Chronicling the Challenges of Web-Basing a Degree Program

Distance education research focuses on individual courses rather than academic programs. A growing number of studies examine variables associated with course design, development, and delivery, but few appear to study programmatic variables necessary to establish and maintain cogent programs of study. This paper chronicles efforts by a team of faculty, staff, students, and administrators at a small southwestern university to Web-base a graduate degree program. It identifies eight functional system components and posits that all eight components must be addressed and aligned to promote student learning at a distance. Key issues and decisions made during the development of the system are discussed in context of each component, along with preliminary evaluation data and anecdotal reports from system stakeholders.