For nearly 30 intakes over 15 years, Charles Sturt University has delivered a distance education course which operates with Australian and, for the last 6 years, Hong Kong students. Since the course has made extensive use of computer based materials as well as computer mediated communication over that time, some valuable lessons have been learnt. While some of these have to do with institutional and management issues, many are about the differences between theory and practice.
The use of computer mediated communication increases workload rather than relieving it as some might suggest. While in some respects, students may feel that they are getting a better service with electronic communications and materials, there is also a severe penalty to be paid.
On balance, this situation favours the use of such technologies but not sufficiently to result in enthusiastic adoption. A key area involves the examination of how effectively the static and dynamic resources are attuned to the educational needs of the students. Activities which force a synchronisation are poorly received compared to ones which operate asynchronously. Similarly, electronic resources which simply replace existing printed material without a large amount of 'value adding', have also been found to be of dubious value.