PRACTICES IN STUDENT EVALUATION OF DISTANCE EDUCATION COURSES AMONG LAND GRANT INSTITUTIONS

Student attitudes are one of the most important factors when assessing the quality of a distance education program (Keegan, 1990). When examining the research base, a few studies were found that examined the use of student attitudes in evaluating distance education (Biner, 1993; Cheung, 1998). However, sufficient research does not exist to develop a broader picture of the use of student attitudes, particularly when examining agriculturally related institutions. The purpose of this case study was to develop a picture of how instruments that assess student attitudes are used in the distance education evaluation practices of higher education institutions that deliver agriculturally related content. When examining the institutions in this case study, most are delivering distance education to both undergraduate and graduate students. Most of the institutions are using course management software and video conferencing for delivering instruction. Instructors are the most common focus of evaluations, closely followed by course organization and delivery. The most common method for developing a distance education evaluation instrument was to make a few revisions to the on-campus instrument already utilized at each institution.