According to a recent study published by Primary Research Group, Inc., an estimated 93 percent of distance learning (DL) programs in North American colleges and universities use email as their DL medium. The study, "The Survey of Distance Learning Programs in Higher Education," is based on a random sample of sixty-one college and university distance learning programs throughout the United States and Canada. The report provides a comparison of data reported in 1997 and 1998. Findings show that 36.68 percent of DL instructors in 1998 were adjunct faculty, compared with 1997 in which 27.34 percent of the instructors were adjunct faculty. Instructor/tutor salaries account for the highest percentage of the DL programs' total costs and expenditures - 31.72 percent. In 1997, instructor/tutor salaries accounted for 37.21 percent of the total costs and expenditures. (CIT INFOBITS June 1999)

CURRENTS IN ELECTRONIC LITERACY - The Computer Writing and Research Lab (CWRL) of the Division of Rhetoric and Composition at the University of Texas at Austin is publishing a new, free electronic journal, CURRENTS IN ELECTRONIC LITERACY. Currents is a "scholarly discussion of issues pertaining to electronic literacy . . . addressing the use of electronic texts and technologies in reading, writing, teaching, and learning in . . .literature, rhetoric and composition, languages, communications, media studies, and education. The focus of the first issue (Spring 1999) is "Electronic Pedagogy in Literature Classes." You can read Currents at: http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/currents/ Currents [ISSN 1524-6493] is published two times a year, in the spring and fall. For more information, contact John Slatin, General Editor, or David Barndollar, Coordinating Editor, c/o Computer Writing and Research Lab, Parlin 3, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 USA; email: @lists.cwrl.utexas.edu CWRL also provides links to the online edition of Computers and Composition: An International Journal for Teachers of Writing (published by Ablex Publishing Corporation.) For more information about CWRL, see their Website at: http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/ (CIT INFOBITS June 99)

ONLINE REVIEWS RAISE QUESTIONS IN CYBERSPACE - Anonymous public commentary on commercial Web sites such as Amazon.com is a growing problem, say authors and members of the publishing industry. Publishers say that, because of Amazon.com's high profile, reviews on the site can make or break a book. Tim O'Reilly, CEO of book publisher O'Reilly & Associates, says the reviews at Amazon.com are "increasingly significant as a measure of what's important out there." The site uses more than 2.5 million customer reviews, according to a company spokesman. However, the site does not prescreen anonymous reviews and rarely removes negative reviews. Some publishing industry insiders suggest that some publishers could be using the anonymous reviews to slam competitors' books. (Los Angeles Times 06/29/99 - Edpage 30 June 99)

NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE - The "No Significant Difference Phenomenon" site has changed to: http://teleeducation.nb.ca/nosignificantdifference/ Since the publication of the book version, the web site no longer includes the complete collection of individual listings. Instead, there is a representative listing of studies conducted on a variety of technologies through the decades, starting with the 1920s. The book is fully indexed and includes a foreword by Richard E Clark. The previous web-based version contained 248 titles. The book, copyright 1999, lists 355. Many of the 107 additional entries concern the "newer" technologies. The site will have a new section featuring comparative studies which DO find significant differences. Studies are being solicited for inclusion in either section - both significant differences and no significant differences. Please send all submissions to Tom_Russell@NCSU.edu For information about obtaining copies of the book,go to: http://www2.ncsu.edu/oit/nsxflyer.jpg or contact the author at: Tom_Russell@NCSU.edu