WELCOME: Welcome to the new DESIEN-List recipients. Since the last issue: Susan Shelton, Steve Sharples, Andrew Bozylinski, Lanell Babb, Marie Jost and Bill Lyon have joined the list. We encourage each of you to introduce yourselves to the list, with a sentence or two of background information. We look forward to your participating in this interactive newsletter.
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UPFRONT: Thanks to Michele Jacques of Instructional Communications Systems (ICS), a DESIEN Archive has been established. You can access the Archive at:

http://www.uwex.edu/disted/desien/index.html

SOME RELEVANT RESEARCH: A recent survey developed and implemented by Armstrong Laboratory at Brooks Air Force Base (AFB), Texas, was designed to: 1) identify current instructional design trends and 2) problems that will need to be overcome so that future implementations of distance learning technology can be successful. Of the 182 distance learning organizations surveyed, 128 surveys (more than 70%) were returned. Of those returned: 60.3% were academic institutions, 4.8% technical schools, 12.7% commercial, 3.2% government, 14.3% military and 5.6% other.

Current Instructional Design Trends: The most frequently used approaches for instructional design were: instructional systems development (ISD) or development processes specifically created by the institution's design staff. These designated processes were used either because faculty/design staff had a preference for them or because the processes took into account distance learning requirements and capabilities.

Many of the institutions surveyed (68.8%) provided training for their instructors. Instructors commented that the training was effective and that it helped them: make better use of the media, better design interaction strategies, and better utilize features of the technology they were using. An overwhelming number of respondents (76.8%), reported using a team concept or combination of professionals to develop their curriculum. The professionals used included: the instructor (84%), instructional developer (63%), media specialist (56%), distance learning technician (48%), and other (23%).

Distance Learning Problems to Overcome: The major distance education problems cited were: inadequate funding, lack of experienced or trained personnel, limited or inadequate facilities, inadequate time to plan and prepare, and technological problems.

Survey Conclusions: training is necessary for instructors and curriculum developers in the use of distance learning technology. Instructors and curriculum developers need to learn new ways of increasing student interaction with training materials and to learn how to make effective use of graphic materials to support distance learning. While some institutions have begun to develop guidelines for their curricular materials, for the majority, it seems to be a highly personal process, with each instructor/curriculum developer/team using and refining what has worked in the past.

Another valuable finding was that distance learning programs tend to be eclectic, using several complementary technologies together in a program. This places increased importance on having a trained staff that can take full advantage of a variety of technologies and their capabilities.

Finally, the survey revealed that there does not appear to be any systematic media selection process in place to identify what distance learning can do better than other forms of instruction. Further research needs to be done in this area. (Walsh, Gibson and Hsieh, 1996, "Instructional Design Issues In Distance Learning," Contract F33615-91-D-00651, Armstrong Laboratory, Brooks AFB, Texas.)

by Rosemary Lehman

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Send Comments and Questions by: clicking on "Reply" or the key designated for "Reply". You may also address your message to:
DESIEN-List@uwex.edu
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(NOTE: Because the Distance Education Clearinghouse is the Focus article in this issue, the regular monthly Clearinghouse column will not appear. Michele will resume the regular column in the April issue.)

DESIEN ISSUE FOCUS:
Distance Education Clearinghouse
by
Michele Jacques, Project Coordinator, Distance Education
Clearinghouse, Instructional Communications Systems

Confused about terminology such as ISDN or audiographics? Interested in finding out what conferences are being held in a particular distance education specialty? Looking for funding sources and grant opportunities for distance education initiatives?

Check out the Distance Education Clearinghouse, a World Wide Web site on the Internet that provides electronic access to a wide range of information about distance education. The Clearinghouse homepage is located at:
http://www.uwex.edu/disted/home.html

The Clearinghouse is a place where you can find answers to questions, links to other distance education sites, course information, programs, funding, organizations and much more. With partnering agencies and other UW institutions, the Clearinghouse brings together distance education information and resources from Wisconsin, national and international sources.

The roots of the Clearinghouse go back to 1990 when the collaborative efforts of the Educational Communications Board, the Wisconsin Technical College System, and the University of Wisconsin-Extension joined together to create the Satellite Program Database. This database was originally presented as a bulletin board service. Since that time, the Clearinghouse has grown and developed along with the new technologies which offer new and more exciting ways to deliver information electronically. The Satellite Program Database, by the way, is still going strong, and is available on the Clearinghouse today.

The Clearinghouse is used by people all over the world who are interested in all aspects of distance education. Every week, users send e-mail to the Clearinghouse, asking for further information about available distance education courses, programs or technologies. Messages come throughout Wisconsin and from such far away places as Egypt, Greece, Hong Kong, Great
Britain, Japan, and Australia.

According to December, 1995 statistics, the Distance Education Clearinghouse homepage was visited over 4200 times that month. Almost 75 web sites have chosen to link their sites back to the Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse has been reviewed by Point Communications, which has ranked it in the Top 5% of all web sites.

One reason is that the Clearinghouse is updated continuously to keep the information reliable and valid. Resources are evaluated daily. New links are added, old ones are archived or removed, and documents are updated.

The Clearinghouse builds upon the comprehensive experience in distance education of the University of Wisconsin-Extension and its partners. For example, representatives from the ECB and the Wisconsin Technical College System, as well as the other University of Wisconsin institutions, contribute resources and information.

