In chapter nine of Michael Moore and Greg Kearsly's Distance Education: A Systems View, the administration, management, and policy of distance education are explained. All three areas are intricate. The administration of distance education programs involves planning, staffing, budgeting, scheduling, and quality assessment. Each of these areas effects policies proposed at institutional, state, and federal levels.

Developing policy and implementing it takes a great deal of effort. Issues on distance education effect not only institutions but also state and federal regulations as well. Distance education involves the collaboration of different state administrator since mandating distance education program can easily involve more than one state or perhaps country. Policies must be created for aiding distance education in institutions, states, and the nation.

Institutional Level

There are three significant problems at the institutional level for developing policies for distance education. The obstacles are as follows:

• A long-established academic culture that holds a fir view of teaching as an individual's act in a classroom
• Power to change the system is held by senior facility and administrators, most of whom are satisfied with the system that gave them power
• A rich array of technological and human resources is dissipated in a system of faculties, divisions, and departments, each of which guards its own interest

The first solution to these problems is forming an understanding of ideas for developing distance education at the institution. Furthermore, it would help to acquire a demonstration project so that people can see how the distance education process works. A good example of dealing with distance education policy at both the institutional and state level is Pennsylvania State University. Penn State has created a task force that deals with policies for an institution-wide system. What happens at the institutional level is significant if a change in policy is to occur on a broader scale.

State Level

Up to this point, no state has worked out a policy that regulates a statewide distance education program. Florida is the only one that has come close. However, many states have studied the use of technology in education. Nevertheless, new planning and organizational changes need to be made in order to implement distance education effectively at the state level.

Eventually, statewide policies will have to be created. The various state viewpoints will determine how the larger issues of distance education will be dealt with.

National Level

Policies should first be developed at an institutional and state level in order to show the effectiveness of the program policies. At the national level, policies will mostly deal with federal funding, monitoring and evaluating distance education programs. Accreditation is another issue that will need to be examines closer at the national level.

Resources

Following is a review to several sites with information pertaining to distance education policy at all levels.

Distance Education Policy at the Institutional Level

http://www.cde.psu.edu/de/ide/project/default.html
Innovations in Distance Education (IDE) was launched in 1995 with the help of a grant from the AT&T Foundation. The project is a major initiative to help faculty at Penn State and the historically black Lincoln and Cheyney universities create a supportive institutional culture in which the possibilities of distance education can be established.

http://sun6.dms.state.fl.us/institute/index.html
The Florida Public Post Secondary Distance Learning Institute was jointly created by the State University System and the Community College System in July, 1996 through a Memorandum of Understanding. The purpose of the Institute is to provide for the coordinated development and delivery of distance learning instruction by the State University System and the State Community College System.

Distance Education Policy at the State Level

http://www.osshe.edu/dist-learn/
Oregon Sate System of Higher Education (OSSHE) Distance Learning Policy Documents includes the following: Distance Education Policy Framework, Library Support for Distance Education Programs, Evaluation by Peter Ewell, and Education Unbounded: A Vision of Public Higher Education Serving Oregon in the Year 2010. In 1994, The Higher Education 2010 Advisory Panel researched and published A Vision of Public Higher Education Serving Oregon in the Year 2010. It includes their vision, a strategic framework and further steps to take for implementing partnerships throughout the state.

http://www.elf.ufl.edu/policy.html
This resource includes an Initial Needs Assessment prepared for Florida Distance Learning Network. In addition it also links to other policy resources including Guiding Principles for Distance Learning American Council on Education and Reducing State Policy Barriers to Distance Learning Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications.

http://www.utahsbr.edu/tech/intror.htm
Utah System of Higher Education Technology and Distance Education Initiative includes many good resource documents within itself.

Distance Education Policy at the National Level

http://www.fgdla.org/index.htm
The Government Chapter is a nonprofit association formed to promote the development and application of distance learning to education and training in the federal sector.

http://www.magnapubs.com/DER/policy.html
Many system wide Higher Education Policy Resources are listed here. This site also includes a Distance Education in Higher Education Institutions Survey on Distance Education Courses Offered by Higher Education Institutions requested by the National Institute on Postsecondary Education, Libraries, and Lifelong Learning, U.S. Department of Education.

Moore, M. and Kearsley, G. (1996) Distance Education: A Systems View, California, United States: Wadsworth (172- 196)