Okay, the last two or three entries related to the K-12 Online Learning Presentations at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in San Diego. The first one of Thursday was part of a session entitled Distance Education in Rural Contexts and it was delivered by folks from the National Research Center on Rural Education:

Barriers to Distance Education in Rural Schools

Schedule Information:
Scheduled Time: Thu, Apr 16 - 12:25pm - 1:55pm Building/Room: San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina / Newport Beach
In Session: Distance Education in Rural Contexts

Authors:
Matthew J. Irvin (University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill)
Wallace Hannum (University of North Carolina)
Claire de la Varre (University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill)

Abstract: This investigation examined barriers to distance education (DE) as perceived by rural school administrators in 417 districts randomly selected from the 2004-2005 Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP). This study is the first to examine rural schools’ barriers to DE and related factors (district characteristics, course subjects, delivery format, student preparation, course completion, and satisfaction with DE). Results indicate that barriers are most consistently related to district characteristics, course subjects, delivery format, student preparation, and satisfaction with DE. Results suggest that rural schools with district and personnel barriers need to address other related issues to ensure successful DE efforts. Additional implications and suggestions for dealing with these barriers and issues will be discussed.

This presentation was based on an article that these individuals had published earlier in:

Hannum, W. H., Irvin, M. J., Banks, J. B., & Farmer,T. W. (2009). Distance education use in rural schools. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 24(3). Retrieved 17 April 2009 from http://jrre.psu.edu/articles/24-3.pdf

A couple of the main things that I took away from this presentation, was the order of the barriers found in their study. However, I digress a bit. This presentation was a survey study of 394 randomly selected rural schools from across the country (which was a 95% response rate) conducted in 2005.

In their responses, these rural districts indicated the following as barriers to K-12 distance education

1. Not needed for curriculum requirements - 67.7% (District barrier)
2. Lack of sufficient funding - 63.7% (District barrier)
3. Problems scheduling - 58.7% (Logistical barrier)
4. Not a district priority - 53.2% (District barrier)
5. Personnel not trained to support - 46.8 (Personnel barrier)
6. Difficult to implement - 45.2% (Logistical barrier)
7. Do not have personnel to support - 33.7% (Personnel barrier)
8. Difficulty finding courses needed - 31.1% (Logistical barrier)
9. Not part of the strategic plan - 28.3% (District barrier)
10. Lack of technical expertise - 17.1% (Personnel barrier)
11. Lack of technology enhanced rooms - 15.1% (Technology barrier)
12. Technology inadequately maintained - 9.5% (Technology barrier)
13. Insufficient connectivity - 7.4% (Technology barrier)

A couple of take aways for me from this list and the presenters discussion of it. The first is that three of the top four barriers were classified as “district barriers” or things that the district had or had not done that prevented or made implementing distance education difficult for these schools. The second thing that really stood out to me was that the three technology barriers were all at the very bottom of the list, which seems to me to indicate that state and federal programs in the United States have done an adequate job in providing the necessary computer technology and connectivity/bandwidth to access distance education opportunities.

Anyway, you should be able to access both their paper and their PowerPoint slides soon at the National Research Center on Rural Education website:

http://www.nrcres.org/