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dynamic nature of distance education technologies,
the report also includes information
about institutions’ plans for the use of different
technologies in the next 3 years. According to the
1997–98 PEQIS survey:
· While postsecondary education institutions
employed a wide variety of distance
education technologies during 1997–98, more
institutions that offered distance education
courses were likely to use several types of
video technologies and the Internet-based
technologies than any other modes of
delivery included in the survey. Specifically,
asynchronous Internet instruction, two-way
interactive video, and one-way prerecorded
video were used by more institutions than any
other distance education technologies (table
17).
· Two-way interactive video was more likely to
be used by public 4-year institutions (80
percent) than by any other type of institution,
and by public 2-year institutions (53 percent)
more than private 4-year institutions (29
percent). One-way prerecorded video was
more likely to be used by public 2-year
institutions (62 percent) than by either public
or private 4-year institutions, and by public 4-
year institutions (44 percent) more often than
by private 4-year institutions (26 percent).
The Internet technologies, however, were
generally about equally likely to be used by
the various types of institutions, ranging from
16 percent to 22 percent for synchronous
Internet instruction, and from 57 percent to
61 percent for asynchronous Internet
instruction (table 17).
· Institutions that offered distance education in
1997–98 or that planned to offer distance
education in the next 3 years reported that
they planned to start using or increase their
use of Internet-based technologies and twoway
interactive video in the next 3 years
more than any other types of technologies.
This suggests that Internet and interactive
video technologies will be a growing mode of
delivery among postsecondary institutions
(table 18).
Tuition and Fees
While distance education can be seen as a cost
savings approach to providing postsecondary
education, the costs in developing, implementing,
and delivering distance education courses can
also be substantial. One might expect that
institutions might pass these costs or cost savings
on by charging different tuition and fees to
students enrolled in distance education courses.
To examine this issue, this report provides
information about how tuition and fees for
distance education courses compare to those for
traditional campus-based courses. Analyses are
presented by institutional type. Findings from the
1997–98 PEQIS survey indicate that:
· About three-quarters of institutions that
offered any distance education courses in
1997–98 charged the same tuition for these
courses as for comparable on-campus
courses. Public 2-year institutions were more
vi
likely than public or private 4-year institutions
to indicate that tuition charges were
always the same for distance education and
on-campus courses, with 90 percent of public
2-year institutions giving this response (table
20).
· Two-thirds of institutions offering distance
education courses in 1997–98 reported that
they did not add special fees to their collegelevel,
credit-granting distance education
courses that were not added to on-campus
courses (figure 4).
· Overall, 57 percent of institutions are
charging both comparable tuition and
comparable fees for distance education and
on-campus courses.
Changes in Distance Education Since 1994–95
While this report primarily presents findings on
various aspects of distance education for all
postsecondary institutions for 1997–98, an
analysis of the data for the subset of higher
education institutions allows trend comparisons
with the previous NCES report on distance
education. Changes in distance education since
1994–95 3 are presented in this report in terms of
the percentage of institutions offering distance
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