Guidelines for distance education: a case study in Taiwan

Through a questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews with the teachers, students and staff involved, this paper presents a case study which describes the current status of telecommunications distance education via real-time interactive videoconferencing in Taiwan. Participants' views were analysed and showed that instructional development components, such as learner characteristics, instructional resources, support services and rehearsal, are quite different from the traditional mode especially with regard to neglected factors such as educational administration and policy. The paper summarises the findings as an itemised list of guidelines for operating instructional development for a telecommunications distance education. These guidelines can contribute not only to improving the quality of distance education, but also to faculty development, staff training, elaboration of theory and professional practice in the field.