Includes index.

Contents: Trends and directions: The Big bang theory in distance education -- A Practical agenda for theorists of distance education -- Trends, directions and needs: a view from developing countries -- American distance education: a short literature review -- Creating the future: developing vision in open and distance learning -- The Student experience: Student learning and students' experiences: research, theory and practice -- The Potential of research with students to inform development -- Still seeking the audience? -- Information technology and disabled students: overcoming barriers to learning -- See what i mean? where compressed digital videoconferencing works -- Teaching and learning by satelite in a European virtual classroom -- A Dimension of image types in educational mutimedia materials -- Learner use of media: Over the threshold: media technologies for home learning -- The Empathy templates: a way to support collaborative learning -- Electronic highway or weaving loom? thinking about conferencing technologies for learning -- Use of hypermedia and telecommunications for case-study discussions in distance education -- Course design and assessment: The Challenge facing course design -- A Model-base design approach for the flexibilisation of courses -- Students' perception of, and response to, formative and stimulative assessment material -- Using electronic networking for assessment -- Learner support and management: Research and pragmatism in learner support -- Student support in open distance learning -- Support for the in-company learner -- Implementing experiences from small-scale courses to large education systems -- Managing learning support -- Textual materials: The Layout and design textual materials for distance learning -- Using instructional illustrations for distance education -- The Development of printed materials: a view of print production for distance learning in the light of recent developments -- Contemporary developments in the typographical design of instructional texts for open and distance learning -- Electronic layout and design visions of the future -- Evaluation and quality: Building good quality in, rather than inspecting bad quality out -- Course evaluation and academic quality -- A String of pearls? a broader approach to course evaluation -- Evaluation and self-improving systems.