Media Management for Distance Postgraduate Programs

日本的远程研究生课程自1998年才获得批准，日本高等教育界在这一领域还没有积累足够的实践和经验。本研究旨在通过实地考察的方法，从使用新媒体的社会和教育背景出发，对澳大利亚、加拿大、英国和美国的远程研究生项目进行比较研究。这项研究是从媒体技术、教育项目、为学习者提供服务、员工发展/培训、学习评估和组织管理的系统建立和整合的角度进行的。1999年的“虚拟大学”和2000年的“世界教育市场上的中国”都受到了特别的关注。每个访问过的国家都有悠久的历史和远程研究生项目的经验，这些项目在工商管理硕士、卫生服务或教育领域扮演着专业发展、再教育或继续教育的角色。美国和加拿大的媒体使用与英国不同。在线教育项目通常没有面对面的互动，而面对面的辅导和作业是不可或缺的部分，学习者的媒体素养问题，在后一种情况下，成本和新媒体的可获得性被高度考虑。这些特点在虚拟大学的形式中得到了鲜明的体现。一方忽视面对面的交流，另一方试图维持面对面辅导的功能。英国和澳大利亚的远程研究生项目往往瞄准亚洲教育市场，而中国在那里被视为一个大市场。

Distance postgraduate courses have been authorized only since 1998 in Japan, and a Japanese higher education world has not accumulated enough practices and experiences in this sector. The research aims at comparative study on Distance Postgraduate Programs in Australia, Canada, UK, and USA, in terms with the social and educational backgrounds in use of new media, by means of on-the-site investigation. The research was carried out from the view point of how media technology, educational programs, services to the learners, staff development/training, learning assessment, and organization management are systematically established and integrated. The special attentions were given to "Virtual University" in 1999 and to" China in the World Educational Market" in 2000.Each visited country has a long history and experiences in distance postgraduate programs, which play the roles of Professional Development, Recurrent Education, or Continuing Education in the field of MBA, Health Services, or Education.The use of media in USA and Canada is different from that of UK.Online education programs without face-to-face interaction are commonly observed in the former case, whereas face-to-face tutorials and assignments are integral parts, and the issues of learners' media literacy, cost and accessibility to new media are highly considered in the latter case. These characteristics are distinctly reflected in the forms of Virtual University. One party neglects face-to-face exchanges, and the other party tries to maintain the functions of face-to-face tutorials.The distance postgraduate programs in UK and Australia often target on Asian educational markets, where China is regarded as a big market.