On-line Distance Education-Many Are Called, Should All Be Chosen
Geoffrey N. Dick, Thomas L. Case, O. Maxie Burns
This paper reports the results ofa study ofstudent attitudes towards distance education in the US and in Australia. Students involved in the investigation include undergraduate andpostgraduate students in the US andpostgraduate students in Australia. A modelfor distance education adoption serves as the basis for the research and the study was partly aimedat validating that model. Our results indicate thatfor moststudents, particularly undergraduates, distance education is not thepreferred option. There are, however, certain studentsfor whom distance education is attractive. Such students tend to disagree with the majority who see it asfallingshortofthe traditional classroom experience. The study has the limitations ofself-selection and a comparison involving different modes ofdelivery-s-further work in different disciplines and cultures is warranted.
Geoffrey N. Dick is a senior lecturer at the School of Information Systems, Technology and Management at UNSW, in Sydney, Australia. He also spends part of his time as a visiting professor at Georgia Southern University. The focus of Dr. Dick's PhD was telecommuting, and he has conducted and researched distance education for several years. He regularly facilitates distance classes in the MBT program at UNSW and was a member of tbe UNSW Pro Vice-Chancellor's Committee on Information Technology in Distance Education. In 200 I, Dr. Dick was the president of the International Academy for Information Management He was re-appointed to the position in 2003. Before joining academia in 1990, he had 17 years of experience in the public sector, including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Thomas L. Case is professor of information systems at Georgia Southern University. Dr. Case has been served lAlM in a variety of leadership roles since the mid-1980s. He has also held key leadership roles in the Southern Association of Information Systems (SArS), the first regional chapter of the Americas Division of AIS. In addition to distance education and telework, Dr. Case's research interests include factors that influence IT adoption and use, knowledge management, and online shopping and buying patterns. He has authored three textbooks, the most recent being Business Data Communications (6/e) with David Stamper.
O. Maxie Burns represents Georgia's 12lh Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. Prior to his election, Dr. Bums was a professor of information systems in Georgia Southern University's College ofBusiness Administration. He holds a bachelor ofindustrial engineering degree from Georgia Tech and a master and a Ph.D. in business information systemsfrom GeorgiaState University. Dr. Burns was a Senior Fulbright Scholar, teaching corporate information management in Sweden in 1993. He has also taught in Australia, New Zealand, and Korea. Dr. Burns has served as a consultant to Gulfstream Aerospace and Grinnell Corporation. He developed the Southern Suppliers' Network to connect Southeast Georgia's small business suppliers to major manufacturers. His interest in the delivery of online education has led to his being an active participant and contributor to the MERLOT project. In addition to telework and online education, Dr. Bums' research interests include perceptions of the Internet and the online shopping and purchasing behaviors of university students.
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