to an institution's overall perceived quality, which translates into the size of its potential market. Institutions with national reputations typically pursue selective or targeted enrollment programs, whereas regional institutions often seek to serve a specific geographic area. Although regional institutions may be larger than national institutions, their overall potential markets are not (Simonson, 2002).

Conclusion

Will the application of the new technologies bridge the dichotomy between distance and traditional university teaching? Will the two become one? It is still too early to answer these questions. The traditional view of the university as a community of scholars dedicated to the pursuit of research, the generation of knowledge, and the teaching of students is still a powerful ideal.

Technology creates an opportunity to build the very real advances on second phase distance teaching, not least by facilitating communication and peer discourse, and by providing easy access to bibliographic and other materials, so providing students with enhanced opportunities analogous to traditional on-campus teaching. A key test of the new technologies, however, will be their capacity to support the emergence of real communities, which by facilitating academic discourse will allow the university to maintain the best of its traditions, but with less exclusivity than in the past. This surely is a challenge appropriate to this new millennium.

 

 

 

 

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