Texas Tech University, Brigham Young University, Eastern Oregon University, North Dakota University System institutions

·        Interactive videoconferencing – telecommunications networks link a faculty member with students located in classrooms around the state or region.  This method brings the classroom closer to the students, but does not provide the flexibility of time.  Students are required to be in a particular place at a particular time, and, since these “extended classrooms” usually piggyback on the traditional classroom, students must wait to begin a course until the start of the quarter or semester.

North Dakota University System institutions; Washington Community and Technical Colleges

·        Telecourses – instruction is delivered on videotape (or through cable distribution) to students studying at home.  Often, the telecourses are professionally produced by another entity (such as Coastline Community College, Dallas Telelearning, Annenberg/CPB project) and licensed by schools whose faculty adapt them as appropriate.  Course packages include student study guides, instructor guides, and video programs.  In some cases, institutions videotape their own faculty teaching on-campus classes.  The trend in recent years is to incorporate web components and online communication through email and discussion groups.

Brevard Community College, Charter Oak State College, Community Colleges of Colorado, Eastern Oregon University, Washington State University, Washington Community and Technical Colleges

·        Asynchronous online instruction – students have access to electronic classrooms that contain instructional materials with links to other online resources, and tools to facilitate group discussion, small group activities, and one-to-one communication.   Students can be located anywhere in the world where they have access to a computer, a phone line and an Internet service provider.  They can participate in a class “asynchronously” – that is, they do not have to be online at a particular time, but can enter into an ongoing electronic discussion and complete course modules whenever it is convenient for them.  Because online instruction does not require a physical classroom, it provides a means for institutions to schedule courses to begin every week or even every day of the year.