United States Distance Learning Association

ida Division of Continuing Education,
2007):
1. Web-based courses that provide information
and instructional content
online, usually in the form of interactive
text, graphics, and various other
types of online tools. Examples of
these tools include course Web sites
(such as provided by WebCT), streaming
video, bulletin boards, online chat,
student progress tracking, e-mail,
course calendars, and student homepages.
2. Video tape(s) using moving images
and audio tends in a lecture-style
presentation. Courses incorporating
videotaped lectures usually are accomplished
by mailing videotapes directly
to a student, although UF also allows
students to view VHS videotapes of
instructor lectures at specific locations
within the UF system.
3. Video conferencing is a live, two-way
dialogue with teacher and other students
via a specially equipped conference
room or on a computer.
Interactive video conferencing courses
allow the instructor and students to
communicate with each other live
through a two-way audio and video
signal.
4. CD-ROM or DVD-ROM technology
often uses moving images and audio
in a format that is easy for students to
review. This format usually can be
used without accessing the Internet.
The materials on a CD-ROM or DVD-
ROM could include prerecorded lectures,
multimedia demonstrations,
interactive assignments as well as lecture
notes, and other types of computer
files.
5. Printed materials that provide for portable,
inexpensive, accessible and wellorganized
materials. Many courses
that use other technologies also integrate
printed materials, but those
courses, which exclusively use print
materials to convey course contents,
are often referred to as “correspondence
courses.” UF’s Office of Correspondence
Studies specializes in these
types of courses, aimed at the individual
who does not have access to a computer
or the Internet.
6. Proctoring in the form of exams for
distance students, with a designated
person (usually a professional unrelated
to the student) receiving all
materials for course exams, and overseeing
those students taking the exam.
Some courses allow students to designate
a unique exam proctor and location
(e.g., College of Agricultural and
Life Sciences Exam Administrators,
College of Engineering’s Proctors)
while other courses require formally
scheduled times and locations for
exams.
METHODS OF COMMUNICATION
The Electronic Data Information Source of
UF/IFAS Extension (EDIS) is a publication
management system providing a comprehensive,
single-source repository of all current
UF/IFAS numbered peer-reviewed
publications. Using the EDIS system, UF/
IFAS academic departments develop and
maintain a collection of publications available
for universal free distribution on the
Web and through the Florida Cooperative
Extension Service County Offices and
Research and Education Centers statewide
(University of Florida IFAS Extension,
2007). From the EDIS Web site, more
than 10 million educational print and electronic
products are disseminated each year
from some 7,000 publication titles (University
of Florida IFAS Extension, 2007).
IMPACT magazine features news about the
statewide teaching, research and extension
programs of the University of Florida’s
Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
The ICS Graphic Design Department provides
professional services that enhance
the visual effectiveness of University of
Volume 4, Issue 4 Distance Learning 69