The Value of High Performance Networking on International Distance Education Team Building, Technology Selection, and Innovative Teaching Methodology

Abstract

Attitudes toward the role of distance education tend to polarize within institutions of higher learning. The first claims that an asynchronous learning experience will always be inferior to a live, interactive session between the student and the educator. The second group will argue that students receive a wider range of opportunities if permitted to draw upon the experiences of multiple knowledge presenters along with the vast amount of information accessible through the web. These two attitudes are by no means mutually exclusive. By crossing the boundaries of time, location, language and culture, this project will be an experiment that demonstrates a merger of the two philosophies, resulting in a semisynchronous learning experience.