A COMPARISON OF DISTANCE EDUCATION COMPETENCIES DELIVERED SYNCHRONOUSLY AND ASYNCHRONOUSLY

Little research in the agricultural education field has focused on the competencies needed to be successful as a distance education professional. The research presented in this paper compares two types of instructional methods (synchronous and asynchronous) for delivering a graduate course. This study was grounded in the qualitative research paradigm. The natural setting for this study was a 15-week graduate course delivered synchronously (ITV) in the spring of 2001 and asynchronously (Web-developed) in the spring of 2002. The purposive sample included 20 graduate students in the spring of 2001 (ITV) and 22 graduate students in the spring of 2002 (Web-developed). Comparisons indicated that there was similar learning of core distance education competencies regardless of delivery method, gender, degree, and major. This study further contributes to the notion that it is not the media, but the methods, that make a difference in distance education. Questions of efficiency and quality are critical for furthering this line of inquiry.