Chapter 6, Additional Case 2: Going the Distance
Chapter 6, Additional Case 2: Going the Distance
This case is best for groups.
One of the hottest trends in higher education today is distance education, which enables students from all over the country as well as the world to take courses. In distance-education courses, you use television, correspondence, or the Internet to receive materials, do assignments, and receive feedback from the instructor. One major advantage of distance education is that you can take courses that aren't offered at your home institution. Also, you can easily fit courses into your schedule: you do the work when it's convenient for you. There are no classes to attend.
Many incoming first-year students and their parents are interested in learning more about distance education. Your university would like to be able to distribute some information to students and parents during orientation activities next year. Your university would like some help researching and developing a short report on this topic.
Form small groups for this case, and then decide how to split up the tasks listed here. Probably, you will all want to participate in some aspect of each task.
- Study Chapter 6 on research techniques, concentrating on conducting secondary research.
- Research distance education. Using a search engine, look up "distance education" or "distance learning."
- Find out your college or university's policy on accepting transfer credit for distance-education courses. Check in your college catalog. If you can't find the answer there, arrange to interview an appropriate officer from the registrar's office.
- Find out your major department's policy on accepting transfer credit for distance-education courses. (Focus on the major of one of the people in your group, or concentrate on technical communication.) Your major department's policy might differ from the institution's policy. For example, the college or university might accept credits, but the department might not. Or your major department might accept certain courses but not all courses.
- Write a 1,000-word report describing distance-education opportunities for students in the major. Include a general overview of distance education, as well as helpful tips about how to take distance courses effectively. Describe your major department's and institution's policies. And describe some of the courses of interest. Include an annotated list of online resources students should consult to learn the ins and outs of distance education. (See Chapter 17 on informational reports and Chapter 18 on recommendation reports.) If your department or class has a website, present the report in HTML so that it can be put on the site. (See Chapter 11 for a discussion of designing websites.)