Using a Panel of Experts to Enrich Planning of Distance Education

This article describes the results of a qualitative study of a panel of experts in distance education. The panel was selected to help identify directions for the continuing progress of distance education at a large Canadian comprehensive community college. The results identified a number of issues to address in the development of a distance/distributed learning strategy. Four major themes emerged from the interviews: the effect of new telecommunications technologies, the increasing numbers of and changing characteristics of distance education learners, the needs of faculty, and the many-layered adjustments required in educational institutions. These themes facilitated robust internal college consult-ations. Résumé Cet article décrit les résultats d’une étude qualitative d’un panel d’experts en formation à distance. Le panel a été choisi pour aider l’identification d’orientations pour le progrès continu de la formation à distance dans un grand collège commu