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1、1Policy for Online Learning and Teaching in an Asynchronous Environment Learning and teaching are undergoing tremendous changes as universities and schools rapidly move to provide courses and entire programs online. Although much has been written to indicate that the quality of learning online is no
2、t significantly different from face-to-face learning, many universities and schools are still hesitant to substitute traditional learning with online learning. There are many universities and schools that provide opportunities for students to take courses and degree programs completely in an asynchr
3、onous environment, but yet there are also many universities and schools, which are resistant to provide this new learning style. This paper surveys current policies and provides a formal policy for online learning and teaching in an asynchronous environment, which was developed for the authors unive
4、rsity. Those faculty and administrators who are still struggling over whether to provide online courses and programs in an asynchronous environment may find this paper useful. History of Asynchronous Learning and Teaching There are many different definitions of distance education or distance learnin
5、g, but most of them seem to agree that distance education and distance learning require that the learner be physically located at a site different from the teacher. The teacher and learner may be in different rooms in the same building or halfway around the world. Traditionally, distance education r
6、eferred to correspondence courses, but it is now taken to involve the use of some form of technology to broadcast the course material from the teacher to the learner. Distance education is planned learning that normally occurs in a different place from teaching and as a result requires special techn
7、iques of course design, special instructional techniques, special methods of communication by electronic and other technology, as well as special organizational and administrative arrangements. 1 Asynchronous learning and teaching refers to the teacher and the learner being separated from each other
8、 temporally. Historically, this was done through correspondence courses using the postal system, but today typically is done either through videotapes or the Internet. Asynchronous learning involves “virtual classrooms“ using asynchronous interaction where the exchange of information is exclusively
9、on-line with no face-to-face or conventional physical classroom interaction. Online learning and teaching typically involves using one or more aspects of the Internet for teaching and learning. 2Distance education is not a new phenomenon; it has been a mode of teaching and learning for countless ind
10、ividuals for over a hundred years. Although for many universities and schools, asynchronous learning and teaching seems to be a new approach, it too, has been around for over one hundred years. In the 1840s, Isaac Pittman began to offer shorthand instruction via correspondence courses using the mail
11、 system. Inthe late 1800s New Yorks Chautauqua College of Liberal Arts and Illinois Wesleyan began to offer academic degrees via correspondence. In 1892, Penn State was one of the first universities to develop a program of correspondence study. The program took advantage of Rural Free Deliverythe 19
12、th centurys version of the information highwayto extend Penn State courses and agricultural knowledge to rural families. Within two years, this “home-reading“ program had four graduatestwo from Pennsylvania, one from Canada, and one from the Oklahoma Territoriesimmediately proving the potential for
13、Penn State to reach out internationally through distance education. 2 In the same year, the term distance education first appeared in the University of Wisconsin catalog. 3 “The goal of distance education is to transcend the barriers of time and space between the teacher and the learner. In the past
14、, success in correspondence study, telecommunications, and other programs proved the worth of distance education. But today, with the explosion of technological resources and the expansion of our expertise in creating programs, distance education is becoming one of the most promising growth areas in
15、 higher education. In the future, it will certainly become even more important.“ 4 Given that most universities and schools are providing more and more educational opportunities in an asynchronous environment, it is necessary that policies be developed to ensure that the quality of education is main
16、tained. Survey of Current Policies in Distance Education To provide background for this paper, the authors solicited responses from about fifty universities and colleges in several different countries. The questions are listed in Appendix A. Almost all of the responses indicated that the university or college had no formal policy for learning and teaching in an asynchronous environmen
