Keywords

distance education, administration, academic discipline, research strategies, library

Abstract

Today's distance education administrator, frequently with an expertise in another academic discipline, is also supposed to be a distance education scholar. This expectation results from the recent interest in distance learning that nearly all institutions of learning and disciplines of study have shown. More research, studies, journals, and essays about distance education also exist than at any other time.

A distance education administrator and an education research librarian at Brigham Young University have teamed up to identify ten pragmatic research strategies to help new, busy, and even a few experienced distance education administrators stay current in their field and successful in their applied research. All distance education research strategies identified were required to pass a distance administrator test for pragmatism, user-friendliness, and efficiency.

The ten research strategies that will be covered are accessing library expertise, books from your or others' library catalogs, academic journals, databases, current awareness services, subscription services, distance education Web portals, associations, listserv/discussions, and use of research assistants.

Original Publication Citation

Wright, T. & Howell, S. (2004). Ten efficient research strategies for distance learning administrators. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration,7(1). At http://www.westga.edu/%7Edistance/ojdla/spring71/wright71.html (A review ofthis article was featured in the digest news published by Distance-Educator.comon August 17, 2004. In the April 15, 2007 issue [Volume 11, Number 8, pp. 1, 2, and 7] of Distance Education Report [Madison, WI: Magna Publications] the editor, Chris Hill, published an interview he conducted with me based on this original article and entitled it, “Nine tips for doing scholarly work as a distance ed administrator.”)