Distance Learning and the Web: Are Advertising Programs Missing the Target?

Falk, Louis K., Rehman, Sharaf, Foster, Dawn, International Journal of Instructional Media

ABSTRACT

Many academic institutions offering advertising programs axe making use of the Web pages (Deloughry, 1996; Holderness, 1995; Massey, 1995). Thus, the universities recognize the Internet as a suitable medium for presenting their offerings to traditional and self-directed learners. Additionally, using the Internet in distance learning is becoming a prevalent method to disperse offerings to the non-traditional student. The present study reports the findings of a survey on the use of Web sites and the Internet by distance education programs. The authors report that the Web paces of a majority of advertising programs ignore to list the courses offered via distance learning. The results also suggest that a majority of the advertising and public relations programs fall to use the Web to inform the potential students about the courses taught via distance education. Additional findings indicate that information on courses taught via distance education is not readily available on most university Web sites. The authors hold that the universities may he missing the opportunity of increasing enrollment in their distance education course offerings by not making extensive use of their Web sites.

INTRODUCTION

Distance Education has been a topic of discussion and practice since the beginning of this century (Holderness, 1995; Lockwood, 1995). Correspondence courses began the distance teaching trend. Russell & Lane (1996) report that as early as 1945, radio was employed for the delivery of distance education. As the technology developed, and it became apparent that television could add the visual component to the "lecture" on the radio, the new medium became the medium of choice, and distance education courses became telecourses. Despite the popularity of television and a long history of telecourses, several studies indicate that, among the early attempts, there was no significant difference between the effectiveness of conventional instruction and televised instruction. One explanation for the lack of effectiveness may be that the educators adopted television when the medium was in its emergence, and neither the television producers nor the distance education planners were aware of the potential, the opportunities, and the limitations of the medium (Dvorak, 1996). As television became more sophisticated and the designers of distance education became better familiar with the capabilities of television, the distance education opportunities expanded.

Standard television broadcasts brought the telecourses to distant communities, class rooms, and homes. With the presence of videotape …

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Publication information: Article title: Distance Learning and the Web: Are Advertising Programs Missing the Target?. Contributors: Falk, Louis K. - Author, Rehman, Sharaf - Author, Foster, Dawn - Author. Journal title: International Journal of Instructional Media. Volume: 26. Issue: 1 Publication date: Winter 1999. Page number: 23. © 1999 Westwood Press, Inc. COPYRIGHT 1999 Gale Group.

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