The Distance Education Handbook. An Administrator's Guide for Rural and Remote Schools.

ThAs handbook presents a snapshot view of the use of telecommunications technologies to deliver instruction to distant audiences of K-12 students in the United States. The information is intended specifically for people who work in.and with small, rural, or:7emote schools. Available technologies and programming vary widely in offerings and quality. Before selecting a particular program or distant learning system, administrators must consider the issues of the system's purpose, who controls the system, costs, course offerings, scheduling, class size, level of teacher-student interaction, qualifications and evaluation of teleteachers, qualifications and duties of classroom facilitators, and grading and routing class materials. Thirteen types of interactive distance learning technologies are described, and typical costs are outlined. Details are provided on specific programs and projects that use audio confercncing, audiographics teleteaching, fiber optics or microwave