Access to well designed and supported web based information promises to promote a more active style of education for both campus based and distance learning students. The role of all publishers in enabling this process is not yet clear, and few have explored the potential that clearly exists. Many new entrants to this active market are already trying their hand and learning from what is working. The site selection below offers a brief overview of a rapidly evolving area.

 Take a look at the SuperCourse in public health and prevention which is sharing a free library for lecturers globally. The principle of coaching the lecturers not their students so that lectures are current and exciting is an excellent one. The first lecture is in 8 languages.

 The Report Making the Grade: Online Education in the United States, 2006 is is available online at the Sloan Consortium's Web site.

Chronicle of Higher Education June 2003

 These ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) guidelines for distance learning services have been revised in draft and provide an informative update for publishers on the evolving role of libraries in the context.

 http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb010423-1.htm MIT announced in April 2001 that all the course material used with undergraduate and graduate students at MIT would be made available free of charge online for access anywhere in the world. Note: This initiative is not distance education which requires considerable investment of time and resources in the essential support of students and interaction between and within groups.

 http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/05-04/smith.html A short but informative article of particular interest to publishers on “Fair use and distance learning in the digital age” by Millison Smith which addresses controversial legislation on access to copyright material by distance learners. 

 http://www.open.ac.uk/new/distance-learning.shtml The Open University in the UK is one of the longest established open learning universities and is now thoroughly online. With 200,000 students enrolled at any one time, 580 undergraduate and postgraduate courses and at an average cost to each student for a 3 year undergraduate degree course of £4,100 ($6,150) the success of the OU is plain to see. 80% of OU undergraduates are in paid employment.

 http://chronicle.com The weekly US Chronicle of Higher Education has a complete section on distance education and reports all recent and current developments – with some non-US coverage.

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