelines for Students with Disabilities, Chancellor's Office California Community Colleges 

http://www.htctu.fhda.edu

Document at http://www.htctu.fhda.edu/dlguidelin es/final%20dl%20guidelines.htm

Equal Access to Software and Information (EASI) 

http://www.isc.rit.edu/~easi

HEATH Resource Center, National Clearinghouse on Postsecondary Education for Individuals with Disabilities, American Council on Education: 1-800-544-3284.

http://www.acenet.edu

Information Access and Adaptive Technology , by Carmela Cunningham and Norman Coombs, American Council on Education, June 1997. 

http://www.oryxpress.com.  Document at http://www.oryxpress.com/books/BookDetail.asp?dept_id=1&sku=OXIAATIBM

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative

http://www.w3.org/WAI/

SUGGESTED READINGS

Principles of Good Practice for Electronically Offered Academic Degree and Certificate Programs, Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications.

http://www.wcet.info/projects/balancing/principles.htm

Distance Education in Higher Education Institutions is a report prepared by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, October 1997.

Distance Education at Postsecondary Institutions: 1997-98, a report prepared by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Dec. 17, 1999.

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2000/2000013.pdf

• What's the Difference? A Review of Contemporary Research on the Effectiveness of Distance Learning in Higher Education is a report prepared for the American Federal of Teachers and the National Education Association, April 1999. Available in PDF format viewable with Acrobat Adobe Reader.

http://www.ihep.com/Pubs/PDF/Difference.pdf

• Quality On the Line: Benchmarks for Success in Internet-Based Distance Education is a report commissioned by the National Education Association and Blackboard, Inc., that examines case studies of six colleges and universities that provide Internet-based degree programs. The final outcome is a list of 24 benchmarks deemed essential to ensure quality in Internet-based distance education. Available in PDF format viewable with Acrobat Adobe Reader.

http://www.ihep.com/Pubs/PDF/Quality.pdf

Developing a Distance Education Policy for 21^st Century Learning, a "primer on the issues an institution will confront as it plans to integrate, implement and harmonize distance education into its existing policies." Issued by the American Council on Education, March 2000.

http://www.acenet.edu/washington/distance_ed/
2000/03march/distance_ed.html

The Dynamics of Quality Assurance in On-Line Distance Education, Molly Corbett Broad,Journal of Instructional Science and Technology, Distance Education Centre University of Southern Queensland,
Australia, vol 3 no 1, June 1999.

http://www.usq.edu.au/electpub/e-jist/vol3no1/article2/index.htm

Implementing a Scalable and Sustainable Model for Instructional Software Development, Gerald L. Hanley, Check Schneebeck, and Lou Zwier, Syllabus presentation, July 1998.

http://www.cdl.edu/html/syllabus98.html

Good Teaching is Good Teaching: An Emerging Set of Guiding Principles and Practices for the Design and Development of Distance Education. L.C. Ragan, 1998.

http://www.ed.psu.edu/acsde/deos/deosnews/deosnews8_12.asp

Distance Education Clearinghouse is a compendium of distance education information from Wisconsin, national, and international sources compiled and maintained by the University of Wisconsin-Extension.

http://www.uwex.edu/disted/

Horizon presents a wealth of links to Web data sources in the Educational OnRamp section.

http://horizon.unc.edu/

MERLOT is a "gateway" to modularized learning materials that faculty can incorporate into their own courses. Learning materials posted in MERLOT are primarily interactive simulations, animations, and tutorials that will be peer-reviewed and tested in appropriate educational settings.

http://www.merlot.org/Home.po

Virtual Resource Site for Teaching with Technology provides examples of how teachers from a range of disciplines have integrated Web-based media in their teaching and associates those examples with particular teaching/learning strategies.

http://www.umuc.edu/virtualteaching/