Human Resources

As distance education continues to be utilized by higher learning institutions, many struggle in knowing how to effectively utilize tools for the benefit of the students, faculty and staff facilitating online courses, distance education departments, and the university as a whole. This paper will highlight survey and interview results from students, professors, and instructional technologists from four public southeastern United States universities centered on how online learning affects the varying levels of a specific university located in the southeastern United States. Current and future issues that and potential solutions to counteract these obstacles will also be provided. Moreover, strategies will be proposed regarding improving the institutional effectiveness of distance education by specifically tailoring approaches
to the culture and the strategic direction of the institution. In order to provide a first-person narrative from a student’s perspective, these results and recommendations are discussed through the lens of an
undergraduate student.