Students' Frustrations with a Web-based Distance Education Course: A Taboo Topic in the Discourse

http://www.slis.indiana.edu/CSI/wp99_01.html

This Indiana University working paper was written by Noriko Hara and Rob Kling. It was the topic of a Sept. 22, 1999 New York Times article titled "Study Finds Problem with Web Class."

http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/09/cyber/education/22education.html#1

The working paper's abstract starts "This article presents a qualitative case study of a web-based distance education course at a major university in the United States. Many authors in the distance education literature discuss only the positive aspects of computer-mediated distance education. Most of the literature consists of descriptive case studies, rather than analytical research. This article inspects a taboo topic; problems with web-based distance education."

Although this paper contains a lot of background material directed at researchers, much of it focuses on quotes from participants in the particular distance learning course that is being studied.

Questions:

1. What are some of the specific problems that occurred in the online course discussed in this article?

2. Which (if any) of these problems are inherent in web-based distance education and which are problems with the way this particular course was presented and managed? Explain your views.

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