Other Resource Sites On Distance Education

Do you want qualifications in distance education?

Masters and certificate programs

Athabasca University, Canada Masters in Distance Education
This is Canada’s main English language public distance education university, headquartered in Alberta but with students from all over Canada and internationally. It also offers graduate certificates and diplomas in instructional design and distance education technology.

University of Maryland University College/Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg Masters in Distance Education
This award-winning program has students mainly from the USA, many of them working in Europe.

Open University, UK MA in Online and Distance Education
Covers the theory and practice of online and distance education; open to students from countries all over the world.

Doctoral program

Athabasca University, Canada Doctor of Education in Distance Education
Cohort-based, initially accepting 12 students annually, the program will be delivered at a distance, with the exception of an initial onsite 5-day orientation workshop at the beginning of the first year of study. Starts August 2008.

For Spanish-speakers

Universidad Tecnológia Metropolitana de Santiago (UTEM), Chile Magíster en Educación a Distancia
This has a strong technology component, international faculty, and students from several South American countries

Other sites with resources on distance education

Commonwealth of Learning
A rich site, especially for materials for and about less economically advanced countries, with an online search engine (Knowledge Finder) focused on open and distance education

East Asia Global Distance Educationet
a knowledge guide to distance education designed to help clients of the World Bank and others interested in using distance education for human development.

National Education Association (USA) Distance Education Resources

The Open University’s International Centre for Distance Learning (ICDL)
bibliographic information on over 12,000 publications relating to all aspects of the theory and practice of distance education + an extensive database of UK courses and programs taught by distance learning

The University of Wisconsin-Extension Distance Education Clearinghouse is a comprehensive web site bringing together distance education information from Wisconsin, national, and international sources

UNESCO Higher Education Open and Distance Learning Knowledge Base
was set up to support decision makers and practitioners with ready access to information and tools that will assist them in more effective policy planning, development and management of ODL in higher education programs. This program has resulted in a number of:

• Regional Knowledge Base Resources
• Web-based knowledge base regional resources provide storehouses of information dealing with various aspects of ODL, tailored to specific regional needs. The five regions covered are:

1. Africa – selected readings, reports of good practice, and other information tools. A key task will be to build up the Knowledge Base with resources from Sub-Saharan Africa, as these are often difficult to locate on the Internet
2. Arab States – a prototype focussing on ODL higher education and populated with selected readings in Arabic on good practice. This site is hosted by the Arab Open University in Kuwait.
3. Asia and the Pacific – electronic documents, synthesized information and links on: legislation, policies and management, academic programmes, technology and delivery systems, international collaboration, quality assurance, and funding and loans.
4. CIS/Baltic countries – detailed information is under development on areas such as the market demand of educational profiles and levels, consumer conditions, preferences and requirements for ODL, and languages of instruction.
5. Latin America and the Caribbean – This site, which will soon be online, focuses on distance teacher education. This site is being developed through UNESCO Santiago de Chile.

Asia Pacific Knowledge Base on Open Distance Learning

Sub-Saharan African Open and Distance Learning Knowledge Base