Currently, the Clearinghouse is made up of almost 400 "pages" which are all linked together. Many of these pages provide additional links to other resources so that the available information rapidly expands as you move throughout the site. The presence of these additional links to other web sites and Internet resources adds to users' ability to gather specific information on distance
education.

To help you find your way, there is both an alphabetical index and an outlined index of the major sections of the Clearinghouse. For example, if you are looking for information about Compressed Video, you can look under either "C" or "V" in the alphabetical index. If you choose to use the outlined index, you will find that the Compressed Video information is located within the category called "Interactive Delivery Systems."

A goal of the Distance Education Clearinghouse is to be a useful and vital resource for distance education needs of Wisconsin users. If you do not yet have access to the world wide web, you can obtain the plain text of most of the areas of the Clearinghouse via the gopher. (gopher.uwex.edu).

The Clearinghouse is maintained at Instructional Communications Systems by Michele Jacques, World Wide Web project coordinator, and Jean Sutter, who takes care of the gopher side. If you have comments about the Clearinghouse, contact Marcia Baird, Director, Instructional Communications Systems (baird@ics.uwex.edu). If you wish to add information or have any questions regarding the site, contact Michele Jacques at ICS, email:
jacques@ics.uwex.edu or call (608)265-6178.

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CAMPUS UPDATE

(Please insert information about your institution's distance education progress
here)

UW CENTERS -

UW-EAU_CLAIRE - (see UW-River Falls)

UW-GREEN BAY -

UW-LA CROSSE - (see UW-River Falls)

UW-MADISON -

UW-MILWAUKEE - UW-Milwaukee hosted the Distance Education Committee (DEC) Meeting on February 14-15.

UW-OSHKOSH -

UW-PLATTEVILLE -

UW-RIVER FALLS - UW-Eau Claire has obtained a grant from the ECB to provide faculty training over WONDER for faculty who wish to use technology in their classrooms. Topics include distance education technology, presentation packages, the Internet, etc. Site participants, besides UW-Eau Claire, include UW-River Falls, UW-La Crosse, and UW-Stout. Each site has approximately 10 participants. The groups meet over the network via quad-split on eight Saturday afternoons during this spring semester.

(submitted by Barbara Audley Continuing Education and Extension
UW-River Falls)

UW-PARKSIDE -

UW-STEVENS POINT -

UW-STOUT - (see UW-River Falls)

UW-SUPERIOR -

UW-WHITEWATER -
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FYI

REMINDERS:

WAACE/ACHE REGION VI CONFERENCE - "Creating Opportunities in Times of Change," April 11-12, 1996, Milwaukee, WI. Contact: Registrar, phone: 414-595-2312.

SECOND ANNUAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP - "Distance Education and Technology: Future Visions," May 6-8, 1996. Cosponsored by the International University Consortium and the University of Maryland System Institute for Distance Education. Contact: Conference Center, phone: 301-985-7303 or 1-800-727-8622.

ITCA '96 CONFERENCE - The International Teleconferencing Association Conference will focus on practical applications of video/audio conferencing, data collaboration and other interactive multimedia technologies with an all-new format. The conference is scheduled for May 21-24, Washington, DC. Contact ITCA, 703-506-3266.

INTERNATIONAL WORLD CONFERENCE - The 18th ICDE World Conference has issued a call for papers. The Conference, June 2-6, 1997 will be hosted by the Pennsylvania State University. The conference theme is "The New Learning Environment: A Global Perspective." Deadline for submissions is March 31, 1996. Contact - Gary Miller, The Pennsylvania State University, 211 Mitchell Bldg., University Park, PA 16802.

20-WEEK CERTIFICATE COURSE ANNOUNCEMENT - "Problems and Principles in the Use of the Internet for Course Delivery," October, 1996 until April 1997, taught by Dr. Roger H. Flavell of the University of London will treat three broad themes - the role of computer-mediated communication in education and training, the effectiveness of online education and collaborative learning, and an introduction to online services. Contact Dr. Flavell at: phone: 0171 612 6525 or fax: 0171 612 6534. Deadline for applications is May 31, 1996.

MAINE CONFERENCE - The University of Maine at Augusta, has issued a Call for Proposals for its 10th Annual Conference, to be held Sept. 26, 27 & 28, 1996. The Conference theme is, "Yesterday's Dreams Are Today's Reality: Quality and Access in Distance Education and Training." The proposal deadline is May 23, 1996. To obtain a brochure with a Presentation Proposal Form call: 207-621-3170.

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APRIL DESIEN ISSUE FOCUS: "The Collaborative Nursing Degree Program: A Progress Report."

And...an "Update on Intellectual Property Rights."
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DESIEN has been created to encourage information exchange and discussion of distance education issues concerned with: 1) Symposium team progress and institution course/program development, 2) faculty/team development, 3) technology, 4) policy, 5) funding, and 6) research among participants, presenters and organizers of the 1994 UW-Extension/UW System Distance Education Symposium. Other List recipients are encouraged to join in with information contributions and discussion.

Each monthly issue will focus on an "area of interest", feature a regular column on the Distance Education Clearinghouse by Michele Jacques, contain an FYI section and list future areas of focus. Your continuous input through updates, features, questions, and dialogue will be instrumental in helping DESIEN evolve and grow.

DESIEN is a one-year pilot project, September, 1995 to September, 1996 and will be evaluated at the end of that time. The coordinators of DESIEN are Rosemary Lehman and Pat Takemoto. The owner of DESIEN is Rosemary Lehman, lehman@ics.uwex.edu. Please contact Rosemary if you have concerns or problems.