A Study on Development of Practical Distance Education System

由于信息技术的发展和普及，远程教育在时间和距离上都是畅通无阻的，越来越受到人们的欢迎。远程教育的运作需要课程设计和教学的技术，以及包括电子技术在内的通信设备的应用，以及组织和行政设置。成本效益也是一个值得关注的问题。我们进行了一项实验性的双边教学，利用时间框架在一所大学的课堂上进行研究报告。主站和卫星站的学生同样以非常积极的方式参与了这门课。我们还对一个使用ISDN的远程教育项目进行了评估。这门课提供给试图获得研究生院专业证书的学校教师。通过对主站点和远程站点的参与者进行问卷调查，发现该项目能够有效地减少远离主站点的参与者的心理、身体和经济负担，从而有效地扩大接受教育的机会，并以ISDN电视会议系统为例进行成本分析，成本以每个参与者每小时计算该项目的成本来表示。此外，我们估计了不同条件下的成本，发现ISDN电视会议在成本效益方面更优越。此外，我们重新审查了过去为航空大学进行的远程高等教育成本效益的研究，因为该大学已经到了在全国建立业务的阶段。结果发现，随着高校在全国范围内办学规模的扩大，学生数量的增加，由公费承担的成本比例会变小，整个社会的社会回报率也会提高。

Distance education, which is free from hindrances in terms of time and distance, has been being more and popular due to development and spread of information technology. The operation of distance education calls for techniques of course designing and instruction and the application of communication devices including electronic technology as well as organizational and administrative setups. Cost efficiency is also a point of concern.We conducted an experimental bilateral instruction, utilizing timeframe for research presentation in a class at a university. The students at the main site and the satellite sites were equally involved in the class in a very positive manner.We also conducted an evaluation of a distance education program employing ISDN.The class was offered to schoolteachers attempting to get specialized licenses at the graduate school level. We conducted a questionnaire survey on the participants at main site and the distant site, and found that the program was effective in expanding opportunities to access education through minimizing psychological, physical and financial burden of those who live at a distance from the main site.TV conference system using ISDN was used as an example for cost analysis and the cost was expressed in terms of that per participant per hour in finding the cost of this program. Additionally we estimated costs under various conditions and found that ISDN TV conference was superior in cost efficiency.Furthermore, we re-examined the past studies on the cost effectiveness of distance higher education conducted for the University of the Air as the University reached the stage to establish a national presence. As a result it has been found that the ratio of costs borne by the public funds will be smaller and the social rate of return for the society as a whole will be enlarged if the number of the students increases along with the nationwide operation of the university.